Fuji Speedway battle looms as part of Japan's "Golden Week"
Nissan has won the event with the GT-R for the past two years.
#1 Nismo Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3: Tsugio Matsuda, Ronnie Quintarelli
Takahiro Masuda
Fuji Speedway, Japan – The 2016 Super GT Championship continues at Fuji Speedway this week with round two of the championship actually scheduled for this Wednesday in Japan.
The race takes place during Japan's annual "Golden Week" celebrations.
Qualifying will take place on Tuesday on Japan's Constitution Memorial Day with the race run on Greenery Day. Other "Golden Week" holidays include Shōwa Day on April 29 and Children's Day on May 5.
This week's race is the second longest on the calendar at 500km (instead of the usual 300km). Nissan has won the event with the GT-R for the past two years - JP de Oliveira and Hironobu Yasuda winning in 2014 and Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda successful last year.
“Okayama was the perfect start to the season and we’d love to be able to continue that pace this week at Fuji,” Quintarelli said.
“The GT-R has won here in GT500 for the past two seasons and our No.1 took victory at Fuji last year so we are certainly very confident.
“The Calsonic guys were fast here in pre-season testing so we know the Nissan will be strong.
“This is one of two races we have at Fuji and at 500km - it is our second longest race of the year. Another strong points day will be very important for our championship efforts."
Quintarelli and Matsuda lead the championship after winning the opening round at Okayama but now enter this week's race with a 40kg weight penalty.
Jann Mardenborough will return for his second round of GT300 competition with Kazuki Hoshino. The GT300 GT-R was strong here last year, finishing 1-2 in the 500km battle.
Nissan NISMO
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