Optimism High as Nissan Heads to Beijing for Second Chinese GT1 World Championship Round

With JRM Racing and Sumo Power GT confounding pre-race predictions that the GT-Rs would not be suited to the short and twisty Ordos International Circuit in Inner Mongolia last weekend, the two Nissan teams head to Beijing's Goldenport Park Circuit for the penultimate round of the FIA GT1 World Championship in high spirits.

Ordos saw the no.22 JRM of Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook following up their Qualifying Race second place with a strong repeat performance in the Championship Race, allowing JRM to claim outright top position in the Teams' Championship standings in the process.

There was also a good showing from the no.21 Sumo Power GT (David Brabham and Jamie Campbell-Walter), which finished third in the Qualifying Race and was comfortably placed there again at the mid-point of the Championship Race before a wheel nut problem during the pit stop led to several lost places and an eventual seventh place finish. Meanwhile, despite the no.23 JRM being burdened by sizeable success ballast throughout the weekend due to its double victory at Paul Ricard in round 7 of the series, Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr did enough to hold on to the lead in the Drivers' Championship standings.

Located about 15 minutes from downtown Beijing, and not far from historical sites such as the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, Goldenport Park Circuit is, at only 2.4km (1.5 miles), by far the shortest of the 10 tracks in this year's GT1 series, and 0.8 miles shorter than that of Ordos, with two less turns (16 to Ordos' 18). Similar to its Inner Mongolian counterpart, Goldenport is known as a very technical course, with short straights and tight corners.

Speaking ahead of the race, Michael Krumm, no.23 JRM Racing, said: "It was good to come away from Ordos leading the championship, so we go to Beijing in a strong position. I, like pretty much every other driver on the grid, have no idea what the Goldenport circuit is going to be like, so it's difficult to predict what's going to happen. I hear it's a tight and bumpy track, but I'm sure this will make it a very exciting race for the spectators!

"Because of the results last weekend, we now go from 60 to 20 kilos of success ballast. We won at Paul Ricard carrying that amount of weight so, as always, the target this weekend will be to win."

Notes to editors:


Goldenport Park Circuit race timings
Qualifying Race: 10.45 - 11.45am (CST), Saturday 10th September
Championship Race: 15.45 - 16.45am (CST), Saturday 10th September

Races can be followed live at http://www.gt1world.com/gt1tv


2011 Nissan drivers

Sumo Power GT
Nissan GT-R No.20: Nick Catsburg (NL) & Enrique Bernoldi (Bra)
Nissan GT-R No.21: Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB) & David Brabham (Aus)

JRM Racing
Nissan GT-R No.22: Peter Dumbreck (GB) & Richard Westbrook (GB)
Nissan GT-R No.23: Michael Krumm (Ger) & Lucas Luhr (Ger)