GT-R On Top During Suzuka Testing

It's now March and all around Japan people are starting to switch into to the annual sakura frenzy mode. While the blooming cherry blossoms are great and all, the coming of spring also means the start of the racing season and the start of Super GT in particular. 2008 is shaping up to a big year for Super GT as it marks the return of the Nissan GT-R to the Super GT series.

With this first race of the season less than two weeks away, teams gathered at Suzuka Circuit this weekend for an official test session. All eyes were on the five GT-R teams as they took to the track to start a new era in Super GT racing.

In addition to the GT-R race teams check out the new R35 Super GT pace car.

On the first day of testing, the R35 quickly lived up to expectations by setting the day's fastest lap time. The top time of 1:53.383 was run by Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer from the Xanavi Nismo team.

On the second day lap of testing times improved even more and the Calsonic Impul GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Sebastien Philippe bested the previous day's top time with a 1:52.720. I have to say the classic Calsonic livery looks as great on the R35 as it has looked on previous GT-R's in the past.

The Xanavi car had the second best time overall with a 1:52.805. The other R35 teams were also running well all weekend as they battled the SC430's and NSX's that make up the rest of the GT500 field.

We will see how the GT-R runs in wheel to wheel competition in two weeks when Super GT returns to Suzuka for its opening race. From the looks of it, the R35 is off to quite a good start.

Source: SuperGT.net  and Auto Sport Web

Comments

[cbljkkj]

Go GT-R!! I always had faith in this car and now it's paying off.

[James]

Did Nismo bring out any of their demo cars?
I'm hoping for some photos of the R33 R1 Demo car, do you have any photos of that?

[AJ Phelps]

fantastic coverage. that motul r35 is a monster!

[KAYLA29Camacho]

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