Perth, Western Australia – Nissan Motorsport has claimed a pair of top 10 results to conclude the Perth SuperSprint at Barbagallo Raceway in Australia.
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship team showed impressive qualifying pace, with three Altimas starting inside the Top 10 for Sunday's race.
Andre Heimgartner scored his best finish since joining the Nissan squad at the start of the year, with the No. 7 machine crossing the line an impressive eighth.
"It was good to be racing up the front and having some speed," said Heimgartner. "We'll take that confidence forward and hopefully be fast in the next few rounds. My engineer and I tried a lot of things over the weekend and we think we hit on a good direction, so Winton will be a good place to keep making progress."
📸 A pair of top tens for @Nissan_MSport in Perth for @andreheimgartne and @rickkelly. @Nissan also scored a Super2 series victory for @deanfiore - @michaelcarus0's regular endurance race co-driver. See the pics at: https://t.co/6S0I01hBaV pic.twitter.com/fhMSJQuNPL
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) May 6, 2018
Good to finally start to show our pace in the @harveynormanau car . Great team effort from everyone @nissan_msport . Can’t wait for the next round! pic.twitter.com/LuWCDDK8NE
— Simona De Silvestro (@simdesilvestro) May 6, 2018
Rick Kelly used an unconventional four-stop strategy to claim Nissan's second top 10 of the weekend. Qualifying fifth on the grid, Kelly dropped down the order during a caution period. He fought back in the remainder of the race, particularly after his final stop. Kelly spent the remaining 17 laps using new tires to his advantage to climb to the 10th position.
Simona De Silvestro recorded her best-ever result in Supercars during the weekend, as the No. 78 Team Harvey Norman driver crossed the line in 12th position. Starting from 21st on the grid, De Silvestro managed her tires extremely well and kept out of any drama across the race.
Michael Caruso's race was determined on the first lap with the No. 23 entry suffered major steering damage through contact on lap one.
The next round of the Championship is the Winton SuperSprint, 18-20 May.
NISMO Calendar
May 12-13
Blancpain GT Series Asia, Chang International Circuit, Thailand
European Le Mans Series/Le Mans Cup, Monza, Italy
May 19-20
Super GT, Suzuka, Japan
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, Silverstone, England
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, Victoria, Australia
Pirelli World Challenge, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
Contact
Anna Teslik
Global Motorsport Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: +33 7 7614 7286
ATeslik@nissan-europe.com
Paul Ryan
Global Motorsport Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: +1 678 644 0404
paul@nismosupport.com
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Get more information about Nissan motorsports on NISMO.com.
