Spa: Nissan race report

HEARTBREAK FOR SUMO POWER GT AT SPA

The Sumo Power GT team came tantalisingly close to taking a second place finish in today's FIA GT1 Championship race at Spa today but the No.23 Nissan GT-R retired just two minutes before the chequered flag fell. It would have been a huge achievement for Peter Dumbreck and Michael Krumm who had hauled themselves back from yesterday's disappointing qualifying result.

Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes were also out of luck as they were heading for a good finish when Hughes was spun around by an over exuberant Romain Grosjean in the Ford GT. They eventually took 11th place. Both Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-Rs finished the race with a 12th place for Henri Moser and Karl Wendlinger and 16th for Seiji Ara and Max Nilsson.

Michael Krumm took the start in No.23 but as the cars exited the first corner he fell down the order from eighth to 14th place.

"As we got to the start the leaders all braked so I had to do the same," he explained. "The trouble is the cars behind me didn't and they sailed past me, coming out of La Source. I had to make up many places but it was a lot of fun. The car felt fantastic and I was able to overtake a lot of cars and get right up to seventh. Our pit stop was great so Peter (Dumbreck) could join the race in fourth place, which soon became third and then second. It's a great shame we didn't finish as we fought hard today."

Dumbreck's move on the Ford GT for second place was one of the best moves of the day but unfortunately the cheers in the Sumo Power garage were silenced when Dumbreck came on the radio to say he had retired. The reason for the retirement will be investigated once the No.23 car is released from Parc Ferme.

Warren Hughes started the race in 19th place but was going great guns and well on his way into the top ten when he was hit from behind by a Ford GT.

"Grosjean just came from too far back," said Hughes. "I saw him coming too and I gave him room but he hit me in the right rear corner and spun me round. Until that point we were running really well so it's very disappointing to have a setback like that. Our race pace was great this weekend."

Jamie Campbell-Walter took over the No.22 car at the pit stop, joining the race in 20th place. The British driver had a mountain to climb but he managed to pull back many places during his run, finishing the race in 11th place.

In the No.4 Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-R, Seiji Ara had a good start but had contact with a Corvette that forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop.

"I had contact with the No.12 Corvette after the start which was very unlucky," said Ara. "This caused some damage to my car so I had to pit for some quick repairs. After that the car felt very good. We changed the set up since this morning and I feel a lot more confident about the rest of the season now."

Ara and his team-mate Max Nilsson finished the race in 16th place today. The sister Swiss Racing car finished in 12th place after being involved in some good on track battles. Karl Wendlinger started the race in 16th place and after losing some positions in the opening lap shuffle he made it all the way up to 10th before he came in to hand over to Henri Moser.

"I had a good battle with the No.22 Sumo Power car towards the end of the race," said Moser. "He got past me when my tyres were going off but I recovered and went back after him. I managed to get up the inside of him at one point but couldn't make it stick. I have to say we are making real progress now and I'm confident we will be up there at the next race."

The next round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship is at Germany's Nurburgring in four weeks' time.

-source: nissian