2017.02.17

Mardenborough joins IMPUL! Nissan announces its 2017 program

In the afternoon of February 17, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. (NISMO) announced "2017 Global Motorsport Program." Two companies will introduce new "Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500" built in compliance with the new regulations of this season's SUPER GT GT500 class. Nissan squad will be competing with four cars across four teams to regain the crown they lost last year.

New 2017 GT-R that will be fielded in the GT500 class is developed in accordance with SUPER GT's 2017 technical regulations while incorporating the iconic design of Nissan GT-R NISMO (2017 model), which the new car is based on, and inheriting the speed and competitiveness of ancestor Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500. After its public appearance in November last year, the new GT-R has gone through testing in Japan as well as at Sepang, Malaysia, but the company revealed that improvement will continue until the season opener.

Looking across the teams, there is a change in the drivers’ lineup at No.12 car of TEAM IMPUL that ended last season with a win. Jann Mardenborough, who made his debut in GT300 class last year and won a race in GT-R, is moving up to GT500 to share the steering wheel of No.12 car in Calsonic blue with Hironobu Yasuda. Team Manager Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Bridgestone tire will continue with the team.
NISMO's No. 23 car will see no change other than the car number: drivers Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, Team Manager Yutaka Suzuki, and Michelin tire.
Joao Paulo de Oliveira has moved to ride in No.24 car of KONDO RACING after ending his tenure at IMPUL last year. He is teaming up with Daiki Sasaki, who was the core force of team's two wins last year, to form Nissan's ace team. There is no change in Team Manager Masahiko Kondo and Yokohama tire.
MOLA will continue to carry the car number 46 from last year with the combination of ace driver Satoshi Motoyama and Katsumasa Chiyo as well as Team Manager Toshiomi Oeki and Michelin tire.
Lastly, Toshikazu Tanaka, Corporate Vice President of NISMO, will continue to assume the role of Executive manager overseeing all Nissan teams.

In GT300 class, Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 developed by NISMO will be supplied again this year. One of it is No.3 car fielded by NDDP RACING, Nissan's driver development program, which Team Manager Masahiro Hasemi will continue to take the helm. The team will welcome back Mitsunori Takaboshi who has scored two wins in GT300 class two years ago. Last year, Takaboshi expanded his challenge to overseas races, and, in addition, he gained experience of competing in the GT500 class when he took the wheel of No.46 car at Suzuka to substitute for Chiyo who was absent due to injury. He will aim for the title along with veteran Kazuki Hoshino.

"We will be competing in this year's SUPER GT GT500 class with a new model based upon the 2017 spec GT-R NISMO. We have a firm determination to retake the series championship and, with this in mind, we have reevaluated our cars, drivers, organization and so on in order to ensure we are more prepared than ever. Our team structure consists of four seriously competitive teams that will all be aiming for the title. We will be pouring our souls into this season so we hope to continue to receive the passionate support that we have received from our fans thus far." NISMO CEO Takao Katagiri commented through a new release on their determination to show performance suitable to the name GT-R, which is an icon of Japanese motorsports, and to regain the GT500 class title.

 

 

2017 SUPER GT team structure (abstract from news release)

 

GT500

#23 - NISMO - Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli
Team Principal: Yutaka Suzuki
MOTUL AUTECH GT-R / Michelin

 

#12 - TEAM IMPUL - Hironobu Yasuda / Jann Mardenborough
Team Principal: Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Calsonic IMPUL GT-R / Bridgestone

 

#24 - KONDO Racing - Daiki Sasaki / João Paulo de Oliveira
Team Principal: Masahiko Kondo
Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R / Yokohama

 

#46 - MOLA - Satoshi Motoyama / Katsumasa Chiyo
Team Principal: Toshiomi Oeki
S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R / Michelin

 

GT300

#3 - NDDP RACING - Kazuki Hoshino / Mitsunori Takaboshi
Team Principal: Masahiro Hasemi
B-MAX NDDP GT-R / Yokohama

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