Nissan: Nissan GT-R takes victory in both GT500 and GT300 Class at Fuji Speedway

 

Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-pref., Japan – Nissan and NISMO have dominated the second round of the 2016 Super GT Championship, winning both the GT500 and GT300 classes at Fuji International Speedway.

Held on a Wednesday as part of Japan’s Golden Week celebrations, the #1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R of Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda took their second consecutive victory of 2016 after previous race leader JP de Oliveira suffered a tire failure with only four laps remaining – eliminating the #12 Calsonic IMPUL GT-R.

In GT300, the No.3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R charged to victory with former GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough taking his first win in Japan in only his second Super GT race start with Kazuki Hoshino.

The GT-R double win mirrored Nissan’s result here last year at Fuji when they won both classes in the 500km race.

The opening laps of the race had de Oliveira leading Satoshi Motoyama’s No.46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R with Quintarelli holding fourth position while battling with the 40kg weight penalty incurred after winning the opening round.

Quintarelli moved up to third half way through his opening stint. After lap 30, most of the leading contenders began to head to the pits for their first stops with Motoyama the first GT-R to pit to hand over to Katsumasa Chiyo.

The #1 GT-R pitted at lap 39 to refuel, change tires and switch drivers to Matsuda. The timing of the pit stops played a key role when the safety car (SC) was dispatched on lap 72 when one of Nissan’s rivals burst a tire that scattered debris all over the track.

Super GT rules now do now permit stops under the safety car, but Chiyo was forced to pit as the fuel tank in his No.46 GT-R began to run dry.

The safety car stop and the subsequent penalty served by Motoyama took them out of contention for the win. Most of the top contenders entered the pits at lap 78 when the race was resumed but Matsuda remained out on the track until lap 81.

Refueling just enough for the remaining 29 laps, the crew was able to shorten their pit stop time and send Quintarelli out for the final stint in first place.

A Nissan “Family Feud” kicked off between Quintarelli in the #1 GT-R and Oliveira in the #12 GT-R. Pole winner Oliveira was able to get by Quintarelli on lap 96, but with just four laps remaining, the #12 GT-R’s left-rear tire burst left rear tire at 100R and spun off course. Having moved back into the top spot, Quintarelli went on to pass the checkered flag and score their second victory in a row.

The No.45 GT-R finished seventh after their penalty stop while the #24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Masataka Yanagida) suffered contact and was forced to make an unscheduled stop – pushing them back to ninth. Despite the setback, Sasaki was still able to record the fastest lap of the race.

In the GT300 class, the No.3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Jann Mardenborough) took their first victory of the year after starting fifth. Mardenborough moved up to third in his opening stint that ran longer than his rivals ahead.

After pitting to hand over to Hoshino from the lead, lighting quick work by the B-MAX NDDP crew pushed the No.3 GT-R moved back into the top spot and they led for the remainder of the race. After two rounds of the championship, Nissan now leads the points in both the GT500 and GT300 classes.

Tsugio Matsuda
“I think that Ronnie putting in such a tough fight to drag out the first stint was the key to our success following the end of the safety car run in the second half. It’s not exactly a happy sight to see a fellow (No.12) GT-R taken out of the race in that way. Still, having been able to come out on top of a race like this one is really good for us in regards to the rest of the season.”

Ronnie Quintarelli
“We went into this race carrying 40kg of handicap weight, so I paid close attention to tire management when driving in the first stint. The team made a really good judgment with the pit stop timing. Tsugio went out for his stint with a full tank, which would have been pretty tough due to the weight, but he did a great job. For our final stint we were able to keep the refueling time down to a minimum, put the car out as light as possible, and this enabled me to push as hard as I did.”

Kazuki Hoshino
“Jann is proving to be a really fantastic partner this year and we’ve gotten off to a great start to the season. I had a pretty disappointing result here last year when victory slipped out of our fingers and I was determined to win today. We were able to win because of the hard work of the whole team, Jann, and the amazing performance we could get out of the tires Yokohama prepared for us. Thanks for all the support.”

Jann Mardenborough
“I feel great to be able to take victory in my second race in the Super GT. Kazuki and I both carried out a good race with no mistakes so I’m happy about that. The conditions were quite hot, the track temperature was pretty high, but our choice of tires stayed pretty consistent throughout our stints and in the last few laps we still had a good pace. It’s a shame about Autopolis but I’m looking forward to racing at SUGO, a track I’ve never been to before.”

 

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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