Ronnie Quintarelli, the most decorated international driver ever to race in the Autobacs SUPER GT Series, and the only four-time champion in the history of the premier GT500 class, is retiring from the championship at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Nissan Motorsports & Customisation (NMC) announced Quintarelli’s retirement in a press release issued today, bringing an end to a career that has spanned most of 20 seasons in SUPER GT. The Italian driver has been a Nissan factory driver since 2008 and has driven for the flagship NISMO team since 2013.
This announcement, made at Quintarelli’s request ahead of his 137th and final SUPER GT championship race for Nissan (149 total), will allow fans to salute the four-time champion in his last race – the Suzuka GT 300km Grand Final on 8 December. He will also appear at the 2024 NISMO Festival at Fuji Speedway on 1 December to interact with Nissan/NISMO fans before his final race.
“Deciding to end my activities in SUPER GT, which has been the centre of my life for a long time, was a very difficult choice,” Quintarelli said. “However, I believe it is the right time to step back and let a new legacy begin.
“I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me through both the most successful and the toughest times. I am thankful to all the fans who have cheered for me, the many sponsors who supported me, the GT Association for providing me with a platform to compete, my teammates who fought alongside me, and Nissan/NISMO.
“Thanks to all of you, I have been able to live a dream-like life. I want to personally thank everyone at the NISMO Festival. Moreover, I will give my all behind the wheel of my dream car until the final corner of the last lap at the SUPER GT final race in Suzuka.”
Quintarelli began racing in Japan in 2002, driving in the short-lived GC-21 Series and the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship. After winning the F3 title in 2004, Quintarelli made his SUPER GT GT500 debut in 2005 with Toyota Team SARD. He then spent the next two seasons devoting most of his energy into Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) – and had a very brief stint as a Midland F1 Team test driver, while racing part-time in GT500.
Quintarelli signed with Nissan as a factory GT500 driver in 2008. During his time with Nissan, Quintarelli became the first and only driver to win four GT500 titles – in 2011-2012 alongside Masataka Yanagida at MOLA, and in 2014-2015 alongside Tsugio Matsuda at NISMO.
Quintarelli has 18 victories, the third-most in the history of the GT500 class and the most for a foreign-born driver in SUPER GT history. He also has 15 career pole positions (2nd all-time), 46 podiums (3rd all-time), and is one of just four drivers to score 1,000 career points in GT500. On the biggest stages, he is a three-time winner of the SUPER GT Fuji Golden Week Race (2015, 2016, 2018), and a two-time winner of the Suzuka 1000km (2005 non-championship and 2012).
Quintarelli has spent the past 12 seasons driving the flagship NISMO number 23 car – 10 of which were with Matsuda as his co-driver, usually supported by race engineer Takeshi Nakajima and the late team director Yutaka Suzuki.
He also helped Michelin attain its first run of sustained success in GT500 – winning all four of his championships on Michelin tyres, in a partnership that ran through the end of last season.
Outside of the cockpit, Quintarelli’s charitable contributions to relief efforts following the 2011 Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, earned him the title of Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy in 2015. Afterwards, he continued to support disaster relief efforts such as those following the Central Italian earthquakes in 2016.
“We deeply appreciate Ronnie’s contributions to Nissan/NISMO over the past 17 years,” said Takao Katagiri, President of NMC. “Throughout our long relationship, I have always been amazed by his passion for racing and thorough preparations for each race. Serving as the driver of the car number 23 for 12 years requires immeasurable effort. His unparalleled record of four series championship titles is etched not only in the history of Nissan/NISMO’s motorsport but also in the history of Japanese motorsport. The final race at Suzuka is a track where Ronnie has achieved numerous victories, so we will provide our full support.”
Images © Nissan
