Nissan "not confident" Z has retained any 2022 advantage

Last season, Nissan scored its first GT500 title since the 2015 season as the all-new Z proved the class of the field, with Team Impul pair Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine beating the NISMO-run NDDP Racing squad to the championship.

For 2023, an aerodynamics freeze is in place for the GT500 class ahead of the introduction of a new set of regulations for the class in 2024.

However, this hasn’t stopped Toyota and Honda making subtle revisions to the bodywork at the front end of their cars, with the appearance of a new bonnet winglet on the Toyota GR Supra in the recent Fuji test in particular attracting attention.

Nissan SUPER GT executive director Motohiro Matsumura says that these changes, combined with the introduction of new carbon-neutral fuel for 2023, mean that the marque cannot feel it has any kind of advantage going into the new season.

“We have an aero freeze at the moment, but I have observed different aero on some of our rivals’ cars,” Matsumura told Motorsport.com. 

“The aero balance itself is not so bad. But I am not confident we are better than our rivals because they seem to be modifying their cars. It’s a lesson learned for us.”

 

While some figures from rival manufacturers said during the off-season that Nissan had the advantage when it comes to adapting to the new fuel, Matsumura was adamant that this is not the case.

“Generally, this new fuel is difficult to [properly] vaporise,” he said. “The conditions for the combustion itself are not the best. For each engine manufacturer, the impact level may be different. But I can clearly say that I don’t think we have an advantage.

“Maybe all three manufacturers are quite similar. But I am not thinking about rumours that Nissan has an advantage. It’s completely untrue.

“Even last year, the competitiveness was quite similar. Every race the podium was shared between different manufacturers. Of course I respect the efforts of the teams and drivers, but from a machine competitiveness standpoint, everyone was quite similar.”

Matsumura was also eager to play down a strong long run by Tsugio Matsuda in the #23 NISMO Z on the second day of the Okayama test, warning that it may not be representative of conditions for next week’s opening round at the same track.

“In those exact conditions, the result was not so bad,” Matsumura said. “But the road surface conditions were quite different from usual. 

“If this returns to normal, the result may be different. It’s still very difficult to estimate.”