月曜日にパリのコンコルド広場にあるフランスオートモーティブクラブ（the Automobile Club de France）で催された、2010 FIA GTシーズンスタートセレモニーにて、Swiss Racing Team が 2010年仕様のFIA GT1クラス日産GT-Rを公開しました。

今までのプレシーズンテストでは、スポンサーロゴなどが貼られていない真っ白な車両が見られていましたが、今回公開されたSwiss Racing TeamのGT-Rはホワイトとレッドを基調とした姿で、とても目を惹きますね。

GT-RでFIA GT1に参戦するもうひとつのチーム Sumo Power GT1 （イギリス）もテストを精力的にこなしています。最近のポールリカールサーキットでは、スポンサーロゴもついたホワイトのボディにカーボンむき出しの力強いイメージの車両で走っていました。

第1戦は4月17日のアブダビ。GT1world.com でライブ中継されるので、日本からも要チェックです！

リンク: スイスレーシング ウェブサイト
リンク: スモウパワーGT ウェブサイト
リンク: GT1World.com フォトギャラリー

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A great result for the 2010 GT1 specification Nissan GT-R in it’s biggest test to date in the FIA GT championship season of 2009 – the 24hrs of Spa endurance race in Belgium this weekend. The 2010 GT1 specification GT-R is a significant change over the current season’s GT1 specification and has more weight and less power to get the job done.

The GT-R began the race from 8th position on the grid, already a great achievement and finished 13th overall and 3rd in the GT1 class overall. Of the 2010 GT1 specification cars entered in the race, the GT-R was 1st place.

Overnight the team was battling it out maintaining 4th – 5th position overall and was seriously considering an overall podium place, a mammoth achievement. It wasn’t to be however when the car had a mechanical issue around 6:30am leading to a 90 minute pitstop which cost them 15 positions.

They re-entered the field in 19th spot and clawed back those places without further mechanical troubles.

“Not one of the drivers made a single mistake throughout the 24 hours, and that is something really special, especially in such tricky conditions. We had oil on the track, we had water when we were on slicks, we had all sorts of changing weather. It was slightly disappointing that we missed an overall podium – but if you’d told me before the race that we’d be in with a chance, I’d have said, ‘Come on, that’s not realistic.’ I am really proud that we finished and I’m much more relaxed now about the NISSAN GT-R’s final race of the season, at Zolder. Spa was the main test for us, and we now know we can last 24 hours!”

Michael Krumm, Nismo

In further GT1 GT-R news, the team has announced the previously undisclosed final race for the 2009 development season will be on the 25th October 2009 for round 8 at Zolder in Brussels.

You can read the entire press release from Nismo after the jump. More GT-R specific photos hopefully to come from Nismo / Nissan in the coming week.

画像: (C) DPPI via FIA GT

Read more…

FIA GT1 世界選手権, モータースポーツ fia, gt, gt-r, gt1, gtr, nissan, r35

A “slight” headlight upgrade sees the GT-R ready for night racing and the 24hrs of Spa which kicks off today. The GT-R put in a good showing in qualifying in typical Spa weather. That is crazy… sunshine plus sudden thunderstorm… light rain and then torrential downpours.

On slicks in light rain the GT-R, Michael Krumm put in a great effort for position eight on the grid on just his second lap. The very next lap was looking good for sixth or seventh put was aborted due to sudden heavy rain

…when I was on my next lap, I was scheduled for about P6 or P7, but just 2 corners before the start/finish line there was suddenly a “curtain” of water right in front of me. It was a rather amazing experience. It was very unreal to see this heavy rain just starting at exactly one spot. Of course when I entered this curtain of water with slick tires, there was no way to continue even one corner so I had to abort the lap…

Michael Krumm

While the grid position is good, it means very little in a 24hrs endurance race where strategy matters far more. The goal here is still just finishing.

The race can be watched live online at GTRLive.tv thanks for Gigawave.

画像: DPPI via FIA GT
リンク: GTRLive.tv – Live Action Stream from 24hrs of SPA

FIA GT1 世界選手権, モータースポーツ fia, gt, gt-r, gt1, gtr, nissan, r35, spa

The highlight of the summer for the FIA GT 2009 championships is coming up this weekend, the Total 24hrs of Spa in Belgium. This race marks the third out of four total races that the 2010 GT1 specification Nissan GT-R is entered in this year as part of the development program. This year is not the first time a GT-R has contested the Spa 24hrs, back in 1991 the Zexel Group A R32 GT-R won the race outright. While this year it’s all about developing the Nissan GT-R for the 2010 championship season and just finishing the grueling 24hrs, it’s sure going to bring an smile to European Nissan fans faces to see the GT-R back out there.

The FIA GT1 specification Nissan GT-R has come quite a ways since the program inception and has now over 10,000 km of track testing under it’s belt. Team Nismo / Gigawave seem confident that reliability is improving every race but, while they did finish round #3 at Oschersleben in Germany, there is a very big gap between that and a 24hr endurance event.

Spa is one of the most challenging tracks in the world. Full concentration is required on every corner here not to make a mistake. Because many corners are extremely high-speed, a mistake normally means the end of the race. Hence to race for over 24 hours at Spa is extremely exciting. Our target is of course to make it over the whole distance, not an easy target for a new car, but we will do everything in our power to achieve that goal. The Nissan GT-R is getting faster and more reliable at each event and so we hope to make another step forward for this all-important race at Spa!

- Michael Krumm, Driver, Nismo

To bolster the ranks for the race, Nismo have added ex Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson as the third driver for the race. Overall it should be a great race, the circuit is amazing, the weather is unpredictable and the GT-R is involved.

Check the Nismo press release after the jump…

画像: (C) DPPI via FIA GT
リンク: FIA GT Related Stories on GTRBlog.com

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FIA GT1 世界選手権, モータースポーツ 24hrs, fia, gigawave, gt, gt-r, gt1, gtr, nissan, r35, spa, ニスモ

The 2010 GT1 specification Nissan GT-R’s first race for 2009 kicks off this weekend, Sunday the 3rd at Silverstone Circuit in the UK. Michael Krumm and Daren Turner will be driving the Nissan this season but Krumm has not driven Silverstone himself since 1991.

It has been a long time since I raced in England. I believe the last time was in the Opel Lotus Championship in Donington in 1991. Unfortunately the circuit in Silverstone has changed a lot and the first thing I have to do this weekend is to obviously learn the track.

Interestingly Michael learns tracks by both driving them in practice sessions and through some less conventional methods;

Luckily there are lots of onboard videos available on youtube, so that really helps.

In practice the GT-R has lapped 13th quickest out of the combined 2009 and 2010 specification field, behind the two 2010 GT1 spec Ford GTs. Qualifying is Saturday and the final race is coming up on Sunday.

For live coverage of Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying you can log into the Live Stream at GTRLive.tv between 09:40 – 11:00 UTC and 15:45 – 16:20 UTC on Saturday 2nd of May.

Photos: (C) DPPI via FIA GT

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