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News Archive » Podium in Germany for Niachos and Mullen May 2, 2010 The second International GT Open event of 2010 took place this weekend at the Nürburgring in Germany and the CRS Racing team came away with its first GT podium of 2010 after Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen took second place in the first of the weekend’s two races. Tim Mullen and Klaas Hummel qualified the CRS Ferrari 430s in second and 19th places respectively for the first of the two races. At the start of race one they both got away well and Tim jumped straight into a battle with one of CRS’ Le Mans Series drivers, Pierre Kaffer, who drives for a rival team in GT Open. Kaffer had to eventually give way to Mullen as he had picked up a slow puncture at the start of the race. Tim handed the Ferrari over to Chris Niarchos with a good lead and the CRS Team Principal set off to the chequered flag. He was forced to defend hard during the closing laps but Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet man! aged to slip past on the penultimate lap. Although the win slipped away the Niarchos/Mullen duo took CRS’ first GT podium of the year with their second place. Klaas Hummel also got away well in race one, avoiding any trouble and bringing the Ferrari in for Chris Goodwin at the halfway mark. Goodwin made his way through up to 15th, despite suffering from a slipping clutch in the latter stages. Race two was fought earlier today in tricky weather conditions. Overnight rain had left a drying track and the CRS runners took a gamble and opted to run on slick tyres, which turned out to be the right choice. Chris Niarchos, after starting in 15th place, was unlucky as he was hit by a spinning car, which damaged the Ferrari’s right rear toelink. He pitted for repairs but ultimately lost a few laps and had to treat the remainder of the race as a test session. In the sister CRS Ferrari, Chris Goodwin had a very good run and handed over to Klaas Hummel who brought it home safely in 12th place. “All in all, considering this is the second event for us in a new championship, it’s all going very well,” said CRS Managing Director, Mark Busfield. “It was brilliant to get the podium yesterday, especially as the guys have had to work incredibly hard here. Klaas and Chris (Goodwin) are still learning the car, as they have moved from GT3 to GT2 this year, and they are making fantastic progress. With all this in mind I think we can look forward to more good results at the next GT Open event at Imola.” ENDS |
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