NISSAN PULLS OUT OF SUPERCARS

Those that hoped to see a GT-R finally return to the famous mountain and blitz the field in Supercars as it did back in the early ’90s will be disappointed to learn that such a feat is unlikely to happen after Nissan Australia announced that it’s to end its Supercars involvement after the current season.

The end comes after being involved in the series since 2013 with Kelly Racing, running under the name of Nissan Motorsport. The announcement does not come as a surprise for some, after Nissan pulled the Altima from its Australian showrooms last season and put forward no suitable replacement, causing ongoing speculation around its future in the category.

Team owner, Todd Kelly, has confirmed that Kelly racing will continue to campaign their existing Altimas next year, stating that things will be “business as usual”.

“We’re finally at a point where we’ve got a really good package and just a bit of momentum and performance.

“Our focus is 100 per cent in the short term, making sure all of this stuff doesn’t affect the trajectory we’re on with the team and that performance.

Nissan’s withdrawal comes as Ford officially rejoins the class, seeing the introduction of the Ford Mustang after a three-year absence for the automaker. Meanwhile, Holden remains committed to the series through to the end of 2019, with factory-backed team Triple Eight, which introduced the ZB model Commodore this season.