BURIRAM, Thailand – KCMG's Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 cars excelled in the latest round of the Blancpain GT Series Asia with a top three overall finish in Sunday's race and a pair of Pro/Am podiums across the weekend.
The team finished third and fourth overall on Sunday with Florian Strauss and Edoardo Liberati standing on the podium for the first time ahead of Super GT star Tsugio Matsuda and Yuke Taniguchi.
Matsuda and Taniguchi finished second in the Pro/Am class in both races over the weekend to jump to third place in the point standings.
"We pushed really hard in both races, and the team did a great job," said Matsuda. "I tried hard to move up the field before passing the car over to Taniguchi san. The weekend was both challenging and fun. I wanted to finish in the top three, but fourth overall and second in class is also a good result."
With clashing Super GT racing taking Matsuda out of contention for the remainder of the series, his spot on the team will be taken by Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori.
"I'm confident that Taniguchi san will do his best in the upcoming races," said Matsuda. "It was a pleasure racing the new Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 in Blancpain GT Asia with KCMG, and I'd like to extend my gratitude to everyone in the team."
Sunday's podium for the No. 23 GT-R came despite a drive-through penalty for Strauss for exceeding track limits. He and Liberati now sit fifth in the Silver Cup point standings with KCMG fourth in the overall team point battle.
👍 Great result from @KCMotorgroup team in @BlancpainGTA – finishing 3rd and 4th in the 2nd race at @ChangCircuit in Thailand. See pics at: https://t.co/CtrlRgeofW #OMGTR #NISMOnation pic.twitter.com/Vpy4sdoMEY
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) May 13, 2018
📸 See all the pics from @BlancpainGTA race 1 at: https://t.co/Xb5Znpm1Jr
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) May 13, 2018
📺 Watch race 2 at https://t.co/m56Jax11BC
🇹🇭 13:00 | 🇯🇵 15:00 | 🇪🇺 8:00 | 🇬🇧 7:00 | 🇺🇸➡️ 2:00 | 🇺🇸⬅️ 23:00. pic.twitter.com/WlymZKbX5x
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NISMO Calendar
May 19-20
Super GT, Suzuka, Japan
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Silverstone, England
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, Victoria, Australia
Nissan Micra Cup, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
May 19-20
Pirelli World Challenge, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT, USA
Contact
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Phone: +33 7 7614 7286
ATeslik@nissan-europe.com
Paul Ryan
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Phone: +1 678 644 0404
paul@nismosupport.com
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