2021 Goodbyes: Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500

After fourteen seasons competing in the GT500 class of Super GT, Nissan retired their successful, iconic GT-R NISMO GT500 R35 at the end of the 2021 season.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this ultimate super silhouette racing version of the latest Nissan GT-R was a success from its very beginning. Powered by Nissan’s 4.5 litre V8 VK45DE engine, and built around a first-in-class all-carbon fibre monocoque frame, the GT-R GT500 won a record seven out of nine races in 2008, and picked up the Drivers’ Championship in its first season.

Back-to-back GT500 titles were won in 2011 and 2012, by which point the car was powered by the new VRH34 engine, based on a unified 3.4 litre V8 engine formula.

When the ‘Class One’ era began in 2014, the GT-R had a bold new look, a new turbocharged two-litre inline-four engine, and continued success into the new generation – as NISMO won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015, led by drivers Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, and their recently departed team manager Yutaka Suzuki.

As the years went on, Nissan continued to win races in every season, but after 2016 had been surpassed by rivals Honda and Toyota. But to the very end of the GT-R GT500’s run in Super GT, it was always a crowd pleaser – not unlike the road car which it was based on, which has truly become a generation-defining automotive icon.

Not only NISMO, but other teams enjoyed success with the GT-R. MOLA stepped up to GT500 and won back to back titles in 2011-2012. Team Impul in their famous Calsonic blue livery, and Yokohama tyre loyalists Kondo Racing – plus Hasemi Motor Sports, and their spiritual successor, NDDP Racing with B-Max, have all won races with this car. And some pretty big individual races were won during that time – two wins in the Suzuka 1000km in 2008 and 2012, and six wins in the Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway.

Satoshi Motoyama became Super GT’s first three-time GT500 champion in 2008, alongside Benoît Tréluyer, who used his Super GT success with Nissan to launch into a legendary career with Audi in LMP1. Matsuda became GT500’s winningest driver at the wheel of the GT-R, and Quintarelli became the first four-time GT500 champion.

We also saw the emergence of a new wave of home grown Nissan talents who all had a turn in the GT500 GT-R – Hironobu Yasuda, Yuhi Sekiguchi, Katsumasa Chiyo, Daiki Sasaki, and Mitsunori Takaboshi stepped up to GT500 through the Nissan Driver Development Programme (NDDP), and GT Academy winners Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordoñez also had opportunities in GT500.

Other notable drivers who found success at the wheel of the R35 GT-R included 2011-2012 GT500 champion Masataka Yanagida, Le Mans 24h winner Seiji Ara, past GT500 champions Michael Krumm and Kohei Hirate – and notable international talents were brought in, including 2015 runner-up J.P. Oliveira, Fréd Makowiecki, James Rossiter, and Björn Wirdheim.

And most recently, Kazuki Hiramine and Nobuharu Matsushita made history by recording their first GT500 victories – and in doing so, giving the GT-R its final top flight victory.

Though the GT500 model is consigned to history, the R35 GT-R isn’t completely finished with its racing life: The current-generation Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 will still be racing in Super GT – in GT300 – and in the Super Taikyu Series as well!

Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 (R35) – Notable Achievements

2008: Seven wins in debut season (single-season record for any make and model in GT500) including 1-2 finish in debut race

#23 Xanavi NISMO GT-R, Satoshi Motoyama & Benoît Tréluyer – GT500 Drivers’ Champions, recorded first win in Round 1 at Suzuka Circuit.

2009: Four wins; Motoyama third, Tréluyer fourth in GT500 Drivers’ Championship

2010: Two wins; #12 Calsonic Impul GT-R, Tsugio Matsuda & Ronnie Quintarelli – fifth in GT500 Drivers’ Championship

2011: Five wins; first and second in GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship

#46 S Road MOLA GT-R, Masataka Yanagida & Ronnie Quintarelli – GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Champions; Motoyama & Tréluyer runners-up

2012: Three wins

#1 S Road Reito MOLA GT-R, Masataka Yanagida & Ronnie Quintarelli – back-to-back GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships

2013: Winner of Round 3 at Sepang Circuit

2014: Three wins; 1-2-3 finish in Round 3 at Autopolis

#23 Motul Autech GT-R, Tsugio Matsuda & Ronnie Quintarelli – GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Champions

2015: Four wins, first and second in GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships

#23 Motul Autech GT-R, Tsugio Matsuda &; Ronnie Quintarelli – back-to-back GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Champions (#12 Calsonic GT-R, Hironobu Yasuda & J.P. Oliveira runners-up)