Nissan’s Miyake Wants to “Test Himself” With GT Asia Move

Nissan driver Atsushi Miyake has outlined a desire to test himself against European factory opposition as he joins this year’s GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS field.

Miyake, who has been part of Nissan’s SUPER GT driver roster in the GT500 class since 2024, was announced last month as part of 5ZIGEN’s lineup for its No. 500 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 together with Takayuki Aoki and Kimiya Sato.

The 27-year-old is set to share the 5ZIGEN car with veteran Aoki for five of the six rounds that make up the GTWC Asia calendar, with Sato taking his place for the second round at Mandalika that clashes with the Fuji Golden Week SUPER GT race.

Explaining his desire to tackle GTWC Asia, Miyake said it stemmed from his participation in last year’s Suzuka 1000km at the wheel of a B-Max Racing run GT-R together with his then-GT500 co-driver Daiki Sasaki and Iori Kimura.

Although the car, entered under the Team Handwork Challenge banner, failed to finish due to an engine failure, Miyake said the event had a big impact on his outlook.

“In GT Asia, there are always a lot of factory drivers coming over from Europe, and this is something I experienced as well in the Suzuka 1000km,” he told Sportscar365.

“That race made me realize just how the high the level of the factory drivers, so I’m looking forward to fighting against them with Nissan and the GT-R.

“I didn’t want to race only in GT500, I also wanted to race internationally, and even though it’s an Asian-based series there are a lot of drivers coming from all over the world and I really wanted to test myself against them.

“I discussed it with Nissan, and said it was a category I really wanted to drive in, and so they decided to take me on.

“Last year, I raced in the Suzuka 1000km and although the result wasn’t good, it was a lot of fun and had a very different atmosphere compared to SUPER GT. I enjoyed that aspect and I thought it would be fun to do more GT3 racing, so I am very happy.”

5ZIGEN will be tackling the Silver class this year, switching over from the Silver-Am category that it contested in 2024-25 with Yu Kanamaru spearheading its lineup.

However, the team has also experienced success outright, with Kanamaru and co-driver ‘Hirobon’ having taken an overall win at Suzuka in 2024 and then repeating the feat in the opening leg of last year’s season finale on the streets of Beijing.

Despite lacking experience of Shanghai and Beijing, Miyake is confident he can continue the team’s strong recent form together with fellow Silver-rated driver Aoki.

“Last year, 5ZIGEN was strong, and recently we did a shakedown at Fuji,” said Miyake. “During that time the feeling with the car was good, even though we still have some areas where we need to fine-tune the setup further.

“I think if we can do that to suit Sepang and all the other circuits on the calendar, I think we should definitely be in with a chance.”

Asked whether he will contest this year’s Suzuka 1000km again, Miyake replied: “I’m not sure yet, but of course if there’s a chance then I’d love to take on the challenge again.”