FIA GT1: Sweet victory for Nissan as no.23 JRM takes first in Paul Ricard GT1 Qualifying Race

The no.23 JRM Racing Nissan GT-R of Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr claimed an excellent victory in today’s action-packed GT1 World Championship Qualifying Race in Paul Ricard, France, but Nissan was deprived of a 1-2 finish when the no.22 JRM (Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook) lost two places on the final lap of the race due to severe tyre degradation. The other team running the GT-R in this year’s Championship, Sumo Power GT, finished the race in ninth (no.21 car) and tenth (no.20).

Domination for Nissan in the morning’s Qualifying session saw three GT-Rs occupying the front two rows of the Qualifying Race grid, with the no.22 JRM in pole, no.23 JRM second and the no.21 Sumo Power GT fourth. Further back, the no.20 Sumo Power GT, with Nick Catsburg partnering the flu-suffering Enrique Bernoldi, started the race in 11th place.

The race start saw the two JRMs coming through the first corner cleanly to retain their 1-2 positions, but there was less opening lap joy for the Sumo Power GTs. The no.21, with David Brabham starting behind the wheel, lost two places in the early hustle and bustle for track position before the no.20, driven by Bernoldi, found itself spinning on-track and rejoining at the back after being involved in a melee half-way round lap one that knocked several cars out of the race.

That incident saw the safety car coming into play for much of the first half of the race whilst the debris was cleared away, and by the time the car exited the track the pit window was nearly upon us. However, there was still time left for Brabham to execute an audacious overtaking move to wrestle fifth place from the no.11 Corvette.

As ever, the ten minute long pit window provided a high degree of drama, and this time the no.23 JRM, with Krumm replacing Luhr, was the main Nissan beneficiary: great work by the car’s pit crew allowing it to leap-frog the no.22 JRM into first. Elsewhere in a heavily congested field, the no.21 Sumo Power GT found itself dropping two places to seventh, whilst the no.20 made up one place to re-emerge in its original starting grid position of 11th.

The early stages of the race’s second half saw a strong head-to-head battle between the two JRMs whilst both cars bedded in their fresh tyres, with Westbrook in the no.22 coming close to overtaking Krumm on several occasions before the German found himself able to pull away lap-by-lap. Slightly further up the field, Campbell-Walter was driving like a man possessed in making up two places to fifth in the no.21 Sumo Power GT, whilst Catsburg also gained a place to tenth.

It was at this stage that the tyre degradation for which the Circuit Paul Ricard is so infamous really became noticeable, as the no.21 starting visibly struggling to stay on track with the no.41 Ford GT close on its tail. Campbell-Walter managed the car admirably for several long, hard laps before the lack of grip eventually forced him to drive off-track, something which the race stewards deemed worthy of a drive-through penalty that ended up costing the car four places.

However, it was the degradation of the no.22 JRM tyre’s that was arguably even more dramatic as, holding second place going into the final lap, the loss of traction was such that the car was unable to effectively defend its racing line, and Westbrook found himself being muscled out of the way by both Young Driver Aston Martins. This left the no.23 JRM clear to take victory: a feat that it achieved by a full nine seconds.

Speaking afterwards, Lucas Luhr said:

“I got a really good start that brought me right up close to Peter [Dumbreck]: I saw him struggling a bit going into the first corner, and could perhaps have overtaken him, but I took it a bit easier than I might perhaps have done otherwise as he’s my team-mate and obviously we didn’t want anything to happen between us. I kept behind him until the pit stop and then stayed out one lap longer, and happily our boys did a good stop that allowed Michael [Krumm] to come out in front. All in all it’s a good day. This is the first time we’ve won a Qualifying Race this season, although we’ve had two Championship Race wins after starting second. Let’s hope it’s not actually a bad omen as we want to win again tomorrow!”

Lucas’ team-mate in the no.23 JRM, Michael Krumm, added:

“”It was an incredible turnaround and the boys did an amazing job in the pits. The target for us was to come out in the lead and stay there. It proved a lot more difficult than I expected as I struggled to get my tyre pressures up and Richard [Westbrook] caught me up and was almost past me two or three times. It was a hard battle but no contact was made. Once the tyres were up to pressure I could gain a bit of a gap. It feels great to win but the Championship Race tomorrow is certainly the main focus.”

Richard Westbrook said of the no.22 JRM’s fourth place:

“It’s a shame that we couldn’t hold on to second and lost two places on the final lap – I was actually really struggling out there for the last four laps. However, fourth place certainly isn’t a disaster and it puts us in a decent position for tomorrow when we’ll be aiming to put things right.”

The Championship Race starts at 15h15 CEST tomorrow (Sunday) , and can be watched live on GT1 TV at http://www.gt1world.com/gt1tv

Remaining rounds

2-4 September Ordos, China

21-23 October Curitiba, Brazil

4-6 November San Luis, Argentina