FIA GT1 World Championship
Navarra (ESP), October 22nd-24th, 2010

The eighth FIA GT1 World Championship race took place at the new circuit in Navarra, Northern Spain. Consequently, it was a new track for Max Nilsson (SWE).

The schedule was compressed into two days, leaving little time between the individual stints for the pilots and the team to do possibly required repairs or analyses.

Max Nilsson was happy with the free practice session but still can see no winning potential for the NISSAN GT-R compared to other cars. “The NISSAN is not suitable for slow turns. We always lose time there. At the track in Navarra I also had some problems with the understeering of the car,” says Nilsson.

Again the Swede was not able to participate in the qualifying because his partner Seiji Ara (JPN) did not manage to place the car in the Top16 in the first qualifying session. Nilsson started Sunday’s qualifying race from P18. He was able to gain a few places when a car in front of him spun and he was forced to brake and give up his line. After this Nilsson managed to pass Kuismanen’s (FIN) Corvette on the outside. Seiji Ara took the GT-R over from Max Nilsson in P9 and drove across the finish line in P13.

The Japanese started the championship race from P13. However, he was involved in a crash right at the beginning. Therefore he was forced to park the non-drivable NISSAN in the pit. The same happened to his team mate Karl Wendlinger (AUT).

Max Nilsson: “The track in Navarra is nice and was fun. Unfortunately the basic tuning of the car is still not right. However, it should finally fit after the seventh world championship race.”

The teams leave the European continent for the next and penultimate race. They meet again for the race in Brazil at the end of November.