Shorter Suzuka sprint race looms in Super GT

Round three of the 2018 championship is this weekend with drivers facing a shorter 300km race

SUZUKA, Japan – Nissan's Super GT teams head for round three of the 2018 championship this weekend at Suzuka with drivers facing a shorter 300km race compared to the traditional 1000km event that's been held here in the past.

For 2018, Suzuka's schedule has expanded with a new 10-hour race for GT3 cars replacing the 1000km in August. The Super GT championship will now occur over the standard 300km race distance in a separate race weekend.

Nissan enters this weekend in the GT500 championship lead with Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda holding a five-point gap after winning at Fuji International Speedway.

NISMO's most recent success at Suzuka includes a pole position for Quintarelli in 2015 and a GT300 victory for the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 the same year.

Suzuka was also the venue for Mitsunori Takaboshi's GT500 class debut. The Japanese driver filled in for the injured Katsumasa Chiyo in 2016 at Suzuka with Satoshi Motoyama and excelled with a third-place finish.

Nissan's last Suzuka endurance race victory came in 2012 with Quintarelli and Masataka Yanagida. Nissan has also visited victory lane here in 2008, 2006, 1993, 1990, 1973 and 1970.

This weekend's Super GT round will again be live streamed on NISMO.tv on YouTube with the green flag scheduled for 2:40 pm Japan time, 7:40 am CET, 6:40 am UK, 1:40 am US Eastern and 10:40 pm US Pacific.

NISMO Calendar

May 19-20
Super GT, Suzuka, Japan
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Silverstone, England
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, Victoria, Australia
Nissan Micra Cup, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

May 19-20
Pirelli World Challenge, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT, USA

 

Contact

Anna Teslik
Global Motorsport Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: +33 7 7614 7286
ATeslik@nissan-europe.com

Paul Ryan
Global Motorsport Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: +1 678 644 0404
paul@nismosupport.com

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Get more information about Nissan motorsports on NISMO.com.