Nissan Confirms Kondo Racing Bridgestone Tire Switch

Nissan has confirmed that the Kondo Racing GT500 team will switch from Yokohama to Bridgestone tires for the upcoming SUPER GT season.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, the No. 24 Nissan Z NISMO will switch to the same tire manufacturer as Kondo’s fellow Nissan squads NISMO and Team Impul for what will be the final year of open competition in the Japanese championship.

It follows Nissan’s decision to scale back to three GT500 entries, which was confirmed by the brand last December, and leaves Yokohama with just a single entry in the top class this year, the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota GR Supra.

Teppei Natori and Atsushi Miyake will share driving duties aboard the No. 24 Kondo Nissan, with Miyake moving across to replace the retired Tsugio Matsuda.

Nissan has now confirmed that Daiki Sasaki, Miyake’s co-driver in the now-discontinued No. 3 NISMO NDDP car, will serve as reserve driver this year.

Jiro Shimada, formerly the team director for the No. 3 car, has been reassigned as the track engineer for the No. 24 car, replacing Toshiomi Oeki — who has left Nissan altogether in favor of a role with the Real Racing Honda squad.

Kondo’s GT300 class Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 will continue to use Yokohama tires.

Iori Kimura has been named as the new teammate to Joao Paulo de Oliveira at Kondo, the Russian-Japanese driver moving across from Team Mach, having helped the team secure its first ever SUPER GT victory in last year’s Motegi finale.

Kimura, who was previously a factory Honda driver, replaces Kohei Hirate, who split from Nissan following the conclusion of the 2025 campaign.

The No. 56 Kondo car will be one of four GT-Rs racing in the lower division this year, with Helm Motorsports, NILZZ Racing and Tomei Sports (listed by Nissan under the Runup Sports name) all continuing with their respective one-car efforts.

Brothers Reiji and Yuya Hiraki will once again share the No. 62 Helm Motorsports car, while gentleman racers Taiyo Ida and Atsushi Tanaka are so far the only confirmed drivers respectively for the No. 48 NILZZ and No. 360 Tomei entries.

Nissan’s statement also confirms Gainer will return for a third season with its self-constructed Z GT300 car to be driven by an unchanged lineup of Ryuichiro Tomita and Kazuki Oki, but there is no mention of Anest Iwata Racing.

That’s despite expectations that Anest Iwata, which is set to reveal its SUPER GT lineup on Feb. 15 in a special launch event, will field a second example of the Gainer-built Z.

Nissan Outlines Programs in GT World Challenge Asia, Super Taikyu

In addition to SUPER GT, Nissan will maintain a presence in both GT World Challenge powered by AWS and Super Taikyu for the upcoming season.

5ZIGEN will continue to represent the brand in GTWC Asia’s Silver class with its No. 500 GT-R NISMO GT3, which will be driven by a refreshed driver lineup comprising GT500 driver Miyake and SUPER GT regulars Takayuki Aoki and Kimiya Sato.

A clash with the second round of the SUPER GT calendar at Fuji means Miyake will be unavailable to 5ZIGEN for the second GTWC Asia round at Mandalika.

Yu Kanamaru, as well as ‘Motoki’ and ‘Hirobon’ are no longer part of the 5ZIGEN lineup.

Tomei will also field a car in SRO Japan Cup for Tanaka and Masaaki Nishikawa.

In Super Taikyu, Nissan has scaled back its presence to just a pair of Z NISMO GT4s, one for Team Impul and one for Team ZeroOne, which previously ran two cars.

Nissan will have no presence in the North America GT4 market following the late collapse of its relationship with Flying Lizard Motorsports a year ago.