Nissan’s engine started

Manufacturer has hopes of contending with Supercars giants

THEY are the last standing wave of fresh Supercars challengers to the historic Holden versus Ford rivalry but right now Nissan’s biggest battle is internal.

While Volvo and Mercedes have come and gone in recent seasons, the Japanese brand has stuck solid aligned with the four-car squad run by brothers Rick and Todd Kelly.

They have endured a test- ing 2017 campaign to date however, with Rick the highest placed of the Altima fleet in 14th overall.

Todd (18th) and Michael Caruso (19th) are within 100 points of his tally, while international rookie Simona de Silvestro is currently a solid 23rd.

With the dominance of powerhouses DJR Team Penske and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team restricting Nissan highlights such as Rick’s pole position in Darwin to being few and far between, intra-team bragging rights have taken centre stage.

The Nissan drivers have often been engaged in battle on-track and Todd, speaking at a ride day at Queensland Raceway yesterday, is thriving on the internal competition.

“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, the three of us,” he said, referring to himself, Rick and Caruso.

“All you can really do is gauge yourself off people in the same equipment with the same potential and see how you fare against them at the moment.

“We’re not where we want to be in relation to the front guys but we (his No.7 Altima) are certainly holding our own within the team which is good. It’s really good to have cars in a team that are really close and that are pushing each other.”

While his results might not show it, Todd has enjoyed a form resurgence in the past 18 months and he led the Nissan charge on Sunday in Ipswich.

However he nor Rick can put a time frame on when the team will be able to give the series a third championship-contending manufacturer.

“That’s definitely our aim,” Rick said. “The thing is that this category progresses that quick that it’s not like they (the frontrunners) are standing still.

“Penske and Red Bull, they have got such great resources and are pushing forward at a great rate of knots, it’s very difficult for the smaller teams to progress somehow faster than them to catch them.”

Supercars are next in action at Sydney on August 18-20.