FIA GT1 World Championship - Round Six Report Navarra Circuit, Spain 2nd &  3rd July 2011 A more than promising start for JRM Racing in this weekend's round six of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Navarra Circuit in northern Spain, ended up with the team's two Nissan GT-Rs finishing the two races in top-ten positions: Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr in car 23 were ninth in Saturday's Qualifying Race and sixth in the main Championship Race on Sunday, whilst Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook in car 22 finished seventh and ninth respectively. Following a highly successful test at the Motorland Circuit near Aragón last week, the team was upbeat about its chances at Navarra, even though it was thought that the 3.933km circuit's tight and twisty nature would not bring out the best from its Nissan GT-Rs. Qualifying and Qualifying Race The hot conditions for Saturday morning's qualifying session saw all teams play things strategically in order to limit the amount of tyre-wear. Both JRM Racing's Nissans made it through the Q2, with Luhr putting in a last-lap charge to secure number 23's progress beyond Q1 - and then went on to claim fourth-fastest time in Q3. This was a far better result than the team had hoped for, as the car was carrying 35 klilos of success ballast after winning at Silverstone. For Richard and Peter, the session was to be the first one of the year where they went no further than Q2, setting the tenth-fastest time - this unusual outcome the result of not being able to find the sweet-spot with their tyres. However, because David Brabham in the Sumo Power GT Nissan had to drop five places from fifth to tenth because of a penalty applied in the previous round, car 22 lined up for the first of the weekend's two-one hour races in ninth place. Pleased to be starting from P4, Krumm - who was first to drive in car 23 - was keen to stay away from trouble as the 16-car field all tried to get through the first corner at once. Maintaining position on the outside of the corner, he was annoyed to be hit off the track by the Ford GT of Maxime Martin. What made matters worse is that the impact had squashed one of the Nissan's side-mounted exhaust pipes and, once Krumm got going again, it was apparent that the restricted airflow was causing a loss of power. Not someone to give up easily, Krumm continued - albeit now at the back of the field - and, after a few laps, found his car getting quicker and quicker and started to move up the order. Westbrook - who was first to drive car 22 - was also delayed by the goings-on in the first corner and, when all the activity had subsided, he found himself behind a group of cars and in 11th place. Westbrook knew that he could ill-afford to get stuck in traffic and, although difficult to overtake on the Navarra circuit, he was able to make up places. Therefore, by the time he was given the signal to come into the pits for the compulsory mid-race pit stop to change drivers and tyres, he was up to ninth.  Following the team's first ever sub-twenty second pit stop in a race, Luhr - who swapped with Krumm in car 23 - came out of the pits in 12th. Even with the heat generated partly by the ambient temperature and the exhaust pipe touching the floor of the car, Luhr was able to maintain good pace throughout his stint and, having made up three places, crossed the line in ninth. Dumbreck, who drove the second half in car 22, spent most of it battling with the Aston Martin of Darren Turner. Although unable to get past and make any more progress towards the front of the field, he went on to take the chequered flag in seventh. The top-two places were occupied by the All-Inkl team Lambrorghinis, which were clearly the fastest cars on the Navarra track. Although not the outcome the team was looking for in race-one, its hopes for Sunday's race-two were boosted knowing its cars would both be starting in the top ten. Qualifying race results (PDF) <http://www.rpmpromotions.com/jrmotorsport/pdf/QualifyingRaceResultList.pdf Championship Race Because of the second-placed Lamborghini receiving a new engine and the sixth-placed Aston Martin of Stephen Mucke being penalised because of the incident at Silverstone involving car 22 in round five, both received a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's Championship Race, which meant Dumbreck started from P5 and Luhr, in car 23, from P8. A great start by Dumbreck saw him slot his Nissan neatly into third place by the time the GT1 field exited the first corner, with Luhr also getting away well. However, the German's good start was brought to a halt when the Aston Martin of Tomas Enge pushed him into a spin: the second time this weekend car 23 had been involved in an incident - not of its driver's own doing - on the first lap of the race. Now in 14th, Luhr had no choice but to work his way through the field, which he proceeded to do. In the meantime, Westbrook was easing out a gap in third and holding off the advances of a Lamborghini behind him.  By the time the pit window opened, Luhr was up to 10th and pulled straight in for new tyres and to swap with Krumm at the end of lap 15. Dumbreck came in a lap later, just after the number 21 Nissan of Jamie Campbell-Walter, who stopped in the pit garage just before that of car 22. The resulting proximity of the cars meant a slower stop than normal and, when Westbrook went to leave, the stewards judged that he pulled out too close to another car and therefore, a few laps later he was instructed to perform a drive-through penalty. This saw car 22 drop to ninth place and, even though he was catching the cars ahead of him, Westbrook was unable to improve on his enforced position. Krumm however, was making headway and, with car 22 and a variety of others being served drive-through penalties, he eventually crossed the line in a hard-earned sixth place. With the two Lamborghinis occupying the top-two places once again, the outcome of the race sees Krumm and Luhr now hold second in the driver's standings. And, with JRM Racing now third in the Teams' table, its sights now turn to Paul Ricard for round seven of the Championship on 16th & 17th July. Championship race results (PDF) <http://www.rpmpromotions.com/jrmotorsport/pdf/RaceResultList.pdf Team Quotes Michael Krumm (Car 23) "After starting P4 in the Qualifying Race, it looked like we were going to have a good weekend, but after I was hit off the track and the exhaust was damaged on the first lap and then Lucas was knocked into a spin on the first lap of the Championship Race, we spent most of our time working our way through the field from the back, so I'm pleased we were able to climb to sixth in the today's (Sunday) race." Lucas Luhr (Car 23) "I am quite happy with where we ended up in the Championship Race. Navarra is not one of the GT-R's favourite tracks, neither is it one of mine, so I'm glad that even after being hit by other cars on the first lap, we could still score some points this weekend - but it did mean pushing very hard. With the car going as well as it is at the moment, we want to be back at the front at Paul Ricard." Richard Westbrook (car 22) "It's been another tough weekend for us - better than Silverstone - but not as good as we had hoped. The car was much better for the track than we thought it would be, although we were not able to exploit that fact. There were a few mistakes that we should learn from and I am disappointed about the situation in the Championship Race pit stop, where we held up car 21 and then were given a drive-through penalty for allegedly pulling out too-close to another car, which I felt was a bit harsh, but that's the way it is I suppose." Peter Dumbreck (Car 22) "Sometimes you wonder what you have to do to get a good result. Both Richard and I drove as hard as we could this weekend and today we were lying third for the first part of the race. I think we could have certainly finished in the top five and scored some good points, but the drive-though penalty after the pit stop put a stop to that of course." Nigel Stepney (Team Manager and Chief Engineer) "Saturday was frustrating because car 23 got hit just after the start and car 22 was stuck in traffic. However, the pace of the two cars today (Sunday) has been good and it has been another first lap incident and problems in the pit stop that meant we didn't get the results we deserved. It's proved that our test last week at Aragón was well worth-while, as and we've been able to gather a great deal of information over the past seven days." James Rumsey (Team Principal) "Having had such good results so far this season, which includes three race wins, it's always difficult to come away from a weekend where you don't take away a good haul of points. However, when you consider that we knew it was going to be tough at Navarra, we can still take away some positives, although I'm pleased to be able to put this race behind us."