YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan unveiled its 2018 motorsport plans in Japan on Saturday with the stars of the Super GT championship gathering at global HQ to meet the fans.
Nissan/NISMO enter the 2018 championship with an updated team and driver line-up, with NDDP Racing with B-Max making its GT500 debut as a team and Japanese Formula 3 champion Mitsunori Takaboshi ready for his first full-season of GT500 competition.
The No. 23 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 of Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda begin their fifth season together as a pairing – the Italian and Japanese combination looking to score their third championship together.
"We've been teammates for so long," said Quintarelli. "I think over time the relationship has improved for the better and we are on the best terms now. We won the title in 2014 and 2015, and we were almost there in '16 and '17, so we know we can do it. Along with Tsugio, and the whole team, we're going to work very hard to try and bring that win home."
GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough begins his second GT500 season with a new teammate – young Japanese star and two-time GT500 race winner Daiki Sasaki.
"I worked with Sasaki-san two years ago in Formula 3 as a teammate," said Mardenborough. "He's really fast, and we're both the same height, which is useful in driver changes. In testing so far, we've been very quick, both of us the same speed. I'm looking forward to the season. In the test, the feeling in the car was a lot better. I really enjoyed driving the car. It was fun for the first time since Thailand last year. We found some new settings, learning different tires, and it was good. I enjoyed it."
🎬 All our @SUPERGT_JP stars got to meet the fans yesterday. Watch the full "talk show" from the live stream on NISMO TV by clicking here: https://t.co/cvjoQQoHuV
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) February 25, 2018
Listen what @Jannthaman had to say about his new teammate @daikiwolf23. pic.twitter.com/bTfTnhwOyj
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Nissan / NISMO Super GT 2018 teams and drivers
Veteran Satoshi Motoyama and Katsumasa Chiyo begin their third season together this year but will drive for NDDP Racing with B-Max. Takaboshi will join JP de Oliveira aboard the Forum Engineering No. 24 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500.
Saturday's event was open to fans at the Nissan Gallery at global HQ with the 2018-spec GT500 and GT300 GT-Rs on stage with the drivers and team executives.
The opening round of the Super GT Championship will be held at Okayama on April 7-8.
Watch the entire launch event at global HQ below.
See the massively revised 2018-spec GT-R GT3 hit the track at Fuji Speedway as development driver Michael Krumm gave three new customer GT-R's their shakedown.
NISMO Calendar
March 1-4
Adelaide 500, Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Adelaide Street Circuit, South Australia, Australia
March 6
Nissan FIA Formula E Concept Livery Reveal. Geneva Auto Show, Switzerland
March 15-17
12 Hours of Sebring, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida, USA
Contact
Anna Teslik
Nissan
Global Motorsport Communications Manager
Phone: +33 7 7614 7286
Email: ATeslik@nissan-europe.com
Paul Ryan
Nissan/NISMO
Global Motorsport Communications
Marketing and PR Manager
Phone: +1 678 644 0404
Email: paul@nismosupport.com
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