Nissan will join the V8 Supercars Championship in 2013 and become the first new manufacturer to enter the sport under its new ‘Car of the Future’ rules.
The news was announced last week at a press conference in the River Room at Crown Casino in Melbourne where Kelly Racing has been signed to become the Nissan factory team running four cars next year from their Melbourne workshop. Kelly Racing, by pioneering the move to embrace Nissan and take one of the world’s biggest brands within the V8 Supercar Championship, puts Todd and Rick Kelly in a truly unique situation in Australian Motorsport history. The Japanese car giant will take on Holden and Ford in next year’s championship with the full support of the giant NISMO Nissan Motorsport factory.
The model of Nissan and the engine package that the team will use in the V8 competition will be announced at a later date. Australia Managing Director and Nissan CEO Dan Thompson, Ian Moreillon Executive General Manager of Nissan Sales and Fleet, V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane and V8 Supercars CEO David Malone made the surprise announcement at a media conference a couple of weeks ago. Nissan will utilize participation in the V8 Supercar series to strengthen its passenger car credentials in Australia. Nissan believes that, alongside Ford and Holden, they possess the most convincing motorsport history in Australia.
They last ran a factory touring car team in 1992 with Gibson Motorsport’s four-wheel drive Nissan GT-Rs, claiming the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Bathurst 1000 with Mark Skaife. Nissan’s global motorsport effort notched up an impressive record including winning last year’s FIA GT1 World Championship with a Nissan GT-R, as well as the Japanese Super GT Championship and a 1-2 finish in the LMP2 class at the Le Mans 24 Hour. Informed sources indicate that the next to join the V8 Supercar ranks in 2013 is Chrysler – So stand-by for an announcement in the next couple of months. No doubt European factories will eventually follow in joining the fray with BMW, Mercedes and Audi participating with their own production line V8’s.