Peter Dumbreck and Michael Krumm led the Nissan charge in the FIA GT1 World Championship at Brno, adding another podium to their third place from the Qualifying Race the day before.
The pair, driving for British team Sumo Power GT took second from a start that Krumm described as “pretty confusing” when Tomas Enge, starting one place ahead didn't accelerate when the lights turned green. The German then inherited the lead when the leading Maserati was called into the pits to serve a penalty, a position it held until the mid-race pitstops under a safety car to retrieve two cars after an incident on track.
The field now bunched up, the Brno pitlane turned into one the busiest places in racing with all by six cars of the surviving field coming into for their tyre and driver change at once. The tight pitlane presented a problem to the Sumo Power team and Dumbreck, now installed in the car.
“With so many cars in the pits we got wedged in behind another car so the team had to push Peter back before he could rejoin the race,” explained Krumm. “It must have been a fantastic stop though as we still came out in third place.”
On the twisting Brno circuit Dumbreck was powerless to pass the Young Driver AMR entry for second, let alone challenge the Matech Ford GT for the win though the trio ran nose-to-tail throughout the second half.
Their teammates Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes spent the race struggling, having gone one during the first lap and slipped a lap down.
The de facto second Nissan team Swiss Racing Team left Brno satisfied they had found the necessary race pace, according to team boss Othmar Welti. Drivers Karl Wendlinger and Henri Moser rewarded the team's hard work to repair their car, taking the final, single point coming home tenth.
