MOTORSPORT: Nissan won't return to Supercars

Nissan’s storied NISMO motorsport division says it won’t entertain proposals to go racing in the Virgin Australia Supercars series any time soon, instead reaffirming its commitment with existing programs.

Speaking with carsales this week, the newly-appointed director of Nissan Global Motorsports, Tommaso Volpe, said the car-maker’s current involvement in Formula E, Super GT, Prototype and Global GT3 gave it ample spread across motorsport categories.

While he didn’t rule out other motorsport categories in the future, Volpe indicated a return to Supercars or the World Endurance Championship were not happening.

“Our strategy is quite firm now, quite strong. Formula E is an amazing platform, we have so much to do here first before exploring other racing avenues,” Volpe told carsales via Zoom from a hotel in France.

“We have other racing with internal combustion engines, and that’s very important for us as well. It gives a platform for the more traditional racing audience.

“But if you see the priority of the business going across with electrification, this is a big priority. Formula E complements our racing categories with internal combustion engines, and prototype category with advanced technology.

“At the moment we feel like are quite complete if you want the traditional pyramid of motorsport. [But] Of course we are always open to investigating opportunities and it is our job to keep an eye on other categories.”

It’s been an interesting few weeks for Volpe, who took over as the head of Nissan’s global motorsport program on April 1, just as the coronavirus tightened its grip on the world.

Formerly based in Hong Kong, Volpe flew to France to join his new team this month – but has spent all of it holed up in a hotel room.

“I am still in contact with my team each day and we are making it work,” he said.

Despite the uncertainty, Volpe said his “strategy doesn’t change”. Nissan wants to leverage its electrification strategy and engineering prowess in motorsport.

The motorsport boss said in the current climate, he would not consider new categories such as Supercars, even if Gen3 rules were to resemble Nissan’s products more closely.

Along with the Nissan GT-R, another potential motorsport proponent for NISMO could be the upcoming 400Z, which will replace the ageing 370Z later this year.

However, Volpe said even the 400Z would not be popping up on a grid soon.

“As the director of motorsport we would love to race with every product in every category, but I don’t foresee in the short-term that happening.”