It was nods all-‘round from the assembled press when Nissan NISMO rolled out their #32 GT-R GT3 at Mount Panorama today. Lead driver, Rick Kelly also looked particularly pleased and at ease – if not quietly confident. “This is an all-Japanese effort,” stated Kelly. “I’m really impressed at the culture of the team and how they go about things, they’re very disciplined.”
When asked about communication issues with 20-plus squad of Japanese pit crew and engineers, Kelly responded, “a lot of that was worked out at our Sepang test, there are interpreters and their English is good enough to get the point across. It’s not a problem, I’m having a lot of fun.”
As for the performance of the NISMO GT-R GT3, Kelly admits he’s pretty much only driven V8 Supercars and can only draw comparisons to them. “With all the extra aero, the GT-R is lot quicker in the high-speed corners and a lot more stable under brakes, It’s very quick overall!”
Unfortunately Kelly would not be drawn into making any lap time predictions. He did admit that Mt Panorama’s new surface will undoubtedly result in some very quick lap times during the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour weekend.
WATCH THE RACE LIVE ON TV:
SBS ONE 3:30pm – 6:30pm, Sunday February 9th.
WATCH THE RACE ONLINE:
Via the LIVE STREAM – all day Saturday & Sunday at bathurst12hour.com.au
LIQUI-MOLY
Proud supporters of the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour
The Mountain – The Race – The Magic
February 7th-9th, 2014
