NISMO-RS JUKE, sporty Micras comprise Team Nissan Canada for Targa Newfoundland 2014

ST. JOHN'S - The Nissan name will return to Canada's longest and toughest motorsport challenge with a three-car team featuring some of the nation's best known journalists and broadcasters, Targa Newfoundland and Nissan Canada Inc. announced today.

The sporty Nissan JUKE NISMO RS crossover will get its Canadian competition debut in the tough Targa Newfoundland Modern Division with Targa veterans and past winners Jim Kenzie and Brian Bourbonniere at the wheel. A pair of Nissan Micra sub-compacts will contest the rigorous Grand Touring category with the teams of Keri Potipcoe and Michel Crépault in the first car and Michael Vaughan and Danny Bailey aboard the second.

"It gives me great delight to announce that Nissan will participate in one of North America's most exciting rally race events, Targa Newfoundland. To further add to the excitement, we will be competing with the Nissan Micra - the fun-to-drive and most affordable car in the market," says Christian Meunier, president of Nissan Canada Inc. "The Nissan Micra, along with the intense and athletic JUKE NISMO RS competing in Targa Newfoundland embodies what we're all about at Nissan.  Making innovation, technology and last but certainly not least – excitement – available for everyone."

Best-known from his work with the Toronto Star Wheels automotive section in print and online, and also for his weekly rants on TSN television's Motoring TV, Kenzie of Milton, Ontario, is reunited with co-driver Bourbonniere, of Halifax, to lead the Nissan effort. Kenzie and Bourbonniere have been to the top step of the podium three times at Targa, as winners of the Open Division.

The fourth and meanest member of the Nissan JUKE lineup – the JUKE NISMO RS will take to the stages in the week-long test of endurance in virtually stock trim. The JUKE NISMO RS is powered by a 215 horsepower turbocharged direct-injection 1.6-litre engine tuned by Nissan's NISMO motorsports arm. With Helical Limited-Slip Differential, upgraded brakes and other performance features, the JUKE NISMO RS will be well suited to the torturous Targa stages.

A pair of rookie teams will pilot the all-new 2015 Nissan Micras in the Grand Touring competition, consisting of: Cinematographer Danny Bailey who has spent his last 30 years shooting features throughout 44 countries worldwide and is a principle videographer with TSN's Motoring TV. Automotive industry expert, journalist, and author Michael Vaughan will drive with Danny in the Nissan Micra. The youngest driver of Team Nissan is Keri Potipcoe, an auto journalist whose blog KeriBlog.com helped her cross over from new to traditional media, and now writes for Sun Media including her favourite, a weekly column called ‘Keri on Driving'.  Keri will drive with veteran journalist Michel Crépault who writes in a number of French-language magazines, is the publisher for AutoMédia and is at the helm of L'Annuel de l'automobile book, now entering its 14th year of publication.

Fresh from its re-introduction to Canada earlier this year, the all-new 2015 Nissan Micra promises to be a capable performer in the Grand Touring division where the emphasis is on driving precision. With energetic performance, suspension and steering systems designed to add a fun-to-drive factor while conquering Canadian roads, and a starting MSRP of just $9,998, Nissan's value flagship is a fresh and appealing vehicle in a Canadian market that loves sub-compact cars.

"Targa fans have enjoyed some fabulous Nissan cars over the years, but we are particularly pleased to welcome Nissan Canada and two very different, very exciting models that demonstrate the diversity of the Targa challenge," said event organizer Robert Giannou. "Targa represents a real-world test for car manufacturers and Nissan Canada has accepted the challenge head-on. I'm confident they'll do well."

The three-car Nissan Canada team marks a welcome return to Targa for the popular Nissan brand. In 2009, a Nissan North America-supported Nissan GT-R from California motorsports specialists Stillen dominated the Modern Division with legendary New Zealand expat Steve Millen behind the wheel and Road & Track magazine's Mike Monticello as co-driver.

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