CRS RACING CELEBRATE MAIDEN GT OPEN VICTORY IN ITALY<br />

News Review

CRS RACING CELEBRATE MAIDEN GT OPEN VICTORY IN ITALY
CHAOTIC LE MANS SERIES EVENT FOR DREAMCARHIRE SPONSORED CRS RACING
PODIUM IN GERMANY FOR NIARCHOS AND MULLEN
DRAMATIC START TO GTO SEASON
WHAT A WAY TO START!HALF TIME REPORT FROM RICARD
DREAMCARHIRE.COM PARTNERS WITH SPORTSCAR RACING TEAM
CALIFORNIA DREAMING?!

CRS RACING CELEBRATE MAIDEN GT OPEN VICTORY IN ITALY

dreamcarhire sponsored CRS Racing took the first GT Open win for a British team at the weekend, with Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen driving to a superb victory at Imola in Italy at the weekend.

Simon Thrussell, Managing Director, dreamcarhire congratulated the team saying, “It’s a great result for the team to be on the top step of the podium in only the third race weekend of the season. As the leading British supercar hire company, it’s good to see a British team achieving success on an international stage. I’m sure it will be the first of many wins for the team in GT Open.”

In race one on Saturday afternoon Tim Mullen got away well in the No.91 CRS Ferrari. He started from fourth on the grid and made his way right up to second place by lap four. He held this position until the pit stops when he came in to hand over to Chris Niarchos. Chris had a great run, taking the lead at one point and having a fantastic battle with the No.12 Aston Martin, before an uncharacteristic spin dropped him down to fourth. The duo finished the race in sixth position.

Klaas Hummel started race one in the No.90 Ferrari, moving up from 17th to 15th during his run. Once the race re-settled after the pit-stops, Chris Goodwin was behind the wheel and running in 18th place. Some great driving saw him move right up to 13th before another car turned in on him at turn eight, breaking his steering and forcing him to retire on lap 30.

Qualifying had been tough for the second of the weekend’s two races as the team struggled with the balance of the Ferraris on a greasy track. Chris Niarchos lined up in 16th place with Chris Goodwin just ahead of him in 13th. The start itself went well for CRS but then all hell broke loose on the start/finish straight, which resulted in four wrecked GT cars and a red-flagged race. Niarchos and Goodwin were well ahead of this so avoided the melee and lined up to wait for the restart.

When the restart came Goodwin came through in seventh place with Niarchos right on his tail in eighth. It wasn’t long before the pit window opened, as the clock hadn’t stopped ticking when the race was stopped, so Niarchos dived in to hand the Ferrari over to Tim Mullen.

“It was an inspired move by the team,” said Niarchos. “It meant that Tim went out on a clear track and was able to bang in some very quick laps before everyone else pitted. The net result was that we took the lead so it was definitely a good call. It’s very rewarding for us to take our first GT Open win and it’s also good to be the first British team to do so. Let’s hope we can continue the trend next time out.”

Klaas Hummel’s prowess as a racing driver is growing every day, helped in no small part by a productive test at Spa last week.

“Klaas is driving with a lot more confidence now,” commented Niarchos. “He did a great job in yesterday’s race, driving very well and steadily picking up places. He did a good job again today when he took over from Chris Goodwin. He had a bit of a spin at Rivazza towards the end of the race, which flat-spotted his tyres. He came in because he thought he had a puncture but it was all okay. It’s good to see him making improvements all the time.”

CHAOTIC LE MANS SERIES EVENT FOR DREAMCARHIRE SPONSORED CRS RACING

Dreamcarhire sponsored top sportscar team, CRS Racing, finished the second round of the 2010 Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium in sixth and 15th positions respectively for the No. 91 car of Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Mullen and the No. 90 entry driven by Pierre Ehret, Phil Quaife and Pierre Kaffer. Today’s six hour race featured a bizarre red flag stoppage for a local region power cut and numerous safety car periods after track accidents, with the first of these just four laps into the race.
Mullen started the race for the No.91 entry and Kaffer was behind the wheel on the grid for the No.90 car. Both made good starts when the race took the green flag this morning. They ran steadily in third and fourth places, while a number of the LMP cars struggled to cope with the tricky conditions caused by light rain falling during the opening phase of the race, which brought out the first safety car period. Another LMP incident triggered a second safety car period, which the dreamcarhire backed CRS Racing used to pit both cars returning to the track with Andrew Kirkaldy at the wheel of the No.91 Ferrari and Kaffer remaining in the No.90 to complete a double stint.
“It wasn’t raining too much,” said Mullen. “The unfortunate thing though was that it was wettest at Eau Rouge. Pierre and I were closely matched throughout the stint, with him quicker than me in some parts and me faster than him in others.”

One and a half hours into the race the trouble began for the No.90 Ferrari. Contact with a BMW left Kaffer with a damaged radiator so he had to pit for repairs. Kirkaldy meanwhile was running strongly in No.91, leading the race. At the two-hour mark Kirkaldy was still in the GT2 lead and Ehret was strapped into the repaired No.90 Ferrari, ready to rejoin the race. However, just as he headed out onto the track the race was red-flagged.

A local power cut had disabled the timing systems at Spa a few minutes earlier and it was decided that the race would have to stop until the problem was fixed. Ehret had only just joined so he was okay but Kirkaldy was due for a pit stop as he was almost out of fuel. When the race eventually re-started over 30 minutes later everyone crossed their fingers, hoping that Kirkaldy would have enough fuel to make it around to the pit lane.

“At the restart I could barely get up the hill at Eau Rouge,” Kirkaldy said. “Once I made it to the top I stuck it in sixth gear and cruised around the lap so I used as little fuel as possible.”

With the No.91 car back in the pits Kirkaldy handed over to Mullen whilst Pierre Ehret continued his run in No.90 after having to stop briefly a second time for the crew to finish off repairs after the earlier accident.

With three hours of the race left to run, Mullen was running in fourth place, dropping back after serving a stop-go penalty for a racing infringement, crossing the line at Eau Rouge. At the end of his stint he handed back over to Kirkaldy, who had a good run up to third place before Mullen jumped in again for the final hour.

Quaife had a good run on the No.90 Ferrari, although the car was well down the order after its trip to the pits earlier in the race. “It seems that we also suffered damage to the front splitter so our aero was affected,” explained Quaife. “I was getting more and more understeer as I went on which in turn hurts the tyres so it was quite hard work. I had a few good battles out there but there was no point taking any risks in the position we were in. It was all about getting miles under our belt and bringing it home for the team.”

Simon Thrussell, Managing Director, dreamcarhire said of the weekend, “CRS Racing put up a good fight in Spa and all credit to them, especially for the fifth place finish, under very unusual circumstances. I wasn’t able to travel to Spa, but was pleased, and proud, to see the prominent dreamcarhire branding on the CRS Racing car on the Eurosport coverage. Reaching this huge Europe-wide audience with live coverage and plenty of footage of CRS Racing was great for us!”

After completing six race weekends on the trot, from Formula Renault to Open GT and the Le Mans Series, the CRS Racing team is heading home for a well-earned weekend off.

About CRS Racing

Since its formation by Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy in November 2007, CRS Racing has become one of the UK’s top motor racing teams, winning two championships in its first year of competition. In 2010 the team’s GT arm is running Ferrari 430s in the Le Mans Series and the International GT Open. In single-seaters CRS runs a four-car Formula Renault UK team and has recently gone into partnership with Atech GP to run three cars in the new GP3 Series.

PODIUM IN GERMANY FOR NIARCHOS AND MULLEN

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 managed 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.”

DRAMATIC START TO GTO SEASON

The International GT Open season started with a bang for CRS Racing when Chris Niarchos was left with nowhere to go at the first corner of race one.

The conditions in Valencia were tricky and the race was to start on a drying track but on the formation lap a few cars, include the pole position car, went off so as the field came through to the start/finish line the start was aborted.

“The guy who started way back in 24th didn’t realised the start had been aborted,” said Niarchos. “He flew past me at full race speed as we were all going steady at about 50kph. He spun going into turn one and as I came around he came right across my path, leaving me with no option other than to T-bone him.”

Klaas Hummel in the No.90 Ferrari managed to avoid the drama and came home in 20th place.

The first corner accident caused significant damage to the front end of the No.91 CRS Ferrari so it was a very late night for the team who worked until 2am to fix it.
Race two took place this afternoon in similar conditions but all the drivers were paying attention today so the start was clean. Tim Mullen started in the No.91 car which had been mended as much as possible but the damage had taken away part of the inside of the front of the car.

“This meant there was a howling gale blowing under the bonnet,” said CRS MD Mark Busfield. “The car was mechanically sound but aerodynamically it was pretty poorly. The net result of this was that the back of the bonnet started to lift, obscuring Tim’s vision.”
“The bonnet came up about six or seven inches,” said Mullen. “And when you sit as low as I do in the car it makes a big difference. I had to try and lift myself up so that I could see. It really wasn’t ideal as being able to see does really help when you’re driving a racing car!”

Between Tim and Chris they pulled in a seventh place finish that was commendable considering that the odds were against them. The sister Ferrari of Chris Goodwin didn’t fare so well. Goodwin lost a few places at the start but soon fought his way back through. Later, with Hummel back behind the wheel, going great guns, he braked a bit late for turn eight and got beached in the gravel, which ended their race.

“All in all it has been an interesting but frustrating first weekend in GT Open,” said Niarchos. “Race two was definitely one of the hardest drives of my life because, in addition to the bonnet obscuring our vision, the damage meant that we had no front end grip. Instead of downforce we had lift! It was good to resurrect some points and I want to pay a huge credit to the guys as they were the real heroes of the weekend. They really did an exceptional job. It’s annoying that we had the accident in race one but the in race two that same guy was running in fifth place when the guy in sixth fired him off so I guess you can say that what goes around comes around!”
Chris has now left Valencia and is hurtling towards London in his hire car. It’s going to be an epic road trip for Chris, Tim Mullen, Mark Busfield and Chris’ son, Xander. Let’s hope they have a lot of sweets to get them through the journey!

WHAT A WAY TO START!

The first event of the 2010 Le Mans Series provided enough excitement for a whole season of GT racing. CRS came away with a fourth place finish for the No.90 Ferrari, driven by Pierre Ehret, Phil Quaife and Pierre Kaffer. The No.91 car of Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim was in contention for a top result. It ultimately retired with a driveshaft failure but not before providing a lot of entertainment.
At the halfway mark Tim Mullen was running in second place and had just set his fastest time of the race. He was due in for a pit stop where he would be given fuel only as the plan was to double-stint his tyres in order to take a bite out of the race-leading Porsche’s advantage. The trouble is, he never made it to the pits. The team had lost radio contact with Tim so when the driveshaft problem struck he was unable to tell the pit crew what had happened.

“It happened as I was coming onto the back straight,” explained Mullen. “I managed to crawl around to turn ten but then there is a slight incline so I couldn’t go any further. It's a real shame as the car has been mega this weekend.”

In the meantime Phil Quaife was having a very competitive second stint. He caught and passed Ragginger’s Porsche, getting right into the groove this time around.
“I felt at home in the car right away this time,” said Quaife. “I’ve got my head around racing with prototypes now. I know what to expect and it all felt better from the moment I left the pit lane. The car ran faultlessly so I was very happy.”

Quaife came in and handed over to Pierre Kaffer who during his stint moved the No.90 Ferrari all the way up to third place.

Pierre Ehret was the next man in and he too put on a great show, holding his nerve when he was hit by a prototype, which punctured his front right tyre, forcing him to pit early.

“That hit lost us a lot of time,” said Ehret. “The fourth place finish is a fantastic result for us though. Phil and Pierre did a fabulous job, as did the entire team. It’s a great way to start the season!”

It was Kaffer’s stunning final stint that secured fourth place for the team. He was steadily catching Russo’s Ferrari and then with just 15 minutes remaining it started to rain. As the team watched with baited breath he took a massive chunk out of Russo’s lead and quickly passed him for fourth, bagging a good haul of championship points for CRS.
“It has been a great start to the season as CRS begins its inaugural LMS participation,” said CRS Managing Director Mark Busfield. “The team worked very well this weekend to get the cars on the pace and secure a good result for the first race. I think our performance showed a lot of promise. We’ve enjoyed our weekend and we have made some great new friends within the Le Mans Series so roll on Spa for the next installment of LMS action!”
AND ONTO THE NEXT ONE…
The CRS Racing team heads straight to Spain now for the first rounds of the International GT Open in Valencia. Tim Mullen is racing for CRS in both the Le Mans Series and the GT Open so this is a busy period for him.

“I’m off home now for a night then back on the road again as we have a test in Valencia on Wednesday,” said Tim. “The GT Open car is great fun to drive; it has a slightly different specification to the Le Mans series car but you get used to it very quickly and it has more power which is always good. There are some really good drivers in this championship and I hope Chris and I can do well and fight for championship.”

Tim’s team-mate is of course CRS Team Principal, Chris Niarchos, making his return to racing after winning the 2009 Citation Cup.

In the sister CRS Ferrari, Klaas Hummel is making the move up to GT2 (or Super GT as it is called in GT Open) and he will race as normal with Chris Goodwin.

HALF TIME REPORT FROM RICARD

The “8 Heures du Castellet” has reached the halfway mark and the racing is fast and furious at Paul Ricard. The pace being set in the GT2 class is turning this into an eight-hour sprint race.

Andrew Kirkaldy and Pierre Kaffer both had good starts; Kirkaldy moving up from third to second and Kaffer up to fifth from his seventh place on the grid. There was much shuffling of the pack during the opening laps. Kirkaldy found himself being passed by his old CRS team-mate Rob Bell at one point but he soon re-took the position. As the race settled down the top of the GT2 class was very tight and it was Kirkaldy and Kaffer who were scrapping over third place.

Just after the one-hour mark both drivers came in to hand over to Tim Mullen and Phil Quaife and immediately had an animated discussion about their on-track battle!

“The racing here is absolutely brilliant!” said Kirkaldy. “We were going three abreast into some of the corners and it doesn’t get much tighter than that. We have a slight problem with the gear change as the return spring has broken on the gear lever so you have to be incredibly precise when you select gears. I was hit twice by prototypes but other than that the car is great and it is a lot of fun out there.”

“The car feels perfect,” agreed Kaffer. “I had a really good start; the car was consistent and I could catch the guys at the front quite easily. The championship is very close and it was exciting to drive. Andrew and I had a great battle, passing each other three or four times. This is exactly as it should be, putting on a great show for the spectators.”

As the race approached the two-hour mark Tim Mullen was locked into a battle with the Ferrari of Toni Vilander for third place and Phil Quaife was running in sixth in the No.90 CRS Ferrari.

“It took me a while to get into my groove,” said Quaife once he had pitted to hand over to Pierre Ehret. “I was getting used to running with prototypes and maybe I was over-thinking it. It’s good to get the first stint out of the way and I think the next one will be much better. The car is running well; we have a bit of understeer but we have had that all weekend.”

Kirkaldy’s second stint provided the team with a great deal of entertainment as he soon found himself fighting ex-F1 star Giancarlo Fisichella for third place. The pair swopped places five or six times and it was the Scot who came out on top.

“Fisichella definitely had me on straight line speed but I think I had the upper hand through the corners,” he said. “This meant we were just switching places all the time. He made a mistake in the end though so I made a break for it!”

Four hours down, four hours to go and the first Le Mans Series race of the year shows no signs of slowing down. And Phil Quaife was quite right: his second stint is much better!

DREAMCARHIRE.COM PARTNERS WITH SPORTSCAR RACING TEAM

The leading supercar hire company dreamcarhire.com have partnered with top sportscar racing team, CRS Racing, sponsoring its Ferrari 430 GT race cars which are currently competing in the 2010 Le Mans Series and the 2010 International GT Open series. The company’s branding has prominent positioning on the doors of the team’s Ferraris, the racing version of one of the many different supercars available from dreamcarhire.

dreamcarhire Managing Director, Simon Thrussell, says of this new marketing initiative for the company, “These two top sportscar racing series have a significant and growing fan base and are an exciting sponsorship opportunity for us. There is an obvious fit for us, with CRS Racing running a track version of one of the models we have available. We are confident that the team can deliver us an excellent media presence and we will also be looking to leverage the sponsorship with hospitality and promotional activities, which will benefit our brand and our clients. We expect a significant commercial return on this programme and look forward to building our relationship with CRS over the coming months.”

CRS Racing Managing Director, Mark Busfield adds, "It's always good news when a racing team manages to sign a new sponsor nowadays but it's especially pleasing for us to welcome dreamcarhire to the team. The GT racing side of CRS is all about achieving success with prestige brands so we both understand each other’s business. We very much look forward to dreamcarhire becoming part of the CRS Racing team”.

CRS Racing will be sporting the dreamcarhire logo on the team’s two Ferrari 430 GTs at the next round of the Le Mans Series which will be held this weekend, 8-9 May, at Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The branding was also prominent on the team’s two Ferraris which competed in the second International GT Open event at Nurburgring in Germany. CRS Racing celebrated the team’s first podium of the season in this series, with a second place in the first of the weekend’s two races.

About CRS Racing

Since its formation by Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy in November 2007, CRS Racing has become one of the UK’s top motor racing teams, winning two championships in its first year of competition. In 2010 the team’s GT arm is running Ferrari 430s in the Le Mans Series and the International GT Open. In single-seaters CRS runs a four-car Formula Renault UK team and has recently gone into partnership with Atech GP to run three cars in the new GP3 Series.

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