Japanese
On Jan. 18, 2021, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. (NISMO) announced the drivers of the Nissan affiliated teams that will participate in the GT500 class in the 2021 SUPER GT series. No announcements were made about the car names or tires to be used by the teams. Note that announcements about the full 2021 Nissan/NISMO motorsports program are to be made at a later date.
There will be four Nissan-affiliated teams participating in the GT500 class this season. For the No. 23 NISMO team that won two rounds last season, the team makeup with drivers Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli under the leadership of team manager Yutaka Suzuki that won consecutive championships in the 2014 and ’15 seasons remains the same this year. This team, which stayed in contention for a championship title until the final round of last season, will be trying to regain the title this year.
Car No. 3 of the NDDP RACING with B-MAX team will also enter the 2021 season with the same team makeup of drivers Kohei Hirate and Katsumasa Chiyo under manager Toshikazu Tanaka as last year.
Manager Kazuyoshi Hoshino will lead the No. 12 TEAM IMPUL, with first driver Kazuki Hiramine, who joined the team last year. Teaming with Hiramine will be Nobuharu Matsushita, previously active in formula racing like FIA F2. Matsushita was brought in hurriedly to drive the GT300 class car No. 55 in rounds 7 and 8 last season. That Round 7 was his SUPER GT debut race, and this season he will run for the first time in the GT500 class. In his peak as an athlete at the age of 27, all eyes are watching to see how Matsushita will use his formula racing experience as a driver in the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 machine.
The KONDO RACING team car No. 24 will have Mitsunori Takaboshi as its first driver this year, and he will be joined by Daiki Sasak, who drove impressively in the No. 12 car last season. Sasaki first drove in the GT500 class with the KONDO RACING team in 2014 and went on to win three races in four seasons. He returns to his former team again this season and will work with team manager Masahiko Kondo to win races and hopefully a long-awaited GT500 class championship.
Also, the 2021 season will once again see NISMO’s COO Motohiro Muramatsu continue his duties as the overall director of the four Nissan affiliated teams.
On the occasion of this announcement, NISMO’s president and CEO, Takao Katagiri, said, “At last, we will begin our tests for the SUPER GT 2021 season tomorrow (Jan. 19). We are presently engaged in preparations and development efforts to increase the competitiveness of the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500.” He went on to express the commitment to the coming series by saying, “This season, all of our team managers, drivers, team members and the development team and others at NISMO will be working together to do our utmost to bring the fans the kind of thrilling racing only the GT-R can provide.”
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GT500
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No.
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Team
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Team principal
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Driver
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | NDDP Racing with B-Max | Toshikazu Tanaka | Kohei Hirate Katsumasa Chiyo |
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| 12 | Team Impul | Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Kazuki Hiramine Nobuharu Matsushita |
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| 23 | NISMO | Yutaka Suzuki | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli |
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| 24 | Kondo Racing | Masahiko Kondo | Mitsunori Takaboshi Daiki Sasaki |
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■The lineup of GT500 class drivers for the Nissan/NISMO 2021 SUPER GT series （in English）
https://www.nismo.co.jp/en/news_list/2020/motorsports_news/21001.html
| 4/13-14 | Round1 OKAYAMA | |
| 5/03-04 | Round2 FUJI | |
 |
6/01-02 | Round3 SUZUKA |
| 8/03-04 | Round4 FUJI | |
| 8/31-9/01 | Round5 SUZUKA | |
| 9/21-22 | Round6 SUGO | |
| 10/19-20 | Round7 AUTOPOLIS | |
| 11/02-03 | Round8 MOTEGI |