Zolder, Belgium (24th October, 2009)
On 24-25 October, the Belgian circuit of Zolder is the scene of the last FIA GT Championship round of 2009 - and the last of the #35 NISSAN GT-R's four 'test' races. These races have been part of the GT-R's development year, enabling NISSAN Motorsports, in partnership with Gigawave MotorSport, to develop and evaluate the 2010-spec customer race cars.
Since finishing 3rd in the GT1 class at the Spa 24 Hours in July, the team has held three private test sessions in the UK, and now comes to Zolder with a completely new aerodynamic package. The aim of this package is to increase rear downforce - but this is the first time it has been tested under race conditions.
Free practice and pre-qualifying
On Saturday morning of the race weekend, free practice started cold and wet and the Nissan GT-R ran on wet tyres through the whole 80 minutes, completing 28 trouble-free laps in the hands of regular drivers Michael Krumm (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR).
By early afternoon, when pre-qualifying began, the weather was still cloudy and Michael Krumm started the session on wet tyres. By the time he handed over to Darren Turner, the track was starting to dry, so Turner completed just six laps before re-pitting to change to slicks - after which his times immediately dropped. The track dried further after Turner handed the car back to Krumm, who set a time of 1.30.977: 8th quickest - and almost a second faster than the #40 Ford GT, the only other car built to the 2010 GT1 regulations.
Qualifying
The qualifying session for GT1 cars is only 15 minutes long, which allows time for just one driver. Michael Krumm took the wheel and, under cloudy skies with the threat of rain, in a brief session interrupted by yellow flags (when a Corvette went into the gravel), he held onto the GT-R's 8th place set in pre-qualifying, with a time of 1.30.754 - more than 0.5 seconds ahead of the #40 Ford GT.
Michael Krumm:
"At the moment, the car is working really well on the first half of the circuit, through all the high-speed corners. We are trying a new aerodynamic package for the first time and it's giving us much better rear downforce, so we are doing well in the fast corners. The team is now hoping to find more time in the slower corners, where we need more mechanical grip. We have some fine-tuning to do but we are learning a lot and we are continuing to improve the car."
Darren Turner:
"With the aerodynamic package, the car feels more stable and seems to have better rear grip. My runs today have all been on a greasy or damp track, while Michael was fortunate enough to have a dry run - so his feedback will be crucial to us getting a good set-up for the race. As with any race car, there's always room for further improvements, such as how the car rides the kerbs, but at the moment we're looking at the aero package and that's definitely a big step forward."
The race will start at 1:15pm on Sunday, 25th October and run for two hours.
Gigawave MotorSport
In 2009, NISSAN MOTORSPORTS INTERNATIONAL (‘NISMO') appointed Gigawave MotorSport as its development and team partner, to assist in the development and homologation of the NISSAN GT-R for FIA GT1 in 2010, its launch season as a World Championship.
