YOKOHAMA, Japan (March 01, 2023) – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd. announced the outline of their motorsports activities for 2023.
“At Nissan, we challenge ourselves and dare to do what others don’t,” said Ashwani Gupta, Nissan COO. “We are proud of our achievements on the track last year in the Super GT series. This season, in Formula E, Nissan will compete with a newly developed Gen3 powertrain, which we are also supplying to McLaren. Also, the newly developed Z GT4 will race in the US and Japan. Motorsport is a test bed that pushes our engineering and manufacturing expertise to the next level of excellence. But it also is our passion, and we want to share this passion and excitement with more fans around the world”.
In addition to ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and Super GT GT500 class, which are the two pillars of Nissan’s motorsports activities, NMC’s NISMO Racing Division (NISMO) will start their customer racing programs for the Nissan Z GT4 and provide technical support.
NISMO will also continue to provide support for teams using the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, other Nissan vehicles, and engines in their motorsport activities.
Works Programs
ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
Nissan races in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to bring the excitement and fun of zero-emission electric vehicles to a global audience. Nissan’s fifth year of competition in the Formula E is already underway, and the Formula E Season 9 (2022/23) marks the first time Nissan will compete as Nissan Formula E Team.
There are also big changes to the Formula E cars, with the highly anticipated Gen3 era of the sport beginning this season. The new regulations allow for more power and higher speeds, with a striking arrow-like design. The team applied a bold livery featuring a cherry blossom pattern, symbolising a new beginning. For Season 9, the team has decided to mix experience with youth in its driver line-up, pairing 30-year-old Formula E race winner Norman Nato with 23-year-old Super Formula runner-up Sacha Fenestraz.
SUPER GT GT500 class
Nissan/NISMO will continue to take part in Super GT GT500 class with the Nissan Z GT500, which was developed based on the Nissan Z that symbolizes the Nissan’s DNA to take on challenges. The teams aim to win this championship—which features the world’s fastest GT cars—two years in a row, and to deliver even more excitement through innovation to fans.
Motohiro Matsumura will continue to serve as the executive director of the Nissan GT500 teams.
Customer Racing Programs
Customer Racing – GT3 programs
Nismo will continues to support teams competing with the FIA GT3 regulation Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.
Super GT GT300 class
This season, five Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s will be competing in the SUPER GT GT300 class. Two from GAINER and one from KONDO RACING, which is the defending champion, will race as GT3 Official Partner Teams. NILZZ Racing and RUNUP SPORTS will also be competing in the GT-R.
Super Taikyu Series
HELM MOTORSPORTS, which won the ST-X class title last year, will compete again with the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, along with the GT-R entered by GTNET MOTOR SPORTS.
In addition, two Fairlady Z NISMO RC are scheduled to be entered by OKABEJIDOSHA motorsport and one from TEAM ZEROONE in the ST-3 class.
– NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE
Through racing activities, Nissan and the Nissan Automobile Technical College will continue the Nissan Mechanic Challenge, a human resources development program. Sales company technical staff and Nissan Automotive Technical College students will take part in the
Super GT GT300 class and Super Taikyu teams for further improvement of their technical skills and teamwork through experience with professional race mechanics.
Customer Racing – GT4 program
NISMO will provide cars and technical support to the pilot customer teams competing with the Nissan Z GT4 (pending SRO homologation), developed based on the Nissan Z.
Pirelli GT4 America Championship
Two Nissan Z GT4s will enter the Pirelli GT4 America Championship from TechSport Racing.
Super Taikyu Series
In the ST-Z class, TEAM IMPUL and TEAM ZEROONE will compete with one Nissan Z GT4 each.
Customer Racing – Engine Supply Programs
Nissan/NISMO will continue to supply and provide technical support for the VK56 engine to all teams competing in LMP3 races around the globe. The engine will be used in series such as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which includes the Rolex 24 at
Daytona and the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge in North America; the European Le Mans Series; the Michelin Le Mans Cup; the Ultimate Cup Series; the German Prototype Cup in Europe; and the Asian Le Mans Series in the UAE.
Other activities
– NISMO Driving Academy: The academy holds driving lessons for NISMO road car, Nissan GT-R, Fairlady Z, and Skyline 400R users. Michael Krumm as the principal and Nismo contracted drivers give lessons directly to participants. Classes are varied from beginners’ classes to learn the basics of sport driving and experience the maximum performance of their own cars, to practical lessons on short tracks. Schedule and venues will be announced at a later date on the NISMO website.
NISMO Festival: The fan event is scheduled to be held again this year, with details to be announced at a later date.
2023 Team Information
Works Programs
- ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
| No. | Team | Managing Director | Driver |
| 17 | Nissan Formula E | Tommaso Volpe | Norman Nato (FRA) |
| 23 | Sacha Fenestraz (FRA) |
- Super GT GT500 class
| No. | Team | Team principal | Vehicle name | Driver | Tires |
| 1 | TEAM IMPUL | Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Director) Kazuki Hoshino (Team Principal) | MARELLI IMPUL Z | Kazuki Hiramine (JPN) Bertrand Baguette (BEL) | Bridgestone |
| 3 | NDDP RACING | Jiro Shimada | Niterra MOTUL Z | Katsumasa Chiyo (JPN) Mitsunori Takaboshi (JPN) | Michelin |
| 23 | NISMO | Takeshi Nakajima | MOTUL AUTECH Z | Tsugio Matsuda (JPN) Ronnie Quintarelli (ITA) | Michelin |
| 24 | KONDO RACING | Masahiko Kondo | Realize Corporation ADVAN Z | Daiki Sasaki (JPN) Kohei Hirate (JPN) | Yokohama |
Customer Racing Programs
- GT3 Programs
– Super GT GT300 class
| No. | Team | Team principal | Vehicle name | Driver | Tires |
| 10 | GAINER* | Yorikatsu Tsujiko (Director) Kazumi Fujii (Team principal) | PONOS GAINER GT-R | Hironobu Yasuda (JPN) Riki Okusa (JPN) | Dunlop |
| 11 | Kazumi Fujii | GAINER TANAX GT-R | Ryuichiro Tomita (JPN) Keishi Ishikawa (JPN) Yusuke Shiotsu (JPN) | ||
| 56 | KONDO RACING* | Masahiko Kondo | Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R | Joao Paulo de Oliveira (BRA) Teppei Natori (JPN) | Yokohama |
| 48 | NILZZ Racing | Junichi Ikura | SHOKUMOU Ks Frontier GT-R | TBN | Yokohama |
| 360 | RUNUP SPORTS | Masaaki Nishikawa | RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R | Takayuki Aoki (JPN) Atsushi Tanaka (JPN) TBA | Yokohama |
*Official Customer Teams
– Super Taikyu Series ST-X class
| No. | Team | Team principal | Vehicle name | Driver |
| 1 | HELM MOTORSPORTS | Yuya Hiraki | HELM MOTORSPORTS GTR GT3 | Yutaka Toriba (JPN) Yuya Hiraki (JPN) Reiji Hiraki (JPN) |
| 81 | GTNET MOTOR SPORTS | Atsushi Sakamoto | TBN | TBN |
- GT4 Program
– Pirelli GT4 America Championship
| No. | Team | Team principal | Driver |
| 22 | TechSport Racing** | Kevin Anderson | Eric Powell (USA) Colin Harrison (USA) |
| 23 | Bryan Heitkotter (USA) Grayson Farischon (USA) |
Super Taikyu Series ST-Z class
**Pilot Customer Team
| No. | Team | Team principal | Vehicle name | Driver |
| 20 | TEAM IMPUL** | Kazuo Kitanaka | Naniwa Denso TEAM IMPUL Z | Yuki Tanaka (JPN) Kazuki Hiramine (JPN) Kazuki Ooki (JPN) Kazuki Hoshino (JPN) |
| 26 | TEAM ZEROONE** | Hatsuki Kohno | raffinée Nissan Mechanic Challenge Z GT4 | Ryuichiro Ohtsuka (JPN) Ryuichiro Tomita (JPN) Teppei Natori (JPN) Takuro Shinohara (JPN） |
- Others
Super Taikyu Series ST-3 class (Fairlady Z NISMO RC)
**Pilot Customer Teams
| No. | Team | Team principal | Vehicle name | Driver |
| 25 | TEAM ZEROONE | Hatsuki Kohno | raffinée Nissan Mechanic Challenge Z | TBN Tsugio Matsuda (JPN) Kimiya Sato (JPN) Daiki Fujiwara (JPN） |
| TBN | OKABEJIDOSHA motorsport | TBN | TBN | TBN |
| TBN | TBN | TBN | TBN |