Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s demonstrate good pace at Monza in first round of Blancpain Endurance Series

MONZA, Italy – The Blancpain Endurance Series kicked off the new season with a fast and furious race at the Autodromo di Monza in Italy last weekend. Both Nissan GT Academy Team RJN GT-Rs showed a great turn of pace and the #23 car took fifth place in the PRO class.

2012 GT Academy Europe winner Wolfgang Reip was at the wheel of the 12th placed #23 PRO class Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for the start and the Belgian racer had broken into the top 10 by the 20-minute mark of the three-hour race. He made great progress during his stint, handing the GT-R over to Katsumasa Chiyo in seventh position. Chiyo set off and was soon hunting down a Bentley, which will have brought back memories of the Bathurst 12 Hours for many. The Japanese driver was all the way up to fifth when the safety car came out but lost some time at the restart before pitting for Alex Buncombe to jump in for the run to the flag.

The #22 PRO-AM Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Florian Strauss, Ricardo Sanchez and Marc Gassner got away well in the hands of Strauss on Sunday afternoon, the German Bathurst winner immediately gaining ground. Unfortunately the race for #22 was short-lived when rising oil tempertaures forced Strauss to pit and retire the GT-R.

Buncombe is a master of Monza and was soon in pursuit of the leaders again, despite losing a wheel sensor over a kerb, which knocked out his ABS and traction control! He then lost a lap when the safety car came out but picked up the wrong car which meant that Buncombe lost touch with the leaders and had to settle for an eighth place finish, which was fifth in the PRO class.

"We should have had a podium today," said Buncombe. "But I'm pretty happy that we took fifth in class despite having a few problems. The real positive to come out of today is that the 2015-spec GT-R is very driver-friendly so we had really good pace during long runs on old tyres so that will really help us as we go through the season."

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