2024.01.18

Nissan Announces 2024 SUPER GT Race Program! Chiyo/Ronnie to drive car No. 23!　Car No. 3 to be driven by Takaboshi/Miyake, and No. 24 by Matsuda/Natori

　On January 18th, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd. (NMC) announced the make-up of the Nissan teams for the 2024 SUPER GT season. Announced at this time were the GT500 class teams and the GT300 class official partner teams, while the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 teams will be announced at a later date.

　As with last season, four teams will participate in the GT500 class using the Nissan Z GT500, but as they seek to get back the season title, there have been considerable changes in the make-up of their driver teams. Also, cars No. 3 and No. 23 will change to Bridgestone tires this season.

　The central NISMO team car No. 23 will now be driven by the ace driver from the No. 3 team, Katsumasa Chiyo, who will pair with 4-time champion Ronnie Quintarelli. The Team principal will also be changed to Takeshi Nakajima.
　The car No. 3 team will be entered this season under the new name of NISMO NDDP. As its first driver, Mitsunori Takaboshi will now move up to replace Chiyo. And newly joining the team will be Atsushi Miyake, who until now has competed in the GT300 class and Super Formula. Again this year, the Team Principal will be Jiro Shimada.

　Returning from its position as car No. 1 last season, the familiar TEAM IMPUL No. 12 will return with Kazuyoshi Hoshino as Director and former GT300 champion Kazuki Hoshino serving as Team Principal in the second top position, while the drivers will be the 2022 champion pair of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette. The tire they use will remain unchanged with Bridgestone as the supplier.

　This season, joining the No. 24 KONDO RACING team, led by Team Principal Masahiko Kondo, will be Tsugio Matsuda, who drove for car No. 23 last season, and he will now take the position of first driver. Pairing with the veteran Matsuda will be Teppei Natori, who won one race last season with the KONDO RACING GT300 team. The tires they use will be using again are Yokohama tires.

　Again this season, there will be two Nissan/NMC official partner teams in the GT300 class, both supplied with the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 cars with technical support.
　The KONDO RACING team car No. 56 that has twice won the championship title will again have as its first driver Daiki Sasaki, who has competed in the past for the team’s GT500 entries. He will have as his teammate Joao Paulo de Oliveira, who has twice contributed to team championship titles. These two drivers, who have both experienced victories in the GT500 class will now be aiming to win back the GT300 title.

　The other team is the HELM MOTORSPORTS car No. 62 (race number not yet decided) that is entering SUPER GT for the first time and will compete with former GT300 champion Hideo Fukuyama as Team Principal. Its ace driver will be Kohei Hirate, who competed in the GT500 class until last year, and he will be joined by the brothers Yuya Hiraki and Reiji Hiraki, who are returning to SUPER GT to join the team in their search of victory.

　In this release presented at the announcement conference, CEO Takao Katagiri of NMC, which serves as the business unit head of Nissan Motorsports, had the following statement to make about their aspirations for this season.
He said: “We look forward to once again sharing the excitement of motorsports with our fans. Pre-season testing starts soon and we’ll make sure the teams are ready to race. This year we aim to win back the Super GT GT500 championship. With this goal in mind, we’ve restructured our four teams and brought talented young drivers on board.” About the aims in the GT300 class, Karagiri went on to say: “We aim to recapture the Super GT GT300 class title and to this end will provide comprehensive support to our official partner teams, including factory drivers.”

 

 

Excerpts from the Nisssan News Release below
■Nissan/NMC announces 2024 Super GT teams
https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/2024-super-gt-gt500-class-driver-lineup

 

 

 

Four Nissan Z NISMO GT500s will compete in the Super GT GT500 class.

 

Car no.	Team	Team principal	Driver	Tires
3	NISMO NDDP	Jiro Shimada	● Mitsunori Takaboshi (JPN) ● Atsushi Miyake (JPN)	Bridgestone
12	Team Impul	● Kazuyoshi Hoshino 　(Director) ● Kazuki Hoshino 　(Team principal)	● Kazuki Hiramine (JPN) ● Bertrand Baguette (BEL)	Bridgestone
23	NISMO	Takeshi Nakajima	● Katsumasa Chiyo (JPN) ● Ronnie Quintarelli (ITA)	Bridgestone
24	Kondo Racing	Masahiko Kondo	● Tsugio Matsuda (JPN) ● Teppei Natori (JPN)	Yokohama

 

 

Nissan/NMC welcomes new official partner Helm Motorsports and the continued participation of Kondo Racing. Both teams are being supplied with a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and technical support.

 

Car No.	Team	Team principal	Driver	Tires
56	Kondo Racing	Masahiko Kondo	● Daiki Sasaki (JPN) ● Joao Paulo de Oliveira (BRA)	Yokohama
62*	Helm Motorsports	Hideo Fukuyama	● Kohei Hirate (JPN) ● Yuya Hiraki (JPN) ● Reiji Hiraki (JPN)	Yokohama

 

*Application in process

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