Buried at the bottom of an article from Racer Magazine today was a statement by Nissan Motorsports of North America Senior Manager Ron Stukenburg stating that Nissan is heavily considering entering a new B-series spec class of racing here in the US using the Versa platform.
He was evidently attending the annual PRI event in Florida this week where Honda and Mazda have unveiled racing versions on their B-segment vehicles (the Fit and Mazda2). The b-segment class is to be across a number of organizations including the SCCA and NASA beginning in 2012 with the exact specs for the class to come out in a few weeks.
Ron's presence at the PRI event and comments mean only good things for Nissan racers in North America. Even if they don't get back into off-road (rally, short-course or desert) having them back in motorsports is a good thing any way you look at it. I would anticipate a Nissan "backed" effort rather than a full factory team but any b-segment racer from Nissan should look remarkably like the Tiida from China Touring Car Championship pictured above, where the Chinese version of the Versa has been running well for a number of years now. Fingers crossed.
