NISMO Stars Join Handwork Nissan Suzuka 1000km Lineup

Team Handwork Challenge has announced that NISMO SUPER GT stars Atsushi Miyake and Daiki Sasaki will be part of its lineup for the Suzuka 1000km.

Miyake and Sasaki, who are co-drivers in NISMO’s No. 3 car in SUPER GT’s top GT500 class, will share the No. 84 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 with ex-Honda driver Iori Kimura for the revived Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture on Sept. 12-14.

Team Handwork Challenge is a relatively recently-formed team operated by B-Max Racing, which has a long association with Nissan having previously run cars in SUPER GT, in both the GT500 and GT300 classes, on behalf of the Japanese manufacturer.

It made its first appearance last year in the Okayama round of the Super Taikyu series last year with Sasaki, Rin Arakawa and team owner Ryuji Kumita, appearing under his usual pseudonym ‘Dragon’, sharing driving duties.

The team was announced by NISMO to be participating in the series again this year, with Kimura and Sasaki named as drivers, but has yet to appear in any race so far.

However, the B-Max Nissan appeared in this month’s Fuji Speedway round of the SRO Japan Cup, competing in the Am class under the ‘Art Taste with JMS Racing’ banner, carrying the same No. 84 that will be used for the team’s Suzuka 1000km entry.

Kimura has links with B-Max from his time in single-seater racing series such as Super Formula and Super Formula Lights with the Kanagawa Prefecture-based team.

He is contesting the GT300 class of SUPER GT this season for Team Mach, and also drove the GT-R NISMO GT3 in the Fuji 24 Hours this year for GTNET MotorSports.

Miyake, meanwhile, will be making his first outing in the GT-R NISMO GT3.