Nissan Motorsports 2011--Fantastic!

Wow.  Now that caught me by surprise...

I had my suspicisions that Nissan Motorsports in the US might be ramping up again as every time I got emails from them the list of Nissan Motorsports employees that were CC'd on the message kept growing and I had heard that they moved into a new building.

But coming back to short course racing?  Continuing to support Brass Monkey racing in the World Challenge series after a disasterous 2010?  Supporting a LeMans series effort?  Signing on to be an engine supplier for multiple LeMans series teams?  And this doesn't include the three car 370Z effort out of AM Performance or any of their more grassroots support or the other series efforts mentioned in the press release below that may see significant support.

Well done Nissan, well done.  I can't wait for a busy 2011!!

02.09.2011 , NASHVILLE, Tenn.

NISSAN MOTORSPORTS IN 2011

Nissan Motorsports has announced it will be expanding its motorsports involvement in 2011 by supporting teams in several professional racing series and enhancing their contingency program for grassroots racing teams.

The racing series are diverse and include World Challenge with the Nissan GT-R, TORC off-road racing with the Nissan Titan and numerous grassroots series throughout the country.

“Nissan has always believed in creating a partnership between the company and the dedicated teams who compete in our vehicles” said Ron Stukenberg, Senior Manager, Nissan Motorsports. “We will be expanding our support with several professional teams as well as increasing our contingency program for grassroots teams.”

Here are some of the series Nissan will support this season:

• TRAXAS TORC Series (The Off-Road Championship)
  - PRO 2WD Truck Class – Driver/Owner Chad Hord will pilot the Boss Snowplow/AMSOIL Nissan Titan after placing 4th in points last year.
  - PRO LIGHT 2WD Truck Class – Driver/Owner Casey Currie will defend his 2010 PRO LIGHT 2WD Championship in the Monster Energy Nissan Frontier.
• World Challenge
  - GT Class – Brass Monkey Racing will return with a 2-car Nissan GT-R team. Tony Rivera and Steve Ott will be driving these iconic race cars in the emerging World Challenge Championship Series.
• American Le Mans Series
  - LMP2 Class – Signature Racing (based in France) intends to campaign a Nissan powered LMP2 entry in the ILMC (International Le Mans Championship) and the Le Mans 24 Hour race. The ILMC includes 2 races in the U.S. – The 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
• Grassroots Amateur Racing
  - Nissan is in the process of finalizing and expanding its support of grassroots racing including: SCCA Club Racing, NASA, Formula Drift, Grand-Am Continental Tire Series and the Lucas Oil Off-Road Series.

“We look forward to competitive success in all Motorsports venues where Nissan products are involved.” said Stukenberg. “From the Trans Am 510s in the 1970s to the fire-breathing IMSA GTP and GTS cars in the 1980’s and 90s and off-road racing trucks 2000s, Nissan has a long history of winning professional championships in the U.S. In grassroots racing Nissan has a record total of 89 SCCA Runoffs National Championships, well ahead of every other manufacturer, and we’re looking to add more championships all the time.”

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, design, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. More information about Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com andwww.Infiniti.com.