BATHURST, Australia – After showing impressive wet weather speed in practice, Nissan Motorsport just missed out on completing a top-10 result in last weekend's Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.
Three of the Nissan Motorsport machines made it to the end of 161 laps around the grueling mountain circuit. Two-time Bathurst winner Rick Kelly and co-driver Garry Jacobson led the charge for Nissan with a P11 finish.
Swiss racer Simona De Silvestro (teamed with Alex Rullo) tied her previous best Bathurst finish of P14. The No. 78 pairing started P26 and made up an impressive 12 places over the course of the race.
"That was a lot of fun," said De Silvestro. "We had really good pace throughout the race, and Alex did an awesome job. The car didn't want to leave the pits after the last two stops, so we lost a bunch of time and probably would have finished just behind Rick. We recovered well with good speed. I'm really happy with the pace we had in the race."
Andre Heimgartner and Aaren Russell finished not far behind the De Silvestro/Rullo car in 16th place. The fourth car in the Nissan stable, Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore's No. 23, faced an early retirement in the race. A brake bias adjuster was knocked during the pair's first driver change, provoking an incident that caused significant damage to the car. Ultimately, the car was retired with an engine issue after 69 laps.
The Supercars Championship next heads to the Vodafone Gold Coast 600, the third and final round of the Enduro Cup.
Bathurst done and dusted. Good recovery at the end. Had a bit of a stall in the pits which cost us 1or2 positions. But car was much better in the race then quali! Great effort from @AlexRullo62 as well! Bring on GC #homerace pic.twitter.com/XietBNfsAL
— Simona De Silvestro (@simdesilvestro) October 7, 2018
Check out the pics for @Nissan_MSport from the #Bathurst1000.
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) October 7, 2018
➡️ See the full gallery at: https://t.co/vybvNeCmN0#NISMOnation pic.twitter.com/2LadCjtV4D
It just wasn't our weekend. All 8 drivers fought hard, but we have a bit of homework to do back at HQ before the next one #BATHURST1000 RESULT: @rickkelly/@GarryJacobson P11. @simdesilvestro/@AlexRullo62 P14. @andreheimgartne/@aarenrussell P16. @michaelcarus0/@deanfiore DNF #VASC pic.twitter.com/6YfSfBwlZW
— Nissan Motorsport (@Nissan_MSport) October 7, 2018
NISMO Calendar
October 13-14
Blancpain GT Series Asia, Ningbo, China
FIA World Endurance Championship, Fuji International Speedway, Japan
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA
October 16-19
ABB FIA Formula E Championship, Pre-season test, Valencia, Spain
October 20-21
Super GT, Autopolis, Japan
Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
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.
