NISSAN is putting their poor performance at Zolder behind them as they look forward to this weekend’s third round of the GT1 World Championship in Portugal.
Zolder saw three of the four Nissan GT-Rs on the grid failing to complete each of the weekend’s two main races, with the no.23 JR Motorsports driven by Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr the only Nissan to finish in both instances.
But the Nissan teams are confident that the Portimão circuit in Portugal will be better suited to their GT-Rs.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Michael Krumm said: ‘Portimão should suit the GT-R’s strengths better than in Belgium, as Zolder requires a lot of traction out of slow corners, giving cars with a mid-engine setup a weight balance advantage.
‘In Portimão the corners are taken at much higher speeds, something the GT-R is absolutely brilliant at. Overall, it is a great track – with its big elevation changes it’s like a mini Nurburgring, and it’s not only a great pleasure to drive there, it’s also a big challenge for the drivers and the cars. There are not many modern tracks with such unique characteristics.’
Enrique Bernoldi, driver of the no.20 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R said: ‘Zolder was disappointing, but, on a personal level, not any more so than Abu Dhabi, where our car lost the race in the pits when we were leading.’