OKAYAMA, Japan – NISMO drivers Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda showed the determination that has scored six Super GT driver's championships between them in Sunday's opening round of the series at Okayama in Japan.
Despite only qualifying 14th, the pace of the duo, combined with quick work in the pits by the No. 23 crew, moved the team up to seventh place at the checkered flag.
The duo gained the most spots of any of the GT500 rivals as Nissan battled strong competition in the first round staged with the new-for-2017 technical specs.
"It was good that we scored four points with seventh place because we wanted to get points," said Quintarelli. "It came down to good timing on the pit stop. We were able to run without a lot of traffic on the in-lap. That, combined with the great pit stop work by the NISMO pit crew, and we were able to gain a couple of spots. This result will give us a bit of confidence, but we will all be working hard on improving the car."
Jann Mardenborough and Hironobu Yasuda combined to finish eighth with the former GT Academy winner and GT500 debutante impressing on debut.
Daiki Sasaki and JP de Oliveira completed the top 10 at Okayama, but sadly the Katsumasa Chiyo/Satoshi Motoyama entry failed to finish after Chiyo suffered a crash.
Mardenborough impresses on GT500 debut in Super GT
Former @GTAcademy winner @Jannthaman talks with @MichaelKrumm about his brilliant @SUPERGT_JP debut last weekend at Okayama #NISMOnation pic.twitter.com/UdZlxWlkI9
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) April 10, 2017
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Former GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough enjoyed a strong debut race in the Super GT GT500 class, racing to an eighth place finish in the Calsonic IMPUL GT-R with Hironobu Yasuda.
Mardenborough started the race and eventually worked his way through to become the leading GT500 GT-R on track when he passed JP de Oliveira late in his stint.
In the race, the debutante actually set the fastest GT-R lap of any of the Nissan drivers in the field.
"I asked Hoshino-san whether I could start the race and he agreed," said Mardenborough. "It was a really cool feeling to for my first race in GT500 to be able to take the start. I managed to get up to seventh in my stint and was the leading GT-R, which was pretty cool. I handed over to my teammate Hiro, but not long after our pit stop he reported we had a small problem with the car, so we ended up in eighth place as the second Nissan. We'll be working hard with the team and NISMO before the next round at Fuji to try to improve the car because our competitors are very strong at the moment. I really enjoyed my first race in GT500. My first stint was awesome and picking your moments through the traffic is always exciting."
NISMO Calendar
April 15-16
FIA World Endurance Championship, Silverstone, England
April 22-23
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Monza, Italy
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
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