OYAMA, Japan – Former GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough has kicked off his 2016 debut season in Japan with recent testing for both Formula 3 and Super GT.
Mardenborough will drive in the GT300 class with Kazuki Hoshino in Super GT and contest the Japanese F3 championship alongside Katsumasa Chiyo.
He tested the F3 car for B-MAX Racing with NDDP in the pre-season championship test at Fuji Speedway in early March, his first time back in the category since 2013.
“Being back in the Formula 3 car was like seeing an old friend again,” said Mardenborough. “I appreciated it a lot more now a couple of years later. The car is incredible. It’s so agile, has so much downforce, and the driver has a big role in the balance of the car. At the test it was wet all day. It was my first time racing in the wet at Fuji. It’s pretty cool sitting in an F3 car doing 150 mph down the pit straight. In the afternoon, I was half a second quicker than anybody else in the wet, which was a great start. Having Katsumasa Chiyo is a good benchmark to have. Hopefully he sees me as the same thing as well so that we can both push each other along and that we can get good results throughout the year. To have him around, he speaks good English and hopefully my Japanese can get better as well so we can both communicate much easier.”
Mardenborough switched from Formula 3 and Fuji to GT300 and Okayama on March 8 and 9 for his first Super GT test of 2016.
“The Super GT test was also run in the wet and we were doing a lot work for Yokohama,” said Mardenborough. “The interesting thing about being on track with the GT500 machines is they are so fast. You exit one corner and head into another corner, and they’re already behind you flashing the lights. Overall the test was good – no damage. Everything that we wanted to test we tested and it was great to get some seat time in the GT3 again. It was my first time back in the car since Silverstone last year in Blancpain.”
The first round of the Japanese Super GT Championship will be held at Okayama on April 10 with the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship racing on April 23 and 24 at Suzuka.
NISMO Calendar
March 17-20:
V8 Supercars, Australian Grand Prix Support Race, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
March 22-23:
European Le Mans Series Official Test, Circuit Paul Ricard, France
March 25-26:
FIA WEC Prologue, Circuit Paul Ricard, France
April 2-3:
V8 Supercars, Symmons Plains, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
April 9-10:
Super GT, Okayama, Japan
Blancpain GT Sprint, Misano, Italy
# # #
Contact
Jane Johnstone
Marketing Communications Director
Global Motorsport Communications
Nissan/NISMO
Phone: +44 7979 710646
Email: jane.johnstone@nissan.co.uk
Paul Ryan
Marketing and PR Manager
Phone: +1 678 644 0404
Email: paul@nismosupport.com