JRM Racing will start the Six Hours of Fuji, the seventh round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, from third in class and sixth overall on the grid. David Brabham was in the HPD ARX 03a hot seat for qualifying for the first time since the season opening race in Sebring and set a best time of 1:30.410 on his fourth lap on track. (Leia também em Português)

It had been a very positive start to the day as JRM Racing claimed the fastest privateer spot and P4 overall in the third practice session. David drove car #22 during the whole of the session, completing 20 laps and setting a best time of 1:30.432.

Tomorrow’s race will be the first time in 24 years that endurance racing reverberates round the foothills of Mount Fuji. The Six Hour race will be the penultimate round of the season and JRM Racing will seek to regain ground in the privateers’ championship, in which it is currently third, only 31 points behind second-placed Strakka Racing.

Quotes:

David Brabham:
“We were fast here during the Collective Test on Wednesday as well as during the weekend. The track conditions have changed a bit, but that was the best I could do today. Third in privateers' class is quite good and we are looking strong for tomorrow's race – we know we have good pace. Unfortunately we just didn't seem to be able to get the peak grip that you can usually get out of this set of tyres. The changes we made on the car in between the two sessions gave me more stability but I had less grip. Now having analysed the data, we've seen that my second lap was much faster than the first but I lost half a second in the last sector due to this lack of grip. But apart from that, I felt comfortable in the car and we are confident for the race”.

Nigel Stepney, team manager and chief engineer:
“We have had a strong pace during the whole week here in Japan, both at the Collective Test on Wednesday and during the race weekend, but unfortunately we could not set a lap like the one we did on Wednesday, going below 1 minute 30 seconds. We wanted to do two timed laps straight away but we picked up traffic and we had to lift to make a gap. All the same we're happy with the car's pace for tomorrow's race. A six hour race is long and we are okay on strategy for that so there is every reason to be positive”.

James Rumsey, team principal:
“Third overall in the privateer class is not too bad; if we can match that tomorrow we would be relatively happy. We have the speed in the car, as we showed on the Collective Test on Wednesday and this morning and we are confident in strategy, tyre wear and fuel consumption. We are starting in a good position near the front and we know we have a strong race pace, so we are looking forward to tomorrow and keeping positive”.



Lucy Genon