FIA GT1 World Championship – Round Six PreviewNavarra Circuit, Spain2nd & 3rd July 2011
Fresh from its memorable victory at Silverstone in round five of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the beginning of June, the JRM Racing team heads to the Navarra Circuit in northern Spain for this weekend’s round six of the global sportscar series. Therefore, with twice Championship Race winners this season Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr now topping the drivers’ points table, the target for the team is to continue where it left off in the UK four weeks ago.
As well as winning the Championship Race – and the coveted Tourist Trophy in the process – the German pairing also achieved an excellent second in the Qualifying Race at Silverstone. And, whilst both their impressive results from the Silverstone weekend are great for points, they are not so good for success ballast, which means that Nissan GT-R no. 23 will go to Navarra carrying 35 kilos of added weight.
In contrast, team-mates Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook in car 22 recorded two non-finishes at Silverstone – both not of their own making. They therefore head to Spain without a kilo of success ballast on board and with a determination to turn around their fortunes from that of round five.
Even taking into account that only one car scored points last time out, JRM Racing currently lie second in the teams’ standings, just nine-points behind Hexis Aston Martin. With this in mind, the strategy in Spain will be one of ensuring that both cars achieve strong points-scoring finishes, with the view of edging ahead in the rankings by the close of the weekend.
In order to boost its chances of achieving this, JRM Racing organised a two-day test at the Motorland Circuit near Aragón at the beginning of the week, where all four of its drivers were able to spend time behind the wheel of the GT-R. The team also took the opportunity to try a variety of set-ups in what was its first true test session of the year.
Opened in June 2010, the 3.933km Navarra Circuit is new to many drivers, including Luhr, who visits it for the first time this weekend. The track is located near the small town of Los Arcos, 60km southeast of Pamplona.
The format for the Navarra meeting sees Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying sessions take place on Friday, before the competitive action gets underway with Qualifying on Saturday at 11.15, followed by the first of the weekend’s two one-hour races at 16.45. Sunday starts with a 30-minute warm-up session at 09.00, before the main Championship Race goes live at 13.45.
