Autoworld Blog

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

Two-time Sepang Super GT winner Michael Krumm today provided a sneak preview of the hot battle awaiting at the upcoming 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia at Sunway Pyramid and immediately declared that he was ready to claim his third victory on Malaysian soil.

Driving the Xanavi NISMO Skyline race machine, Krumm, who is a two-time overall champion, thrilled the crowd at the open car park area as he drummed the machine to its thunderous roar and making squeeking ‘dough-nut’ spins around the open car park area.

Speaking at a press conference before the Street Demo, the German driver said the 2008 Nissan GT-R machine would be ‘much more powerful’ than the one used at the street demo; adding the race in Sepang would be an exciting thrilling affair for the fans.

“What you are about to see here will just be a small portion of the real action that would be happening in Sepang next weekend; it’s just to give you a feeling of the atmosphere of the race,” said Krumm, who would be partnering Japan’s Masataka Yanagida for the race.

Sepang hosts Round 4 of a nine-round 2008 Super GT International Series, which Krumm said had not started to well for the team; leaving them in sixth position with 18 points. The series is currently led by their Nismo Xanavi team-mates Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer with 48 points.

After coming in second in the opening race in Suzuka, Krumm and Yanagida crashed in Round 2 at Okayama International Circuit and failed to score a single point in Round 3 at Fuji Speedway last month.

“I am looking forward to the Sepang race next weekend and for a change of luck for the remaining of the season. We would be going all out for the win and there is a 70 percent chance that we could do it,” said Krumm, who won in Sepang at the inaugural race in 2000 and in 2004 – all in a Nissan NISMO machine.

“In general, Sepang track favour the Honda NSX machines, so they would be strong. Having said that, it is very difficult to predict as the Super GT races over the last few years have been very close,” said Krumm, who hoped it does not rain next Sunday.

“I hope it will be very, very hot and very, very dry … I love it hot and dry,” said Krumm, who said that he had always liked the Sepang track because of its combination of fast and slows corners and its width that provide opportunities to try different racing lines.

Born on March 19, 1970, Krumm made an immediate impact in his racing debut in the German Formula Ford 1600 and won the German Formula Ford Series champion in the following year.

In 1990, he won the German Formula Opel Lotus Series champion and in 1993, Krumm won the All Japan F3 Championship before winning his first Japan GT crown in 1997.

“I have enjoyed my racing in Japan very much and I hope to continue to do this in a couple more years. It has been fun and exciting,” added Krumm.