FIA GT Barcelona 06/04/2003

Sumpter and Jordan tackle FIA GT

Mark Sumpter and Mike Jordan got their 2003 international racing programme off to a solid start in round one of the FIA GT Championship at Barcelona over the weekend of April 5/6. 

Despite a fuel pump problem that forced them to make more pit stops than expected, they finished an encouraging ninth in the N-GT class. Without the problem, a top six finish was well within reach.

With support from Paragon Porsche and John Guest, Sumpter and Jordan are competing in the most important and most competitive GT championship in the world in their Porsche 911GT3RS.  "It was absolutely brilliant," enthused Sumpter of the race weekend. "It was great just to be a part of it all and I'm really pleased that we've got the first race under our belt without any major dramas."  In qualifying on Saturday, they posted ninth fastest time in the 20-strong N-GT category. "In truth, our qualifying pace was a bit away, but our race pace was up there with them," explained Mark.  

On Sunday morning in the untimed warm-up session the Paragon car showed the first signs of the problem that would strike during the race. A misfire developed and in the time available before the race, the team worked hard to change everything that they could to try and cure the misfire. 

However, soon after Mark started the race, the problem returned.  "Because of the misfire, we were using the reserve fuel tank and pump and we were having to be very cautious on fuel," he said. That meant during the three-hour race, they were running 45 minutes between pit stops and made four stops instead of the expected three.   

"I was always thinking of it as a three-hour race," said Mark, who lost a couple of places in the early laps before regaining them ahead of the first pit-stop. That was how the race continued, and ninth place was the final result. "On our pace, we could have finished in the top six. The target for the weekend was to finish and we were well within ourselves in the race."  However, there is no doubt that this opening result has shown the team that a podium finish is within reach this season. "It is certainly as tough as we expected and the day we get on the podium will be our best ever result," reckons Mark.  

Throughout the weekend, aside from the misfire, the car performed superbly. "The car is capable of winning races. It is certainly the best prepared Porsche out there," says Mark, who is already looking forward to round two of the championship at Magny Cours (France) on April 27.