MICHAEL KRUMM, NISMO TAKES POLE POSITION IN SUPER GT RACE
Desperate for championship points, Michael Krumm took his NISMO Nissan GT-R to the top of the grid after taking pole position in qualifying at the 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia at Sepang Circuit today.
“It will be good to win tomorrow; but what’s more important is to collect as much championship points as possible,” said Michael, who would be seeking his second win in Sepang after topping the inaugural race in 2000.
Partnering Masataka Yanagida, Michael said that starting from pole position would provide them ‘the prime position’ to take control of the race; but he was quick to add that it would be a very tough race tomorrow.
“The race is going to be very hot and very tough. The Honda machines have always been fast in Sepang and I expect them to be very quick as well tomorrow. However, we have a very good car and we are ready to go all out for victory,” said Michael, who clocked 1 minute 55.155 seconds around the 5.543-km Sepang Circuit.
A two-time overall champion, Krumm also said that he benefited from his early stay in Malaysia when he joined Sepang International Circuit and the GTA team in some promotional activities for the race.
“It’s good to be here early and get acclimatized for the race. The weather here is very hot and challenging. I also had a lot of training during my stay here and that obviously helped me,” said Michael who arrived in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.
Sixth in the overall standings and failing to collect a single point in the last two races, Michael said that he would need to score points in all upcoming rounds because the rules would take into account only seven best results from the nine rounds.
Former F1 driver Ralph Firman, driving a Honda NSX, was second fastest with a time 1 minute 55.356 seconds and Toshiro Kaneishi, in another Honda NSX machine, was third fastest with a time of 1 minute 55.443 seconds.
Representing Team Cusco Racing, Kuota Sasaki was fastest in the GT300 class with a time of 2 minutes 7.530 seconds in his Subaru Impreza machine.
Sepang hosts Round 4 of the nine-round championship and the race tomorrow starts at 4pm
SUPER LAP – RESULTS
Top Five Finishers
GT 500
1. MOTUL AUTECH GT-R – Michael Krumm
2. ARTA NSX – Ralph Firman
3. REAL NSX – Toshihiro Kaneishi
4. WOODONE ADVAN CLARION GT-R – Joao Paulo Lima
5. TAKATA DOME NSX – Takashi Kogure
GT 300
1. CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZ – Kota Sasaki
2. RACING PROJECT BANDOH – Manabu Orido
3. ARATA Garaiya – Shinichi Takagi
4. JIM GAINER – Tetsuya Tanaka
5. TEAM DAISHIN – Takayuki Aoki
