Michael Krumm official site（ミハエル クルム オフィシャルサイト)

Little did we know when we arrived a the Ring that this would be one of the toughest races to complete for all of us. Our target to make a top ten result we just missed by coming home in P11. Nevertheless we actually had a perfect race with zero penalties and flawless pit stops. Even that should be a given and natural, but that is a feat that is not always easy to achieve at the Ring with all its different speed zones and special rules.

After enjoying my new role as a NISMO ambassador last weekend in Okayama, it was my turn to get behind the wheel this weekend at the Nurburgring. Since last December I haven't driven a race car and I wondered how that would feel. But funny enough once I was inside the cockpit and the door closed, I felt extremely comfortable as if there would have been zero off time. More than that, driving the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car is a big pleasure in the first place, but doing so at the great Nordschleife is just fun pure.

First of all, my apologies to everyone for not updating my blog for a while but I have been rather busy enjoying my GT-R Nismo N Attack...

After our disappointing race in Autopolis 2 weeks ago, we were hoping for more luck for the season finale. But weather wasn't really helpful for us, with it being wet until just the second stint of the race. So we just managed to qualify in P11. That would have still put us for a shot to get to the podium as we proved last year starting from last, that we could end up in P4. But we need dry conditions for that.

We came with high hopes to Autopolis, especially after we dominated the testing a month earlier there. In Qualifying we were able to achieve P4 which put us in a good position for the race. Unfortunately in the race things didn't go as planned, but such is racing. I took the start and was able to maintain P4 while I was looking after the tires, as Autopolis is one of the toughest circuits for tire wear.

After a tough Suzuka race we were finally back in good shape in Sugo. Starting from P5, we could achieve our second podium position of the year. Unfortunately it was not the top spot like in Fuji, but nevertheless a nice result for us. I took the start and immediately realised that our car balance was very good in the race and we had one of the fastest car on that day. But just speed is not everything at this very tight circuit.

I made a quick trip to the UK this week for some meetings and to receive the first Hard Back copies of the 2nd Edition of Driving on the Edge in English.

What’s different to the 1st Edition? I have updated the braking section with one new technique to counter snap oversteer at corner entries and added more details regarding circuit preparation. Other than that there are some different pictures and graphs in it.

As a driver (even at my age!), I am still learning every time I get in a racing car and I hope that you can continue to learn from this book as well.

After winning the last race in Fuji we had to carry some weight ballast for the Suzuka race. Daiki did a good lap in qualifying but unfortunately we couldn't make it to Q2 and had to settle for P11. The grid position really doesn't matter for a long race like that, so we were still full of hope for the race.
But on race day it was raining, so that wasn't really what we had hoped for our strategy. Nevertheless we were eager to get some points at least.

It was a nice comeback for me to the Super GT Championship with victory at Fuji. For a long time I was waiting for that day as I have not won in a long time in this championship. Last year in Thailand we were almost there, but had to settle for 2nd after some trouble hit us. This win in Fuji is very well deserved for the whole Kondo Racing Team and the super hard working Yokohama Tire team.
We qualified in P6 after I made some small mistakes in Q2 in sector 3, so we knew that the car had more speed and were looking forward to a strong result.

The first half of the 2015 season I spent testing and racing all around the world, including the N24 with Nismo and the Le Mans 24h. Now I'm back in Japan for the remainder of the Super GT season. Yesterday I tested in Sugo for the first time after a long absence. While I was away the pace of the cars has increased significantly, so I was a bit worried to get to grips with it at first. Improved downforce and engine power combined with continuous tire development have brought the Nissan GT-R's victory at the last two rounds, and lap times down even further.

For a racing driver their crash helmet is a very personal, piece of equipment. Some are literally in ‘love’ with their helmets and its design, while others don’t seem to care too much about it, it is simply an essential tool of our trade. I generally belong to the latter group, so it is kind of unusual for me to feel compelled to write a piece on the new Stilo ST5 Zero Helmet.

It was the big weekend for our LMP1 project at Nissan and its was an exciting 2 weeks in Le Mans to say the least. Since I drove the car the first time in November last year, the entire team has worked relentlessly to prepare 3 cars for the big race. It was a tough schedule and sleep was little but our main target was to bring at least one car to the finish line. And that was what we achieved in the end! So a big thank you to the entire team for that immense effort.

After our VLN Race a few weeks ago we were very good prepared for this years 24h challenge of the Ring. It didn't start to great for us though in qualifying as because of a penalty our fastest laps were canceled and we could not make the top 30 shoot out. So P31 it was. Nevertheless the grid position at this long race is not that important and wouldn't in the end influence the final result.

A busy testing schedule kept me flying all over the globe in the last couple of month. But with the Nürburgring 24h race approaching, we went to race there last weekend. Needless to say that it was a difficult weekend for us after the tragic events of VLN R1.