Nissan Z Nismo takes 1st GT500 class win at Fuji Speedway

MANILA: The Nissan Z Nismo race car secured its first GT500 class victory at the 2024 Super GT Series season at Fuji International Speedway.

Per Nissan, the team — which operated with a new executive director and new driver line-up — fielded four cars: #3 Niterra Motul Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake), #12 Marelli Impul Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette), #23 Motul Autech Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli), and #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori).

Scoring a runaway victory was the #3 Niterra Motul Z.

“I’m honestly pleased we managed to win. Even though we qualified in 2nd place we were still uncertain about how well we would perform in a long race. Our pace was actually relatively stable though, and we were able to gather valuable data that will help in future races. This victory has really made me feel that we are in contention for the top spots,” Takaboshi explained.

“Having said that, we still haven’t achieved the balance in the cars that we’ve been seeking. I think we performed pretty well last year, but that wasn’t enough to win the championship. I first want to improve my performance to reach that level, and then aim even higher,” the race driver added.

Meanwhile, the #23 Motul Autech Z finished second.

“I’m surprised and thrilled to have won in my second race since stepping up to the GT500 class. Even my performance in the qualifying session exceeded my expectations, and Takaboshi’s excellent start in the race built up a lead that allowed us to race calmly without any collisions or careless mistakes,” Miyake noted.

“Our win was really down to the performance of Takaboshi and the rest of the team. I know there are still areas where my driving needs to improve, so I will be working to thoroughly address those points before the next race. It won’t be easy, especially with the impact of the success weights, but I want to get to work on preparing to make sure we can be championship contenders,” he added.

Photos from Nissan

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