Brabham and Campbell-Walter take podium place in no.21 Sumo Power GT
David Brabham and Jamie Campbell-Walter built upon their strong fourth place showing in yesterday's Qualifying Race to go one better today, clinching an excellent third place in the GT1 World Championship Race in Navarra behind the wheel of the no.21 Sumo Power GT. Elsewhere in the field, the no.23 JRM Racing Nissan was again, as yesterday, the victim of an opening lap incident, but recovered to finish in sixth, whilst the no. 22 JRM completed the race in ninth and the no.20 Sumo Power GT in 12th place.
Sitting third and fifth on the grid respectively after various competitor grid penalties from yesterday's Qualifying Race had been applied, it was somewhat of a dream start to the race for the two highest placed GT-Rs on the grid, with the no.21 Sumo Power GT jumping up to second, and the no.22 JRM two places to third by the time the cars had reached the first corner. Unfortunately though, the same luck was not with the no.23 JRM, as Lucas Luhr found himself involved in a first lap spin with the no.7 Young Driver Aston Martin - for which the latter received a drive-through penalty - that knocked the German from eighth on the grid to the back of the pack.
The no.21 and 22 Nissans were holding steady at the front of the race, with Campbell-Walter building up a decent gap to Peter Dumbreck in the sister JRM car, who himself was doing a great job in repelling the advances of the fast no.37 Lamborghini, perfectly suited to the slow cornered Navarra circuit, in the battle for third. Meanwhile, further back, the no.20 and 23 GT-Rs had started to work their way through the tail of the field, in particular Luhr in the JRM, who overtook Enrique Bernoldi in the Sumo Power GT and then another car in quick sucession to move up to tenth. This - second (no.21), third (no.22), tenth (no.23) and 12th (no.20) - was how the Nissans stood as the pivotal pit window for tyres and driver change opened.
Sadly for the no.21 Sumo Power GT, there was to be no repeat of yesterday's incredible stop which saw the car jump forward four places once the post-window order had been re-established, and this time the Nissan found itself losing a position, to third, to the no.37 Lamborghini which also overtook the no.22 JRM, now fourth. There were better results however for the other two Nissans, with the no.23 JRM climbing three places to seventh, and the no.22 two places to tenth.
There then followed a number of separate drive-through penalty incidents applied by the FIA stewards. Nick Catsburg found himself with a penalty in the no.20 Sumo Power GT for starting the engine whilst on the air jacks during the pit stop, something that dropped the car back to 11th, before the first placed Lamborghini was also given one for a similar reason. There was a hope that the Lamborghini's penalty could play into Nissan hands and allow the no.21 to move up a place, but the no.38's lead at that point was big enough to allow it to come back out of the pits in second, just behind the no.37 car. Richard Westbrook, in the no.22, was then hit with a penalty due to it being deemed that his car pulled out too close to another car during its pit stop, dropping the JRM from fourth to ninth place.
There was time left in the race for Brabham in the no.21 Sumo Power GT to close the gap right down to the second placed Lamborghini, and Krumm to the fifth placed no.4 Aston Martin in the no.23 JRM, but ultimately there was to be no way through for either driver.
Speaking afterwards, no.21 Sumo Power GT driver Jamie Campbell-Walter said: "I made a good start to jump into second, and then made sure I took it easy in the first corner, before managing to pull away a bit from Peter [Dumbreck] in third. The car was the best we have had it all weekend: we made a couple of changes after yesterday's Qualifying Race, and we managed to get it so the traction was good, which is very important on this track.
"Unfortunately we lost a place in the pits, but it's one of those things. Our crew have been doing a fantastic job all year and been getting better and better over time - we saw that in yesterday's race we came in in 10th place and went out sixth, a gain of four places. Today we did the best we could for third place."
Campbell-Walter's team-mate, David Brabham, added: "Jamie did a great job to put us into a strong position in the first stint. I just tried to keep a good pace and to not destroy the tyres. I was settling for third place unless something happened in front, but ultimately the Lamborghinis were so well suited to the track that there was no way through for me.
"Third position is a fantastic for Jamie and I as well as the whole Sumo Power GT team, and there was a lot of hard work put in by all concerned this weekend. We now have to maintain this momentum going into the next round at Paul Ricard - it's a good track over there, and we'll be raring to go and hoping to do well."
Round seven of the GT1 World Championship, at Paul Ricard, France, will take place on the weekend of the 16th - 17th July, 2011.
