JRM Racing’s Blancpain Endurance Series weekend at Silverstone got off to a mega start today with the #23 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car of Peter Dumbreck, Steven Kane and Lucas Luhr setting the fastest time of the day.

Peter clocked a lap of 2:01.386 in the 75 minute pre-qualifying session, getting within a second of the pole time set in 2012. The #230 Pro Am car of Matt Bell, Charles Bateman and Humaid Al-Masaood enjoyed a similarly productive day as they led the Pro Am classification for a large proportion of the afternoon. The trio eventually finished P7 overall in pre-qualifying, second quickest in class.

‘It’s good to be back on top, even if it’s only free practice,’ said team manager and chief engineer Nigel Stepney, ‘Monza was a hard event but we have worked to understand the car a lot more since then, and I think this is reflected in the times both cars set today. We ran through the programme and completed everything we wanted to do today – evolving the set-up from practice to pre-qualifying and getting a clear direction for the Pro and Pro Am cars.

‘On both cars we went from race to qualifying and back to a race set-up, making small movements as we went. We are also getting a handle on the tyre wear. In the morning we used the carry over tyres from Monza and they stood up very well actually. We know we are harder on tyres than most other cars so it is a positive surprise here this weekend. We tend to get two to three laps peak from a new set but then the wear is fairly consistent so you can balance the car throughout a stint.’

‘That was a positive note to end the day on,’ Peter added. ‘Silverstone has historically been a good circuit for Nissan and today it’s been that again, with two Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s in the top two. We seem to have made the power delivery a lot more effective here. In terms of programme we tried out a set-up in the morning that worked really well and then chipped away at it in the afternoon.

‘It’s difficult to know where we are in relation to the other teams as everyone will have been trying out different fuel loads and tyres, but it’s always good to see your name on the top of the timesheets going into qualifying.’

The result came after a solid day of running for JRM Racing. The action got underway with the one hour Bronze driver test in the morning. Humaid Al Masaood was out in the #230 Pro Am Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 for his first laps of the new Silverstone configuration. The London-based driver, who hails from the UAE, had previously driven the circuit in its old layout in a Radical, so this practice was crucial in his preparation. He completed 15 laps with a best time of 2:06.720.

After an hour break it was back on track for a 90 minute session for all drivers. Northern Irishman Steven Kane, who now lives just a few miles from Silverstone in Northampton, was first out in the #23 Pro Car. Next up was Lucas Luhr, with Peter Dumbreck completing the last stint. The trio ran 23 laps in total, finishing in 12th overall with a best time of 2:03.825 after a mid session set up change.

In the Pro Am car (#230), Matt Bell opened the practice session, with Charles Bateman next up and Humaid in last following his earlier Bronze test. The crew made great progress over the 90 minutes, finishing in 6th overall with a best of 2:03.398, before going even quicker in the pre-qualifying session in the late afternoon.

Qualifying takes place tomorrow at 09:00hrs, with the three-hour race getting underway at 14:50hrs.

Source : JRM Racing