Nissan: Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign – next stops Spa and Laguna

CHICHESTER, SURREY, England – The Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign made its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the hands of two of Nissan’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup drivers, Lucas Ordóñez and Alex Buncombe.

The vehicle, which celebrates the 50th anniversaries – of both the GT-R in 2019, and Italdesign in 2018 – made eight runs up the famous hill climb at the event. Ordóñez completed two runs each day on Thursday and Friday, with Buncombe taking over driving duties for Saturday and Sunday.

The next outing for the Nissan GT-R50 will be at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium at the Spa 24 hour, the next round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup where Ordóñez and Buncombe will race for GT Sport Motul Team RJN.

From there, GT-R50 by Italdesign will head to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in the U.S. at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from August 23-26 where Nissan will be the featured brand, before returning to the home of Nissan in Japan.

“It was an honor and a privilege to be the first driver to drive the GT-R50 up the hill at Goodwood,” said Ordóñez. “It’s such a fantastic place to drive it. Once I got asked by Nissan to drive it, obviously I was excited. I had already shared a photo of the car on my Instagram account and said that I was dreaming of driving it – then Nissan called me and asked me. The first time up the hill I was very slow and steady to show the car to all the fans. But the second run I was really pushing it to show the fans that not only is it a concept car, but it can go fast like all the GT-R cars. The car felt amazing, and the lines and the design outside plus the interior of the car are just beautiful. The mix of Japanese and Italian influences match perfectly.”