2023/02/17
YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd. today announced the outline of their motorsports activities for 2023.
“At Nissan, we challenge ourselves and dare to do what others don’t,” said Ashwani Gupta, Nissan COO. “We are proud of our achievements on the track last year in the Super GT series. This season, in Formula E, Nissan will compete with a newly developed Gen3 powertrain, which we are also supplying to McLaren. Also, the newly developed Z GT4 will race in the US and Japan. Motorsport is a test bed that pushes our engineering and manufacturing expertise to the next level of excellence. But it also is our passion, and we want to share this passion and excitement with more fans around the world”.
In addition to ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and Super GT GT500 class, which are the two pillars of Nissan’s motorsports activities, NMC’s NISMO Racing Division (NISMO) will start their customer racing programs for the Nissan Z GT4 and provide technical support. NISMO will also continue to provide support for teams using the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, other Nissan vehicles, and engines in their motorsport activities.
Works Programs
ABB FIA Formula E World ChampionshipNissan races in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to bring the excitement and fun of zero-emission electric vehicles to a global audience. Nissan’s fifth year of competition in the Formula E is already underway, and the Formula E Season 9 (2022/23) marks the first time Nissan will compete as Nissan Formula E Team.
There are also big changes to the Formula E cars, with the highly anticipated Gen3 era of the sport beginning this season. The new regulations allow for more power and higher speeds, with a striking arrow-like design. The team applied a bold livery featuring a cherry blossom pattern, symbolising a new beginning. For Season 9, the team has decided to mix experience with youth in its driver line-up, pairing 30-year-old Formula E race winner Norman Nato with 23-year-old Super Formula runner-up Sacha Fenestraz.
SUPER GT GT500 classNissan/NISMO will continue to take part in Super GT GT500 class with the Nissan Z GT500, which was developed based on the Nissan Z that symbolizes the Nissan’s DNA to take on challenges. The teams aim to win this championship—which features the world’s fastest GT cars—two years in a row, and to deliver even more excitement through innovation to fans.
Motohiro Matsumura will continue to serve as the executive director of the Nissan GT500 teams.
Customer Racing Programs
Customer Racing – GT3 programs
Nismo will continues to support teams competing with the FIA GT3 regulation Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.
- Super GT GT300 class
This season, five Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s will be competing in the SUPER GT GT300 class. Two from GAINER and one from KONDO RACING, which is the defending champion, will race as GT3 Official Partner Teams. NILZZ Racing and RUNUP SPORTS will also be competing in the GT-R.
- Super Taikyu Series
HELM MOTORSPORTS, which won the ST-X class title last year, will compete again with the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, along with the GT-R entered by GTNET MOTOR SPORTS.In addition, two Fairlady Z NISMO RC are scheduled to be entered by OKABEJIDOSHA motorsport and one from TEAM ZEROONE in the ST-3 class.
- NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE
Through racing activities, Nissan and the Nissan Automobile Technical College will continue the Nissan Mechanic Challenge, a human resources development program. Sales company technical staff and Nissan Automotive Technical College students will take part in the Super GT GT300 class and Super Taikyu teams for further improvement of their technical skills and teamwork through experience with professional race mechanics.
Customer Racing – GT4 program
NISMO will provide cars and technical support to the pilot customer teams competing with the Nissan Z GT4 (pending SRO homologation), developed based on the Nissan Z.
– Pirelli GT4 America Championship
Two Nissan Z GT4s will enter the Pirelli GT4 America Championship from TechSport Racing.
– Super Taikyu Series
In the ST-Z class, TEAM IMPUL and TEAM ZEROONE will compete with one Nissan Z GT4 each.
Customer Racing – Engine Supply Programs
Nissan/NISMO will continue to supply and provide technical support for the VK56 engine to all teams competing in LMP3 races around the globe. The engine will be used in series such as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which includes the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge in North America; the European Le Mans Series; the Michelin Le Mans Cup; the Ultimate Cup Series; the German Prototype Cup in Europe; and the Asian Le Mans Series in the UAE.
Other activities
– NISMO Driving Academy: The academy holds driving lessons for NISMO road car, Nissan GT-R, Fairlady Z, and Skyline 400R users. Michael Krumm as the principal and Nismo contracted drivers give lessons directly to participants. Classes are varied from beginners’ classes to learn the basics of sport driving and experience the maximum performance of their own cars, to practical lessons on short tracks. Schedule and venues will be announced at a later date on the NISMO website.
– NISMO Festival: The fan event is scheduled to be held again this year, with details to be announced at a later date.
2023 Team Information
Works Programs
● ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
No.
Team
Managing Director
Driver
17
Nissan Formula E
Tommaso Volpe
Norman Nato (FRA)
23
Sacha Fenestraz (FRA)
● Super GT GT500 class
No.
Team
Team principal
Vehicle name
Driver
Tires
1
TEAM IMPUL
Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Director)Kazuki Hoshino (Team Principal)
MARELLI IMPUL Z
Kazuki Hiramine (JPN)Bertrand Baguette (BEL)
Bridgestone
3
NDDP RACING
Jiro Shimada
Niterra MOTUL Z
Katsumasa Chiyo (JPN)Mitsunori Takaboshi (JPN)
Michelin
23
NISMO
Takeshi Nakajima
MOTUL AUTECH Z
Tsugio Matsuda (JPN)Ronnie Quintarelli (ITA)
Michelin
24
KONDO RACING
Masahiko Kondo
Realize CorporationADVAN Z
Daiki Sasaki (JPN)Kohei Hirate (JPN)
Yokohama
Customer Racing Programs
● GT3 Programs
- Super GT GT300 class class
No.
Team
Team principal
Vehicle name
Driver
Tires
10
GAINER*
Yorikatsu Tsujiko (Director)Kazumi Fujii(Team principal)
PONOS GAINERGT-R
Hironobu Yasuda (JPN)Riki Okusa (JPN)
Dunlop
11
Kazumi Fujii
GAINER TANAXGT-R
Ryuichiro Tomita (JPN)Keishi Ishikawa (JPN)Yusuke Shiotsu (JPN)
56
KONDO RACING*
Masahiko Kondo
RealizeNissan MechanicChallenge GT-R
Joao Paulo de Oliveira (BRA)Teppei Natori (JPN)
Yokohama
48
NILZZ Racing
Junichi Ikura
SHOKUMOU KsFrontier GT-R
TBN
Yokohama
360
RUNUP SPORTS
Masaaki Nishikawa
RUNUPRIVAUX GT-R
Takayuki Aoki (JPN)Atsushi Tanaka (JPN)TBA
Yokohama
*Official Customer Teams
- Super Taikyu Series ST-X class
No.
Team
Team principal
Vehicle name
Driver
1
HELMMOTORSPORTS
Yuya Hiraki
HELMMOTORSPORTSGTR GT3
Yutaka Toriba (JPN)Yuya Hiraki (JPN)Reiji Hiraki (JPN)
81
GTNETMOTOR SPORTS
Atsushi Sakamoto
TBN
TBN
● GT4 Program
- Pirelli GT4 America Championship
No.
Team
Team principal
Driver
22
TechSport Racing**
Kevin Anderson
Eric Powell (USA)Colin Harrison (USA)
23
Bryan Heitkotter (USA)Grayson Farischon (USA)
**Pilot Customer Team
- Super Taikyu Series ST-Z class
No.
Team
Team principal
Vehicle name
Driver
20
TEAM IMPUL**
Kazuo Kitanaka
Naniwa DensoTEAM IMPUL Z
Yuki Tanaka (JPN)Kazuki Hiramine (JPN)Kazuki Ooki (JPN)Kazuki Hoshino (JPN)
26
TEAM ZEROONE**
Hatsuki Kohno
raffinéeNissan MechanicChallenge Z GT4
Ryuichiro Ohtsuka (JPN)Ryuichiro Tomita (JPN)Teppei Natori (JPN)Takuro Shinohara (JPN）
**Pilot Customer Teams
● Others
- Super Taikyu Series ST-3 class (Fairlady Z NISMO RC)
No.
Team
Team principal
Vehicle name
Driver
25
TEAM ZEROONE
Hatsuki Kohno
raffinéeNissan MechanicChallenge Z
TBNTsugio Matsuda (JPN)Kimiya Sato (JPN)Daiki Fujiwara (JPN）
TBN
OKABEJIDOSHAmotorsport
TBN
TBN
TBN
TBN
TBN
TBN
TBN