No. 35 KCMG Nissan Withdrawn After Bathurst Practice Crash

The No. 35 KCMG Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 has been withdrawn from the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour after the car was deemed unrepairable following a crash in opening practice on Friday.

Josh Burdon found the wall at Reid Park late in Practice 1, with the car going into the concrete on driver’s left, ripping the left-rear wheel from the car and leaving significant damage.

The team was initially hopeful of being able to repair the car, however, further inspection revealed the chassis was too compromised to attempt fixing, ruling the Burdon, Katsumasa Chiyo, and Tsugio Matsuda-driven entry out of the event.

“Basically looking at the damage to the rear, the damage to the chassis is more than we thought,” KCMG team manager Ian Geekie told Sportscar365.

“I had a specialist come and look at it and we tried to find a way to do it, but in the short time available it’s not feasible.

“From the scrutineers’ point of view they are concerned by pulling and trying to fix it; it’s become a weak point.

“Therefore those two factors meant we had to take a decision to retire the car.”

KCMG’s withdrawal brings the entry number for the event down to 38 cars, with the team now turning its focus to the sister No. 18 entry of Alexandre Imperatori, Edoardo Liberati and Joao Paulo de Oliveira.

“Full focus is on the sister car. We were up there, we were P3 in the previous session and amongst a lot of Stuttgart brands,” Geekie added. “We’ll give it everything and see how we go.”