FIA GT1 World Championship
Abu Dhabi (VAE), March 25th/26th, 2011
The first race of the new FIA GT1 World Championship season took place last weekend in Abu Dhabi (VAE).
This season, Max Nilsson (SWE) will again compete for Swiss Racing Team. The team changed the brand recently for a lack of success in the previous year. This season the Swede will compete in a Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670 R-SV.
Since the decision to switch over to a new brand came very late, the weekend was very difficult for Nilsson. He had no opportunity to test the car before the Abu Dhabi race. A very short rollout provided a chance for a seating test and for checking if the car works without technical problems.
Max Nilsson used the free practice session on Wednesday to make himself familiar with the racing car. He completed the first few kilometres with his new partner, Jiri Janak (CZE).
His team decided to change the setup for the pre-qualifying session. However, it was not useful and was therefore changed back.
Nilsson, who is driver 1 in the Murcielágo #6 this year, completed the first qualifying session. However, since his tyre pressure was not ideal he did not reach the Top14 and therefore did not manage to qualify for Q2.
“I had a good speed in the qualifying race. The lap times show that I was able to keep up with the others. And I am very happy about that. It was great to see that it is possible,” says Nilsson.
Nilsson had a great start in the main race and managed to gain a few places before the first turn. However, he was forced to brake hard in the bulk which resulted in a flat spot. As a result he struggled with strong vibrations on the left front side. Nilsson decided to continue until the official pit stop in order to not lose valuable time in an additional pit stop. However, he was able to reach good lap times with this problem although the driving performance got worse and worse.
During the pit stop he handed the car over to Czech pilot Janak who could not finish the race because of a tyre damage in lap 24.
Max Nilsson, “The weekend was still very positive. I am happy with the speed of the car. However, in order to improve we need an opportunity to prepare better and test the car.”
The second race will take place in Zolder (BEL) in two weeks time.
