- Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, Nissan JUKE-R 2.0 and Ginetta-Nissan LM P3 star at Goodwood Festival of Speed
- Alex Buncombe fastest in class on the Goodwood hillclimb
- #33 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 wins in Pirelli World Challenge at Road America
- Lucas Ordóñez races to double podium in Japanese F3
WEST SUSSEX, England – Nissan returned from another successful Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) last night to hear the news that James Davison’s #33 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 had won the Pirelli World Challenge race at Road America. Added to the news that Lucas Ordóñez had taken a double podium in Japanese F3 at Okayama in Japan it was another good weekend for Nissan Motorsport.
Alex Buncombe (GB) took the wheel of the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 at Goodwood – the recent winner of the Blancpain Endurance Series race at Paul Ricard – tasked with retaining Nissan’s honor on the world-famous Goodwood hillclimb. With each run he improved, hustling the GT-R up the narrow hill, before grabbing first place in the Modern Endurance class with a time that put him eighth overall, only beaten by F1 cars and Pikes Peak and time attack specials.
Alex Buncombe in GT-R GT3 in Action on the Hillclimb
In the Supercar class, Jann Mardenborough sped up the hill in the brand new Nissan JUKE-R 2.0, logging times that eclipsed cars from Ferrari, Porsche, Pagani and Lamborghini. The GT Academy winner is no stranger to Goodwood after topping the timesheets in the Nissan GT-R Time Attack car last year, and he took great delight in showing off the finer points of the newly unleashed JUKE-R 2.0.
Jann Mardenborough in the Nissan Juke-R 2.0
Sir Chris Hoy made his return to Goodwood, determined to put last year’s encounter with the hay bales at Molecomb Corner behind him. He had many great runs in the Ginetta-Nissan LMP3 car throughout the event and was very happy to be the first person to “take an LMP3 car up Lord March’s driveway.”
Sir Chris Hoy at the Festival of Speed
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Wins in Pirelli World Challenge
James Davison took the #33 Always Evolving Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 to an overall World Challenge win on Sunday at Road America, Wisconsin. This was his second win of the season in addition to his second place on Saturday’s race.
Bryan Heitkotter, who won GT Academy USA in 2011, continued to collect World Challenge podiums and now sits fourth in the GTA standings.
Ordóñez Takes Two Podiums at Okayama
The first GT academy winner, Lucas Ordóñez, continued his Japanese Formula 3 campaign at Okayama in Japan last weekend. The Spaniard took two strong fourth places in qualifying and turned both into podium finishes in rounds 10 and 11 of the Japanese series.
“Qualifying was very tight, but I am getting closer and closer to the top guys,” said Ordóñez. “In race one, I took third going into the first corner and managed to maintain good pace as I chased the leaders. Race two had a lot of action in the first two corners, and I lost a position but I soon took it back again. I was fourth when the safety car came out, and at the restart I managed to make a move on (Nick) Cassidy to take third as I had worked hard to keep the heat in my tires. I’m happy to take third in both races. The guys ahead of me have a lot more single-seater experience, but we are catching up.”
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