Nissan, Honda Announce GT500 Lineups

Nissan and Honda have announced the respective driving lineups for their GT500 ranks ahead of the 2021 Super GT season.

There are two major changes at Nissan as Nobuharu Matsushita joins the Japanese manufacturer and Jann Mardenborough is dropped from Nissan’s lineup.

Matsushita, who arrives fresh from Formula 2, has been recruited as part of Team Impul alongside Kazuki Hiramine.

Matsushita takes up Daiki Sasaki’s seat as the latter moves across to Kondo Racing to replace Mardenborough as co-driver to Mitsunori Takaboshi.

The remaining two squads are unchanged from last year, with Kohei Hirate and Katsumasa Chiyo staying on at NDDP Racing with B-Max.

Tsugio Matsuda and Italian Ronnie Quintarelli will continue to race under the NISMO banner.

Mardenborough’s departure spells the end of a five-year run in Super GT, with the Nissan GT Academy graduate having debuted in 2016.

New signing Matsushita last raced for MP Motorsport in F2 and brings experience in Super Formula and the GT300 ranks of Super GT with him.

“The first testing for the Super GT 2021 season is about to start tomorrow,” said NISMO President and CEO Takao Katagiri.

“This year, we welcome Nobuharu Matsushita to Team Impul.

“Under the supervision of the team principal, Mr. Hoshino, we expect that together with his teammate Kazuki Hiramine, Matsushita will further propel the team with their vigorous driving.”

Oyu Promotion Only Change For Honda

Toshiki Oyu steps up from GT300 to Team Mugen’s GT500 roster partnering Ukyo Sasahara.

There are no driver changes for the remaining four Honda GT500 outfits, Team Kunimitsu, ARTA, Real Racing and Nakajima Racing.

Team Kunimitsu’s Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino will carry the No. 1 this season following their championship title last year.

Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi stay on at ARTA, Real Racing retains the Koudai Tsukakoshi and Bertrand Baguette pairing, while Nakajima Racing has re-signed Takuya Izawa and Hiroki Otsu.

An announcement from Toyota is expected soon, with testing beginning on Jan. 19.