Nissan and NMC (Nissan Motorsports & Customising) have announced their full range of motorsports activities for the 2025 season.
This includes Nissan’s four-car factory effort in the Autobacs SUPER GT Series GT500 class. As previously announced, Mitsunori Takaboshi will reunite with co-driver Katsumasa Chiyo in the flagship #23 NISMO car, and Daiki Sasaki will return to the top class with NISMO NDDP.
Nissan and NMC have also overhauled the management structure of its GT500 programme: Former NISMO NDDP Team Director Toshikazu Tanaka will be in charge of the sporting and operations components, while Shinichi Kiga, who was appointed as Executive Director of the GT500 programme last April, will continue to oversee technical areas such as vehicle development of the Nissan Z NISMO GT500.
Today’s announcement also includes livery reveals for all four teams and, in particular for fans of Team Impul – there is outstanding news: The #12 Nissan will return to its traditional “sonic” blue colour made famous since 1988!
Tokyo Radiator (TRS) will take up the role of primary sponsor of the #12 Impul Z, joined by environmental equipment manufacturer SDG.
In the GT300 class, Nissan will support five cars – including the Nissan Fairlady Z GT300 developed by Gainer.
The Kyoto-based team made its driver announcements over the weekend: Veteran Ryuichiro Tomita will return to the squad, joined by 23-year-old newcomer Kazuki Oki, who will make his full-time SUPER GT debut after taking victories in the Formula Regional Japanese Championship and Super Taikyu Series ST-Z (GT4) class.
Gainer also announced that Mika Ishida, a 25-year employee of the team, will take over as Team Director – making her the only woman registered as a manager of a SUPER GT team. The #11 Gainer Tanax Z will continue to run on Dunlop tyres.
The other four GT300 cars are Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s, all running on Yokohama tyres from familiar customers.
With Daiki Sasaki moving back up to GT500, two-time GT500 Champion Kohei Hirate rejoins Kondo Racing in the #56 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, supported by student and service mechanics from the Nissan Mechanic Challenge. Hirate will drive alongside the returning two-time GT300 Champion João Paulo de Oliveira.
Brothers Yuya and Reiji Hiraki will drive for HELM Motorsports, beginning its second GT300 campaign. Along with younger brother Reiji returning to a full-time driving role, HELM Motorsports has also appointed the first female race engineer in series history: Yuki Urano, who comes over after spending time as a data and performance engineer for NISMO NDDP (and previously, Nakajima Racing in Super Formula). Urano will lead the crew of the #62 HELM GT-R.
Tomei Sports (RunUp Sports) and NILZZ Racing will also continue to enter GT300 with customer GT-Rs. 2001 GT300 Champion Takayuki Aoki and Bronze driver Atsushi Tanaka were announced to drive the #360 RunUp GT-R, while NILZZ Racing will announce its drivers in the coming days and weeks.
Nissan will also have a continued presence in the SRO Motorsports Asia series.
After an upset victory at Suzuka last year, Team 5Zigen will return to GT World Challenge Asia, entering the #500 GT-R in the Silver-Am category. Yu Kanamaru returns to Team 5Zigen alongside new Bronze co-driver, Motoki Takami, who comes over from the Bingo Sports Callaway Corvette programme in SRO Japan Cup.
Speaking of the Japan Cup, RunUp Sports and GTNET Motorsports will each enter customer GT-Rs in the GT3 Am class. The father and son duo of Noboyuki and Ryuichiro O(h)yagi will drive the #81 Daishin GT-R for GTNET Motorsports after a successful part-time effort, while Masaaki Nishikawa and the aforementioned Atsushi Tanaka will drive the #360 RunUp GT-R.
GTNET Motorsports will also continue to race in the Super Taikyu Series ST-X (GT3) class, where the team hopes to regain the premier class title. Along with the Oyagis, Natsu Sakaguchi and Takayuki Aoki will share driving duties of the familiar orange #81 GT-R.
And after a one-off outing in the Okayama round, Team HandWork Challenge – a new programme supported by the B-Max Racing Team – intends to run full-time in ST-X. The team has also signed former Honda factory driver Iori Kimura to drive alongside Daiki Sasaki and an amateur driver to be named later.
Kimura drove for B-Max Racing in Super Formula last year, after winning the 2023 Super Formula Lights title. But after a difficult 2024 campaign in the main series, Kimura was not only released from his Super Formula drive but also his Honda works contract.
Nissan/NMC will also continue to support customers of the Nissan Z NISMO GT4, which enters its second year of service.
However, it appears the GT4 customer ranks in SRO America have been reduced to just one team – Flying Lizard Motorsports. Canadian Damir Hot will run dual programmes for Flying Lizard – racing alongside Rodrigo Baptista in Pirelli GT4 America, and driving solo in the GT America series.
There is no mention of original GT4 America customer TechSport Racing – which is shifting focus towards the new McLaren Trophy USA series – or Blackdog Racing, which gave the car its first global victory last year.
In Super Taikyu, all three Nissan Z NISMO GT4 customers return to race in ST-Z – including two cars from Team ZeroOne, which is also backed by the Nissan Mechanic Challenge initiative. The driver line-ups for both cars remain intact: Tadao Uematsu/Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori/Kimiya Sato in the #25, Ryuichiro Otsuka/Ryuichiro Tomita/Takuro Shinohara/Seiji Ara in the #26.
Naniwa Denso Team Impul is back with Kazuki Hiramine and Kazuki Oki returning to drive the #20 Z GT4 alongside two newcomers, including the debut of a second-generation driver with an exceptional pedigree.
18-year-old Jules Tréluyer, the son of three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Benoît Tréluyer, will make his long-anticipated Japanese racing debut driving for Team Impul. His father won the 2006 Formula Nippon (Super Formula) Championship with Impul and also drove for several seasons in SUPER GT GT500 before winning the title in 2008 with NISMO.
Tréluyer raced in the Ligier JS Cup France last season, finishing fifth in the Ligier Junior Programme standings. He is also joined by Impul’s new amateur driver Takashi Matsumoto, and Bertrand Baguette, who will drive at this year’s Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours.
Images © GTA, Nissan, SRO Motorsports Group, STO, Ligier JS Cup France
