Nissan Champions Unite in the Desert

12.19.2011

, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NISSAN CHAMPIONS UNITE IN THE DESERT

To celebrate a year of racing success in 2011, Nissan’s champions will come together to compete in the 2012 Dubai 24 Hours in January.

Racing the brand new GT3-specification Nissan GT-R will be champions from the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the Le Mans Series, the FIA GT1 World Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series, namely Franck Mailleux, Tom Kimber-Smith, Michael Krumm and Alex Buncombe. This car will be run by JRM Racing.

The ‘Champions’ Nissan GT-R will be joined by two Nissan 370Zs at Dubai. A seat in a GT4 Nissan 370Z at the Dubai 24 Hours is of course the prize for the GT Academy winners so this year’s graduates, Jann Mardenborough from the UK and Bryan Heitkotter from the USA, will compete in the ‘RJN GT Academy’ Nissan 370Z. Joining them will be two more GT Academy winners and now fully-fledged racing champions: Lucas Ordonez and Jordan Tresson.

“We’re pleased to reward our champions with the opportunity to race Nissan’s exciting new GT3-specification Nissan GT-R in the Dubai 24 Hours,” said Darren Cox, Chief Marketing Manager Crossover and Sportscars, Nissan Europe. “Dubai will be the culmination of a fantastic year for Nissan Motorsport. The champions are representing their teams that took the successes in 2011. RJN Motorsport, Signatech Nissan, Greaves Motorsport and JRM Racing have been great partners for us this year. Despite this professional driver line-up, this is more of an end of season celebration and a chance to showcase the Nissan GT-R during its ongoing development than a full tilt at victory.”

Completing the three-car Nissan line-up in Dubai will be a second Nissan 370Z and the drivers for this car will be revealed in the New Year. Until then, “Merry Christmas from the motorsport team at Nissan! We have had a fun and successful year but can’t wait to show you our plans for 2012!”

NISSAN JUKE-R TO DEBUT AT DUBAI

Nissan’s jaw-dropping Juke-R will make its worldwide track debut at the Dubai 24 Hours. The Juke-R harnesses the bold design of Nissan’s provocative Juke with the speed and power of the company’s flagship GT-R, creating the world’s fastest, most innovative, crossover. ‘Super Juke’ has a special role to play at Dubai as it will be the pace car for the 24-hour race. Only two Juke-Rs have been built, one in left-hand and one in right-hand drive. The cars have been developed by Nissan and built by leading motorsports outfit RML with input from Nissan Technology Centre for Europe (NTC-E).

Leave a Comment