Nissan Motor : THE OPENING ACT FOR THE " 3 ROUNDS OF SUMMER." EXPECTATIONS ARE BUILDING FOR THE GT-R TO TAKE THREE STRAIGHT VICTORIES.

July 9, 2014

NISSAN Motor Co., Ltd.
NISSAN Motorsports International Co., Ltd.

The 4th round of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, the SUGO GT 300km RACE, will be held over July 19th-20th at Sportsland SUGO, located in Murata, Miyagi Prefecture. Since 2005, this round has been held immediately after the beginning of summer vacation in late July and, in combination with the races held at Fuji and Suzuka, receives a great deal of attention as part of the "three rounds of summer."

Sportsland SUGO is a circuit which combines the technical layout of its first sector with the high-speed layout of its last sector and the key point for the time attack lays in a full throttle charge from the last corner until the uphill home straight. Before the season opened, the course was refurbished and the road surface renewed which will undoubtedly lead to speeds that are faster than ever. Furthermore, although the GT association had initially specified that each car was to race with high down force specs, it was felt by some that the rise in cornering speed was excessive and could be dangerous. Due to this it was decided that, beginning from the previous round in Autopolis, low drag specs would be used.

Starting from this season GT500 vehicles are required to conform to DTM technical regulations and the Nissan/NISMO developed NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 has equipped the common carbon monocoque with their independently developed 2 liter, inline 4, direct injection turbo engine. It is really a whole new package. Even in this GT500 class where the standardization of specs has occurred to a scale not seen until now, the GT-R has overwhelmed its rivals, showing particularly impressive aerodynamic balance in the low drag specs at round 2 in Fuji and round 3 at Autopolis, and is now on a 2 race winning streak.

As with last year, Nissan is competing with 4 teams and 4 cars beginning with NISMO's #23 "MOTUL AUTECH GT-R" (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli), which took its first victory of the season in the last round at Autopolis. They are joined by IMPUL's #12 "Calsonic IMPUL GT-R" (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paolo de Oliveira), which won the second round at Fuji, KONDO RACING's #24 "D'station ADVAN GT-R" (Michael Krumm / Daiki Sasaki) and MOLA's #46 "S Road MOLA GT-R" (Satoshi Motoyama / Masataka Yanagida). As for their tires, the #46 and #23 are sporting Michelins, the #12 is riding on Bridgestones, and the #24 equipped with Yokohamas.

The regulations this year are similar to last year in that, until the middle of the season, vehicles will be mounted with 2kg of weight for every point they have earned. However, if the weight exceeds 50kg, power will be limited by a fuel restrictor (a device that regulates the flow of fuel) equivalent to 50kg. The #23, currently 4th in the rankings, and the top ranked #12 are both assigned with a fuel restrictor in addition to 4kg and 34kg of weight respectively. The #46 and #24 are equipped with handicap-weights of 16kg and 32kg respectively. At the official tests conducted in May, tests were carried out which gave full consideration to conditions such as restrictors and handicap weights. Here they were able to rack up laps with consistent times and the cars displayed great responsiveness.

As the only domestic FIA GT3 machine, the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3 makes up the majority in the GT300 class and the #3 "B-MAX NDDP GT-R" combination of Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordonez are in the spotlight since competing in the Le Mans 24 hours and the 24 Hours Nürburgring. These two are set to attack the middle of the season with an entirely new mindset. SUGO is a good course for the mighty force of the GT-R. Along with a 3 race winning streak in the GT500, the hopes for a first victory in the GT300 are steadily growing.

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