Chiyo: NISMO “Stepped Up” After Difficult Mid-Season Spell

Katsumasa Chiyo believes that Nissan’s factory NISMO team has been able to address some of its weaknesses after a difficult middle part of the SUPER GT season.

Chiyo and his teammate in the No. 23 Nissan Z, Ronnie Quintarelli, rebounded from a disappointing three-race spell in which they earned only one point by finishing second in this month’s sixth round of the campaign at Autopolis.

That was a race that Chiyo and Quintarelli had looked set to win, with safety car periods erasing Chiyo’s lead on multiple occasions and finally handing the initiative over to the SARD Toyota GR Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama.

While disappointed to have lost a strong chance of a first victory of the year, Chiyo was eager to draw the positives from the condensed one-day weekend as he appeared on the podium for the first time since May’s Fuji round.

“It feels like the team has really stepped up,” Chiyo told Sportscar365. “Since the previous round at Sugo, we’ve reviewed everything and I think we have improved in terms of communication and [set-up] adjustments.

“The team is growing, so it’s positive that it has shown in the results. From now on I want to build an even stronger team and show even better performances as a driver.”

The withdrawal of Michelin from SUPER GT’s GT500 class left NISMO to reunite with Bridgestone for 2024, but fellow Nissan team Team Impul has conducted all testing duties since the start of the season, with each tire supplier restricted to supplying a single car per manufacturer for in-season tests.

Chiyo feels that NISMO’s relative lack of knowledge of the Bridgestones was a contributing factor in its mid-season slump, not helped by bad weather severely limiting the available track time at both Sugo and Autopolis.

“The middle of the season was tougher for us than we expected, and it feels like some of our weaknesses were exposed,” said Chiyo prior to the Autopolis race. “But as a ‘new’ team, it’s a process that we have to go through.

“We don’t have enough experience with Bridgestone, and that lack of experience compared to the other teams is something that hurt us in the wet at Sugo.

“We’re in a situation where we can hardly do any testing and recent races have also been wet. That makes things like tire selection and exact set-up adjustments difficult for us to do to a high degree of accuracy compared to the other top teams. 

“It isn’t just the tire but the whole package; the combination of tire and car. The level in SUPER GT is so high now so it’s not easy to catch up.”

Chiyo moved from the No. 3 NDDP Racing Nissan to replace Tsugio Matsuda as Quintarelli’s teammate aboard the flagship No. 23 car at the start of this year.

But the 37-year-old says that the biggest challenge has been dealing with having a new teammate, tire manufacturer and engineers, rather than the increased status.

“When the race begins, what I have to do as a driver is the same in the No. 23 as what it was when I was in the No. 3, which is to drive quickly and provide the team with good feedback,” said Chiyo.

“Of course [being the ‘ace’ driver of the No. 23] is an important role, but it’s not like it’s changed significantly since last year. 

“What has changed is that, unlike last year, when we had the same package as the year before, a lot of things are new this year.

“So rather than pressure, it’s just there are many things I have to do, and a lot of things to learn about, including communication within the team.”

After finishing second at Autopolis, Chiyo and Quintarelli face a 13-point deficit to championship-leading Toyota TOM’S pair Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita heading into this weekend’s penultimate round of the season at Motegi.

The sister No. 3 NISMO crew of Mitsunori Takaboshi and Atsushi Miyake is only seven points down on Tsuboi and Yamashita after coming home third at Autopolis.

“I thought [our title chances] would depend on Autopolis, but it’s going to come down to Motegi,” said Chiyo. “I want to still be in the championship fight after Motegi.”