Hot on the heels of its first FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 Privateer podium placing in Japan, the British JRM team is looking for a repeat performance in the season-ending 6 Hours of Shanghai this Sunday, 28th October.
Driving the black and red No.22 HPD ARX 03a for the final time this year will be David Brabham, a former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, ex F1 driver Karun Chandhok and former Super GT star, Peter Dumbreck. The Indian driver is the only one of the three who has raced at the Shanghai International Circuit before, in F1 in 2010, and hopes that his experience with benefit the team.
David Brabham and Peter Dumbreck both come to China directly from competing in the Australian V8 Supercar invitational event in Surfers Paradise last weekend. Racing against other F1, Indycar and sports car stars David finished fourth and fifth in the double header, while Peter came home seventh and ninth.
David Brabham, No.22 JRM HPD ARX 03a: “I am really looking forward to going to China again and going to Shanghai for the first time. Pete and I don't know the circuit, but we have Karun in the team who drove F1 there, so he will be able to help us out. We had a really strong race in Japan and so we look to continue this into the last race.”
Karun Chandhok, No.22 JRM JPD ARX 03a: “Fuji was a positive result for everyone and it'll be good to go one better in Shanghai this weekend. I know the circuit from when I raced there in Formula 1 with HRT in 2010. It will be reasonably cool at this time of the year, which may not be ideal for us, as we seem to be better relative to the Rebellion cars in the hotter conditions, but let's see. The long straights will mean that overtaking shouldn't be too bad with slower cars at least, which is sometimes where we have been losing out. I really hope that we can finish the season on a high - James, Nigel and the guys have been pushing hard all season and it's always nice to go into the off-season with a good result. I'm going to be a bit hunting for a TV to watch the Indian GP on the weekend as well - especially as my dad's giving away the trophies!”
Peter Dumbreck, No.22 JRM HPD ARX 03a: “After a weekend of driving a 680bhp touring car it will feel nice to get back to the high downforce and strong braking performance of an LMP1 car! It will be my first visit to Shanghai so I'm looking forward to driving at another world-class circuit with the HPD car. We had a promising result in Fuji so I hope we can carry that form on to China and take another podium finish to end the season strongly.”
Nigel Stepney, Team manager and chief engineer: “Shanghai is a typical modern-style track with two very long straights, hairpins and low to mid speed corners round the back section. It’s not used a lot during the year so it is likely that conditions will evolve a lot over the weekend. This will increase the tyre wear but we feel we have got a much better understanding on the tyre performance now. Temperatures should also be a lot more consistent than they were in Fuji when the range varied considerably over the race. We know we are pretty economical on fuel usage and if the conditions are right we could even spring a surprise result, one better than Fuji.”
Fiona Miller (quotes from JRM team press release)
Photo: OYAMA-CHO (SHIZUOKA PREFECTURE, JAPAN), FUJI INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, 6 HOURS OF FUJI, SUNDAY 14TH OCTOBER 2012, RACE. The No.22 JRM HPD ARX 03a finished on the LMP1 Privateer podium in Japan.
