FNIPPON: Michael Krumm Fuji report

Michael fights to the finish.

Formula Nippon
Round Two Fuji 7 April

The second event in the 2002 Formula Nippon Championship was held at the Fuji Circuit today. Unfortunately Michael Krumm and Team XBOX Impul continued to struggle to find competitiveness with the package.

Qualifying

Michael qualified in the same position as the first round - 12th - with a time of 1'16: 625.

"Today has been very difficult, we seem to be going in the right direction, but then the balance in the car goes completely and I cannot get a decent time out of the car. I have tried everything, but it just makes no difference, we have something very wrong somewhere but have not found the answer yet." Michael commented.

Race

From the beginning of the race, Michael found that his problems become even worse. He lost places in the first segment of the race and then managed to fight back to seventh position by the finish as others suffered with pit strategy and accidents.

"Today I am just happy to have finished the race in one piece, the car was really difficult to drive, and we still have a very inconsistent car with bad overall balance. But that was not my biggest problem as it seems like the brake balance has a mind of it's own. I kept locking front wheels and ploughing straight on in the early part of the race and this cost me several places. It did not matter what I did, but the braking was so inconsistent that I could never push with confidence. This is probably the worst race of my Nippon career and I am not sure what we can do to make the car better as we have not received any development parts from Reynard as yet and I am not sure if we will. " commented Michael

-lgm-