Located near Marseilles, southern France's central city, the Circuit Paul Ricard was chosen as the stage for the 4th round of the FIA GT1 World Championship. Usually used as a test track, it is put to good use by many teams and European car manufacturers.
2/15
After Friday's pre-qualifying, 6 knights from the middle ages arrived, wearing the logos of the 6 manufacuturers participating in the championship. Under the blazing sun and a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, they flashed smiles to the photographer. Nissan's representative is Krumm (right).
3/15
From the Swiss Racing Team, Seiji Ara had been wearing a long-sleeved jacket since entering the area. When wearing his racing suit, he is also zipped up to the neck in order to get used to the heat. Without a cool suit or air-conditioning, the cockpit of a GT1 car is hot.
4/15
In the previous round at Brno (Czech Republic), the #23 GT-R driver combo of Krumm and Dumbreck stood on the 3rd step of the podium after a stable performance. Krumm arrived at the circuit from his home of Monaco in his personal-use GT-R.
5/15
After the knockout qualifying session, the qualifying race was held. The #23 Sumo Power GT GT-R took 3rd position on the second row of the grid. However, looking ahead to the race, they pursued a strategy of saving their new tyres for later and put on rubber that had already been used for the short distance.
6/15
In the qualifying race, tyres deteriorated faster than expected and the #23 GT-R, suffering from oversteer, finished in 9th place. However, at this point, the two drivers figured out a strategy for competing in the championship race.
7/15
In the qualifying race, the top GT-R entry was Sumo Power GT's #22 GT-R. The driver pairing of Hughes/Campbell-Walter took 3rd place, thus adding more points to their tally. After the qualifying race press conference, the Silverstone victory trophy was awarded to the pair and team representative James Ramsey.
8/15
On the other hand, we have the Swiss Racing Team who carried out tests after Brno and found a good setting for their cars. Lap times have improved, and they made a step towards their goal of reaching a strong position in the championship race.
9/15
It was sunny on the day of the championship race. The temperature reached above 30 Celsius. The hour long championship race started at 2:15pm, the hottest time of the day.
10/15
In the beginning, the #22 GT-R held onto third position. However, upon trying to overtake an opponent, he was handed a drive-through penalty, dropping the car to 22nd. This GT-R's fight had only just begun.
11/15
Ara was behind the wheel in Swiss Racing's #4 GT-R. He started in 12th place and rose up to 11th on the first lap. 5 laps later, he had brought himself up to 8th place. Unfortunately, contact from cars following him damaged his drive system, forcing him back to the pits and into retirement.
12/15
The #23 GT-R was catching the #22 GT-R in the upper rankings. Its aggressive driving style brought him up to 3rd place before pitting. Krumm's wonderful driving skills had shone up to this point.
13/15
Regardless of its speed, the #3 GT-R driven by Wendlinger, an ex-F1 pilot, never got the chance to rise up due to its lowly starting position. They switched over to Moser when in 19th place, and finished 15th.
14/15
Dumbreck took the wheel of the #23 GT-R for the second stint, covering the last half of the race. He drove aggressively in his attempt to reach the front, finally catching sight of the Corvette, who later fell back due to a penalty, netting him 2nd place.
15/15
Climbing the podium for the 3rd time in a row, Sumo Power GT has brought itself up to 2nd place in the Teams' standings. Krumm said, - I want to thank my team for all their hard work in bringing out the full potential of the car. Our tyre strategy for the championship race was another big reason we were able to reach the podium. I'm happy that we finished 2nd.-
