The Nismo team had gone into the recent Round 7 of the 2016 Autobacs Super GT, held at the Chang International Circuit in Buri Ram, Thailand with a 100kg weight handicap weight, the heaviest allowed under current regulations.
This is part of what makes the Super GT so thrilling for spectators; to reduce the chances of domination by any single car over the race season, a weight handicap (success ballast) is assigned to cars according to the drivers’ points scored in previous races.
The Nismo team, with drivers Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, are the defending champions after winning the series in 2014 and 2015.
Despite the 100kg weight handicap, on the earlier laps in Buri Ram, Quintarelli had done well to push the team into third place before entering the pits.
With Matsuda now in the driver's seat, the Nismo team continued to run strongly in the points sphere.
However, disaster struck on lap 56 when the Motul Autech GT-R car suffered a spin after colliding with a GT300 machine, and this resulted in bad rear damage, following which Matsuda had to nurse the car back to the pits and ended the race in 14th place.
Still, the Nismo team will go into the final rounds at the Twin Ring Motegi race track in Japan as ranking leader, with a 10-point lead over second placed Lexus Team Lemans Wako's.
The final rounds of the 2016 Super GT will be on November 11 till 13.
Super GT in Thailand
Since 2014, a round of the Super GT series has been held at the Chang International Circuit in Buri Ram.
Before that, Malaysians will remember that the Sepang International Circuit had hosted the Super GT series for 13 years running.
It is the season's sole overseas round, and it's understandable that we mostly drew blank looks when mentioning Buri Ram, which is not exactly a major tourist draw here.
It is located in north-east Thailand, about 410km from Bangkok and according to tourismthailand.org, Buri Ram literally means “city of happiness” or “peaceful city”.
While the town has limited attractions, the countryside is filled with ancient ruins including Phanom Rung, known as one of the best preserved Angkorian temples in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, Chang International Circuit (named after the beer company) was opened in 2014 and is the first FIA Grade 1 circuit in Thailand, which means it can run Formula One races.
Sited on over 1,200 acres, the circuit has a 4.554km track with 12 turns, and can host 50,000 people.
To recap, Super GT is Japan’s premier touring car competition featuring heavily-modified production cars and attracting over 400,000 spectators annually.
The series consists of eight rounds, and is divided into the GT500 and GT300 classes.
Cars in the top GT500 class are from the Japanese “Big Three” automakers (namely Nissan, Lexus and Honda).
In the GT300 class, alongside Japanese automakers such as Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Subaru, foreign marques like Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes also compete.
Among the thrills of watching Super GT races is its mixed format where GT500 and GT300 cars run the same race as a pack.
Nismo ambassador Michael Krumm said, "Super GT has absolutely fantastic racing. That is why it makes sense to show it outside Japan also."
Nismo and racing
Nismo or Nissan Motorsports International has a long and illustrious presence in the Super GT.
Nissan's performance brand has been taking part in the race series since it started in 1994, and has been the most victorious team.
Nismo has won 11 driver and 11 team championships to date, and in the last five years, the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 has won four titles.
Nissan and Nismo has a long and rich history in racing, and the Japanese marque is the only auto manufacturer in the world with factory-backed racing programmes in Japan, Europe, United States and Australia.
Last year, feathers in the cap for Nismo included the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 winning the GT300 class title of Super GT and Pro Class championship of the Blancpain Endurance Series.
This year is another packed one for Nismo, as its racing calendar includes the European Le Mans Series, Australian Supercars Championship, Pirelli World Challenge, FIA World Endurance and the Blancpain GT Series.
Takao Katagiri, who took over as Nismo president and CEO in April this year, brings over 33 years of Nissan experience to his current role.
"Nismo represents excitement and innovation for Nissan fans. Motorsports is part of our DNA, and we are very strong, and this enchances Nissan's global image," Katagiri told reporters in Buri Ram.
"For the future, the GT-R will of course remain as our flagship. We are also looking at tuning and developing more Nismo packages for SUV or crossovers, and electric vehicles, and even pick-up trucks."
