Electrical Niggles Force GT Academy Team’s Retirement at Spa
After a spectacular opening to the 2012 Spa 24 hours, the GT Academy RJN Motorsport team were forced to retire from the race with undiagnosed electrical issues.
Having qualified in 41st on Thursday the team had plenty of work to do, but Alex Buncombe’s opening stint was exactly what was needed – gaining eight places to 33rd before handing over to Jann Mardenborough for the second hour. Jann – who’d never driven Spa before this weekend- immediately picked up where Alex had left off, gaining another 13 places in the next hour to put the big Nissan GT-R in 20th overall, running times equal to the top three cars.
Spa’s traditional weather intervened at that point and Jann was called in for a quick switch to wet tyres, but the car suddenly developed an electrical issue reminiscent of their Silverstone round of the Blancpain Endurance Series and the team pulled it into the garage.
The fault remained untraced but the car eventually got going again with Chris Ward, only to cut out two laps later halfway round the track at Radillon, forcing retirement.
Bryan Heitkotter’s excellent pole position didn’t prevent his race being brought to Earth in a similarly premature manner at Indianapolis. A first lap incident saw the Doran Racing 370Z lose position but, through torrential rain and red flags, Bryan and teammate BJ Zacharias brought the car home 10th overall.
Images courtesy of Nissan, Grand-Am and Red Square Images.
You should follow GTPlanet on Facebook, and on Twitter @GTPlanetNews. You can also get GTPlanet's news by full-text RSS feed, or delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.
Newest comments are displayed first.
-
August 2nd, 2012 at 8:00 pm - #legobrainboy
Those damn niggles always be causin’ trouble…
-
August 7th, 2012 at 12:19 pm - #RB26 2jz
Stupid niggles, can’t learn to go somewhere where they’re actually wanted
-
-
July 31st, 2012 at 11:39 am - #abigor
No DLC ???? LOL
-
July 31st, 2012 at 1:01 pm - #sumbrownkid
Just because you said that, you get this GTR and every time you are in first place the car dies due to “niggles”.
-
-
July 31st, 2012 at 10:44 am - #RedBullFan
HAHA WAYYYYYYY!!!!
-
July 30th, 2012 at 7:24 pm - #BrandonW77
I was at the Indy race and didn’t even know he was racing until they announced him. I’m pretty sure he had help with the spin but he actually did a great job charging back through the field. I think he might have been as high as 7th but fell back. Got to see him make a few good passes going into turn 1. :)
-
July 30th, 2012 at 9:48 pm - #tpark103
That’s good stuff.
-
July 31st, 2012 at 11:07 pm - #CudaMan
It was 30th to 4th in the first hour and a half. :) And yeah I had help into the spin. Glad you enjoyed the action in turn 1 – three wide many times. We had a winning car but lost out with the race control decisions surrounding the weather.
-
-
July 30th, 2012 at 3:07 pm - #mikeonthebike
Sorry to hear about the electrical niggles.
My dad said that word when I was working with him once and I said “you better be careful where you say that because I am sure a lot of people don’t know what it means and may take it the WRONG way”
“Niggles”
Verb:
Cause slight but persistent annoyance, discomfort, or anxiety: “a nasty leg wound which still niggled at him”.Noun:
A trifling complaint, dispute, or criticism: “it is an excellent book except for my few niggles”; “I have a few niggles about design”.-
July 30th, 2012 at 7:10 pm - #tpark103
Term of interment: What’s up my niggle? :)
-
July 30th, 2012 at 7:11 pm - #tpark103
Correct(stupid IPad): term of inderment
-
August 7th, 2012 at 12:21 pm - #RB26 2jz
@tpark103 oh yeah stupid iPad, always havin niggles and such… Actually mine is doin a great job, no niggles in my ipad
-
-
July 30th, 2012 at 5:51 am - #taboaamassa
Great video about the SPA 24h.
youtube.com/watch?v=bD2gBGLky9s
-
July 30th, 2012 at 10:51 pm - #A_Higher_Place
Thank you for sharing that! The amount of rain was insane!!! I hope one day Gran Turismo will incorporate those cars with that kind of damage!
-
-
July 30th, 2012 at 5:11 am - #COLOSAL TOSSLE
Was funny to see the mustang driver push the car over the line to finish,thats the FORD WAY!!!!
-
July 30th, 2012 at 4:36 am - #hazellnut134
I swear that the team have accidents every race
-
July 30th, 2012 at 2:52 am - #Racingworld68
Was there to support the Nissan, it was wonderfull to see them gaining place by place in the beginning of the race, I was so dissapointed when they had to pull out. Nevertheless well done, and the car had one of the best motorsounds :tup:.
Hope to see them again next year ! -
July 30th, 2012 at 2:52 am - #ChicoMaloXD
*Submits wishlist comment related to News article*
-
July 31st, 2012 at 4:46 am - #sangdude82
Haha :D
-
-
July 29th, 2012 at 10:28 pm - #grasso89
What a shame. They were doing so well. Btw, Audi.tv was a great stream for the race thanks
-
July 29th, 2012 at 5:50 pm - #Pit Crew
Interestingly enough, Kaz doesnt seem to have had the same issues in his GTR.
Maybe its the teams engineers and not so much NISSAN…
-
July 29th, 2012 at 10:11 pm - #TeamCZRRacing
Well that was a different car entirely from the one that the GT Academy is using.
-
July 30th, 2012 at 10:10 am - #Pit Crew
My point is that the engineers for Kaz GTR have a better handle on quality control, which lends to a more reliable and consistent car, whereas the team Janns racing with, after 2 races where rain has been a factor has suffered electrical “hiccups” resulting in an unworthy finish.
I kinda blamed NISSAN in an earlier post, but in hindsight may have let Janns team engineers off the hook for their role in that GTR’s catastrophic race.Janns still a beast.
-
August 7th, 2012 at 8:16 pm - #Kevin
I personally know both teams. Both as good as each other. There were a lot of electrical problems with many if the teams at Spa.
-
-
July 29th, 2012 at 5:44 pm - #kemikolx
the GTR looks awesome with those colors and that huge spoiler
-
July 29th, 2012 at 10:09 pm - #MOTORTRENDmitch
The GTR looks awesome because it’s actually a 370Z
-
July 29th, 2012 at 10:11 pm - #gamerdog6482
Despite that GT-R which is a 370Z actually being a GT-R, yes.
-
August 7th, 2012 at 12:22 pm - #RB26 2jz
Gamerdogs right, the GTR that’s actually a 370z that’s really a GTR is undoubtedly a GTR
-
-
July 29th, 2012 at 3:26 pm - #TokoTurismo
*Sigh* My thoughts told me something wrong was going to happen, and look, it was right… l:\
-
July 29th, 2012 at 2:58 pm - #TurboProp
They were probably too focused on the horn and getting just the right tone…
-
July 29th, 2012 at 2:37 pm - #Antonisbob
It’s a Nissan… what do you expect.
-
July 29th, 2012 at 2:40 pm - #gamerdog6482
A win.
-
July 29th, 2012 at 4:13 pm - #UrieHusky
Reliability?
-
July 29th, 2012 at 6:38 pm - #Antonisbob
Not I! They only made cool cars when they where called “Datsun”, and all those rusted out years ago.
-
July 29th, 2012 at 8:19 pm - #Warhawk339
Nissan hipster… =P
-
July 29th, 2012 at 9:14 pm - #Antonisbob
You could call it that XD
-
-
July 29th, 2012 at 2:18 pm - #Zuel
Two poles and still out of the top 5, that’s racing but it sucks.
-
July 29th, 2012 at 1:24 pm - #japlkofk69
Do not worry ppl! That gtr will be in the next dlc with the red designs
-
July 29th, 2012 at 1:21 pm - #A_Higher_Place
On another note. USA GT Academy 2nd place Sean Johnston is winning all over the place in his Porsche. He should have won that final Academy race.
GTPlanet on Google+
Idk what a niggle is, but The Elctrical Niggles Force sound like a fantastic band name