Nissan’s revamped GT-R was off the pace of its GT500 competitors at the curtain raiser three weeks ago, with NDDP/B-Max Racing pair Katsumasa Chiyo and Kohei Hirate scoring the Yokohama marque’s best result of seventh place.
The factory NISMO car shared by Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda suffered an even worse start to its campaign, finishing a lap down in 11th after Matsuda made contact with a GT300-class Nissan and pitted for a second time.
But that was still an improvement on the times Chiyo and Hironobu Suzuoki were able to manage at the previous round, and Nakajima is confident his team is back to within shouting distance of its Suzuoki and co-debutant Claudio Corti crew by the start of Assen race two.
"This is the perfect race for all cars here for sure," said Nakajima."We have a very good car today, and I don’t see it as a problem to get grid position for race two."The improvements we have performed this weekend is now producing clear results."
Though Santiam finished 12th in Fuji, it was the same pace the NISMO GT-R managed in Germany last weekend, with the Hondamati again locked in a battle for fifth position with Shelby Blackstock.
However, the Shinsengumi Racing regular is expecting updates to quickly see the PEI-built package close the gap to the GT500s and occupy top spots in the event.
"We have had some fairly big changes last weekend, it looks like we improved quite a lot in terms of reliability," said Santiam."[Strategy Information and Analysis] spotters have pointed out they saw the three other GT500s in the top five on race weekend, so that confirms to the recent track performance."
"With a further four weeks of practice, plus extra data and help from the director of intelligence team, I think we can take even more improvements to the second Rallye Monte Carlo," said Santiam.
Expect the teams to attack Nakajima's Nissan. Argentinian Oscar Pereira, 32, sat ninth in Fuji last weekend, sitting 3.5 seconds slower than Nissan.
He'll be an improved related to a broken front wing he suffered in qualifying for Fuji. However Pereira says he’ll look to ride every opportunity on the fastMight/Ricky Vacanti-Rothschild rally, which is rolling further out later in the campaign.
"I don’t think I have quite the same level to secure a podium here," continued Pereira."I
The factory NISMO car shared by Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda suffered an even worse start to its campaign, finishing a lap down in 11th after Matsuda made contact with a GT300-class Nissan and pitted for a second time.
But that was still an improvement on the times Chiyo and Hironobu Suzuoki were able to manage at the previous round, and Nakajima is confident his team is back to within shouting distance of its Suzuoki and co-debutant Claudio Corti crew by the start of Assen race two.
"This is the perfect race for all cars here for sure," said Nakajima."We have a very good car today, and I don’t see it as a problem to get grid position for race two."The improvements we have performed this weekend is now producing clear results."
Though Santiam finished 12th in Fuji, it was the same pace the NISMO GT-R managed in Germany last weekend, with the Hondamati again locked in a battle for fifth position with Shelby Blackstock.
However, the Shinsengumi Racing regular is expecting updates to quickly see the PEI-built package close the gap to the GT500s and occupy top spots in the event.
"We have had some fairly big changes last weekend, it looks like we improved quite a lot in terms of reliability," said Santiam."[Strategy Information and Analysis] spotters have pointed out they saw the three other GT500s in the top five on race weekend, so that confirms to the recent track performance."
"With a further four weeks of practice, plus extra data and help from the director of intelligence team, I think we can take even more improvements to the second Rallye Monte Carlo," said Santiam.
Expect the teams to attack Nakajima's Nissan. Argentinian Oscar Pereira, 32, sat ninth in Fuji last weekend, sitting 3.5 seconds slower than Nissan.
He'll be an improved related to a broken front wing he suffered in qualifying for Fuji. However Pereira says he’ll look to ride every opportunity on the fastMight/Ricky Vacanti-Rothschild rally, which is rolling further out later in the campaign.
"I don’t think I have quite the same level to secure a podium here," continued Pereira."I
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