FIA GT1: Nissan GTR takes top three podium places in Algarve

Portugal, Sat May 7th 2011: Nissan secured the first manufacturer top three lockout in a FIA GT1 World Championship race when JR Motorsports took 1st and 2nd place, with Richard Westbrook and Peter Dumbreck taking the top spot in the nr22 Nissan GT-R, with Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm joining them in the post race press conference by finishing just 0.3 seconds behind at the chequered flag. They were joined by the Sumo Power Nissan GT-R pairing of David Brabham and Jamie Campbell-Walter.

Starting from pole, Dumbreck protected his lead through the opening corners and remained in the lead as he dived into the pit lane, although the sister No.23 JRM Nissan of Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr remained within two seconds of the lead.

A rapid pit stop allowed Luhr to jump the No.22 Nissan GT and assume the lead, but Westbrook was not to be denied. After shadowing Luhr for several laps, he dived down the inside at turn one to recapture the lead, which he held until the chequered flag came out.

Luhr remained glued to Westbrook’s tail, with little more than one second separating the two cars, but he was not quite able to find a way through – with Westbrook leading home a Nissan podium clean sweep.

“My first win in GT1 – I’m delighted,” an ecstatic Westbrook exclaimed after the race. “Peter did a great job during his stint to maintain the lead. Unfortunately the No.23 Nissan jumped us, but I saw Lucas struggling on the first few laps and thought ‘it’s now or never’. I’m so pleased!”

While Nissan took a stranglehold on the first three places, they also suffered misfortune at the start as the No.20 Sumo Power GT of Ricardo Zonta and Enrique Bernoldi was tipped into a spin in the second corner. The duo were able to recover to finish eighth.

Speaking afterwards, Richard Westbrook said: “I just want to thank Peter and everyone at Nissan and JRM – it’s one hell of an achievement to have three cars on the podium. There is a lot of hard work that has gone into this, and while this track is good for us it was so important we made the most of it.

“Now we look forward to tomorrow. You can definitely overtake here at Portimão, so the Championship Race will be wide open – we have some improvements to make and we’ll have the benefit of better tyres than today, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Lucas Luhr added: “First of all, our guys did a great pit stop and as I came down the main straight I saw Richard coming out of the pit lane. On my out lap I already was struggling with front grip, and I was struggling a lot in the last corners. Richard had a huge run on me out of the last corner and he dived down the inside – I could have closed it a little bit but at the end we are team-mates and it’s important we have a good result for Nissan.

“The big points come tomorrow however and we have some improvements to make to our car. Hopefully we can repeat something similar in the Championship Race – that would be really great for Nissan.”

Jamie-Campbell Walter commented: “If we look back to Zolder we had two DNFs, so Sumo Power team were pretty down in the dumps. To bounce back and have three cars on the podium is absolutely fantastic, not only for Sumo Power but also for JRM and Nissan. All credit to them, the Sumo guys have had a hard three weeks since Zolder to repair the cars and we’ve had a few little problems here from knock-on effects, so to be third is fantastic – it’s a huge well done to everybody in the whole team.”

That spin was the first of a series of incidents in turns two and three on the opening lap, which ultimately saw the No.7 Young Driver Aston Martin ruled out with suspension damage, and several other cars falling down the order due to spins.

In the confusion, the No.8 Young Driver Aston Martin DB9 of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner was able to come through to sixth on the opening lap. Turner made up two further places before handing over to Mücke, who brought the car home in fourth.

Fifth went to the No.37 All-Inkl Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwäger, which enjoyed a remarkable start to move from the rear of the field into seventh. The duo had been jumped during the pit window by the No.41 Marc VDS Ford GT of Yann Clairay and Maxime Martin, but found a way back past the Ford with little more than ten minutes of the race remaining.

Championship leaders Markus Winkelhock and Marc Basseng also made a good start in the sister No.38 All Inkl Lamborghini to sit fifth after the first lap. Their 50kg of success ballast – received due to an outstanding double win in Zolder – told however, with the duo falling back to seventh – fractions ahead of Zonta and Bernoldi in the No.20 Sumo Power Nissan GT.

Mike Hezemans and Nicky Catsburg were the lead Corvette as the No.11 Exim Bank Team China car finished ninth, while Karl Wendlinger and Peter Kox rounded out the top ten in the No.5 Swiss Racing Lamborghini.

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

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