Nissan Downsizes GT500 Effort to Three Cars

Nissan has confirmed it will scale back from four to three GT500 entries for the 2026 SUPER GT season.

The Yokohama-based firm announced on Tuesday that it will field three Nissan Z NISMOs in the top class next year, with a single works NISMO car, the No. 23 machine, joined by one-car entries from Team Impul and Kondo Racing.

It follows months of speculation that Nissan would eliminate the second of its factory cars, the No. 3 NISMO NDDP machine, due to budget constraints.

Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi will stay together for a second season in the flagship No. 23 Nissan, while 2022 title-winning pairing Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine go into a fourth year together driving Impul’s No. 12 car.

Meanwhile, Nissan has elected to retain Atsushi Miyake alongside Teppei Natori at Kondo Racing, with Miyake replacing the now-retired Tsugio Matsuda — who was named the new team director of the downsized works NISMO team.

Daiki Sasaki is therefore left without a seat in GT500, having been granted a temporary reprieve this year to partner Miyake in the No. 3 NISMO NDDP car.

NMC President Yutaka Sunada commented: “SUPER GT is a key activity for Nissan/NMC, and our passion for motorsports remains unwavering.

“For the upcoming season, we will enter Super GT with a three-car lineup, with Tsugio Matsuda assuming the role as team director for NISMO. All teams are energized for the new season as they aim for victory with their Nissan Z NISMO GT500 racecars.

“We sincerely appreciate the continued and unwavering support of our fans.”

Nissan last fielded only three cars in the GT500 class back in 2010, before it expanded back to four cars for the 2011 campaign, a number which it has maintained since.

It means the GT500 field overall is likely to comprise 14 cars, with Toyota (six) and Honda (five) looking certain to retain their respective number of cars.

NISMO took over the running of the No. 3 car from B-Max Racing in 2022, with the Ayase-based firm having previously run the car from 2018 until 2021.

Tuesday’s announcement made no mention of which tires Nissan’s three cars will run on next season. This year, both NISMO cars as well as Impul used Bridgestone tires, while Kondo was the sole Yokohama user in the Nissan camp.

No details have yet been revealed regarding Nissan’s works-supported customer entries in the GT300 class.