10.28.2011
, FRANKLIN, Tenn.
2011: A YEAR OF OUTSTANDING MOTORSPORT SUCCESS FOR NISSAN
Nissan aiming for double Championship crown in GT1 season finale to cap incredible year
Nissan will be heading to Argentina for the final round of this year’s FIA GT1 World Championship in early November aiming for nothing less than a double-Championship victory, buoyed by incredible success in a number of other motorsport series during 2011.
Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr, in the #23 JRM Racing Nissan GT-R, enter the race weekend at the picturesque Lago Potrero de los Funes circuit in San Luis as leaders in the GT1 Drivers’ Championship standings, whilst JRM sit a close second in the Teams’ Championship. With points for both the Qualifying and Championship Races on offer, Krumm, Luhr and JRM will be going for race victory inspired by those who have been triumphant in Nissan colours in 2011.
Some highlights of Nissan’s 2011 motorsport success to date include:
Super GT – The #46 S Road MOLA Nissan GT-R claimed the GT500 class Drivers’ Championship, as well as the Teams’ Championship for MOLA, whilst another Nissan, the #23 Nismo Motul Autech, finished an overall second in the Drivers’ and Teams’ standings. From the eight rounds contested this season, GT-R entries demonstrated their dominance by winning a total of five times.
Intercontinental Le Mans Cup – Nissan made a very successful return to prototype endurance racing in partnership with Signature Racing. The Signatech Nissan car, with inaugural GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez amongst the driver line-up, won the LMP2 ILMC Teams’ Championship, while also securing a second place class finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Le Mans Series – Powered by the same NISMO tuned Nissan VK45V8 engine as the Signatech Nissan, Greaves Motorsport’s Zytek Z11SN dominated LMS to claim the LMP2 Teams’ and Drivers’ Championship double, with four wins from five races.
Blancpain Endurance Series – There was success for another GT Academy alumni, as the RJN Motorsport team featuring 2010 competition winner, Jordan Tresson, won the GT4 class BES title in the Nissan 370Z , triumphing at the Total 24 Hours of Spa along the way.
Formula One – It has been a widely successful entry into F1 for Nissan’s luxury brand, Infiniti, in partnership with Red Bull Racing. This year has seen Red Bull win their second successive F1 Constructors’ title with three races to spare, whilst Infiniti global ambassador, Sebastian Vettel, produced one incredible performance after another to be crowned the youngest double Drivers’ champion in the sport’s history.
Speaking about Nissan’s sustained success in motorsport this year, Simon Sproule, Nissan’s Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing Communications, commented: “Our great results in motorsport in 2011 are testament to the efforts and talents of many people – teams of drivers, technicians, engineers and plenty of others behind the scenes – who have worked hard to ensure that the Nissan name has been at the top of the standings wherever we’ve competed this year.
“The success owes much to Nissan’s rich motorsport heritage at iconic races such as Le Mans, as well as the engineering excellence inherent in road vehicles like the 370Z and GT-R. There is a lot of crossover between road and track technology, and we constantly strive to apply what we learn from motorsport into our production models, and not just at the high performance end of the range. That is why motorsport, and being the best, is so very important to Nissan.”