Florian Strauss

A fractious Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour was not what many were expecting given the talent on show this year, but the action turned out to be fast and furious. This was an endurance race, but every hour of the twelve on offer had its fair share of action.

The Intercontinental GT Challenge season kicks off this weekend with the 2017 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. Qualifying has already taken place, and the race itself starts within the hour.

The racing season is continuing to heat up for Nismo. While last weekend’s tough Dubai 24H race saw the GT Academy team finish 8th in the SP3-GT4 class, the next event will up the pace for a once-around-the-clock run around Mount Panorama.

https://youtu.be/djZToFEFw_0

Last week we reported that Polyphony Digital’s CEO Kazunori Yamauchi would be returning to the Nürburgring in the lead up to the 2016 ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Sharing the driving duties of the #101 BMW M6 GT3 with Matias Henkola, George Richardson, and Max Sandritter, Yamauchi was set to participate in the top SP9 class under the Walkenhorst Motorsport banner.

Kazunori Yamauchi will be returning to the gruelling Green Hell this year. Polyphony’s man in charge took 2015 off, after an accident during the qualifying session the year before. In a surprising turn, however, Yamauchi will be slotting in behind the wheel of a Bavarian motor for the ADAC qualifier this weekend.

Race Coverage

Bathurst bit back almost immediately though, as Chiyo scraped the wall at the Cutting and had to limp back to the pits with some unsightly rear end damage. The team is confident of getting it all straightened up for the start of the race, which will be taken by Wolfgang Reip.

2013 GT Academy Germany champion Florian Strauss will replace Alex Buncombe in the NISMO Athlete Global Team at the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour. Buncombe had been confirmed to drive the #35 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, alongside fellow NISMO Athletes Katsumasa Chiyo and Wolfgang Reip.

Nissan’s Alex Buncombe put on a world-class performance at the Nurburgring in Germany today, after jetting in from Australia where he did a great job in his first V8 Supercars race last weekend. The British racer has been mentor to all of the GT Academy winners since 2008 and at today’s season-closing Blancpain Endurance Series race it was clear to see why they all learn so much from him.

Jann Mardenborough had another successful weekend in the GP3 Series, taking a podium finish at the Hungarian round of the championship.  The young Brit had to work hard in Saturday’s race – he qualified in 13th place after a red flag stopped his fastest run – but he got stuck in and took a very creditable seventh.  This put him on the front row of the grid for race two on Sunday.“I didn’t get as good a start as yesterday and Patrick (Niederhauser) got the jump on me,” explained Jann. “I settled in to third place and managed to hold onto it for the full race, despite the pace not being as good as yesterday.“It’s great to get a podium, and of course last week’s win, which takes me into the summer break with lots of new points.  This also builds my confidence for the next round at Spa so I can’t wait for that to come around now.”

Race Coverage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtCmK_gugpE

Nissan today announced that it is bringing back the Nissan GT-R to the Nordschleife with an assault on the 2014 Nurburgring 24 Hours. The event, held on 21-22 June, is one of the toughest endurance races in the world, providing the ultimate test of man and machine as they compete on the daunting Nurburgring Nordschleife.

With both the Pro-Am driver and team championship titles captured in 2013, the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN will mount their defence of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza this weekend.