HITA, Japan – Nissan completed its strongest Super GT performance of 2017 at Autopolis last weekend with all four Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 machines finishing in the top 10.
Veteran Satoshi Motoyama starred for Nissan in qualifying when he put the No. 46 S Road Craftsports GT-R on the front row of the grid in second place. He and teammate Katsumasa Chiyo battled strongly throughout the race to just miss out on a podium in fourth place.
Starting from 11th on the grid, the No. 23 Motul Autech GT-R had Ronnie Quintarelli at the wheel for the first stint, and he stayed out later than any other top running competitor before pitting at lap 40 to hand the wheel over to Tsugio Matsuda.
Matsuda continued the charge and finished the race right on the tail of Chiyo in fifth place – part of a line of four cars that were battling for second place overall.
The No. 12 Calsonic Impul GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Jann Mardenborough) and the No. 24 Forum Engineering Advan GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) both had strong races, rising from ninth and 14th on the grid to finish seventh and ninth respectively.
"For about the last 20 laps I was fighting it out, but the No. 100 managed to stay in front of me, which was pretty frustrating," said Chiyo. "The yellow flags came out, and although I aimed for my one chance to get through at the first corner, I couldn't hold onto the position. It's really disappointing to think that we were so close to a podium finish. However, we've clearly built up a car that is competitive, which I'm really appreciative of."
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— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) May 21, 2017
4 @KATSUMASA_CHIYO / @SatoshiMotoyama
5 @TsugioMatsuda / @R_Quintarelli
7 @hiroyasuda / @Jannthaman
10 @JPdeOliveira / @daikiwolf23 pic.twitter.com/0P1GtJYkpe
Super close at the finish at Autopolis. All 4 x #OMGTR's finish in the top ten. Great run by @KATSUMASA_CHIYO to just miss out on a podium. pic.twitter.com/j7RY7gC3k4
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) May 21, 2017
NISMO Calendar
May 27-28
Pirelli World Challenge, Lime Rock Park Park, Lakeville, Connecticut, USA
Nissan Micra Cup, Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Canada
June 3-4
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan, USA
24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day, Le Mans, France
June 17-18
24 Hours of Le Mans, Le Mans, France
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Contact
Paul Ryan
Global Motorsport Communications
Nissan/NISMO
Marketing and PR Manager
Phone: +1 678 644 0404
paul@nismosupport.com
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