Nissan factory legend Tsugio Matsuda will spearhead Team Daishin’s Suzuka 1000km entry on September 11-13.
The GT-R NISMO GT3, which is run by GTNET, becomes the 29th entry to be confirmed for the 50th Summer Endurance Race, which also hosts the penultimate round of this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge next weekend.
Daishin’s Nissan is not eligible to score points towards SRO’s globe-trotting GT3 series but will be a serious Bronze class contender given the three drivers at its disposal.
Matsuda is Super GT’s all-time wins record holder and a two-time GT500 champion who won the 1000km when it was part of the series in 2008. He also has two Formula Nippon (Super Formula) titles to his name and has previously contested the likes of IGTC and FIA WEC with Nissan.
The 47-year-old retired from Super GT competition at the end of last year but remains part of Nissan’s factory-supported GT4 programme in Super Taikyu.
He’s joined by Daishin’s Super Taikyu regular Ryuichiro Ohyagi, who has also previously raced the car in Japan Cup, and Kiyoto Fujinami. The latter won Super GT300 titles with a GT-R in 2020 and ’22 but is now more closely aligned with the Seven x Seven Porsche operation that has contested the Asian Le Mans Series, Japan Cup and Super GT.
Daishin’s Nissan becomes the third such entry at Suzuka where 5ZIGEN will battle for overall honours and Runup Sports is the soul Am contender.