The #23 Xanavi Nismo GT-R of Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer stormed to victory in the opening round of the Super GT Series season at Suzuka to give Nissan a winning start to life with the new car.
On a historic weekend for the manufacturer, Michael Krumm and Masataka Yanagida took second in the #22 Motul Autech GT-R as Nissan secured a one-two finish from the first 300km race of the campaign.
The two NISMO GT-Rs - starting from the front row - made a clean start but unfortunately, the #12 Calsonic GT-R in third place on the grid was hit from behind on the first lap and was taken out of the race for repairs.
Krumm in the #22 car, started from pole position and crossed the line at the end of lap one followed by Treluyer behind the wheel of the #23 GT-R with the Nissan pair continued to dominate the rest of the race, ahead of the Lexus SC 430 in third place creating a gap of more than four seconds by lap 40.
Both leading Nissan's pitted for tyres and a driver change in the middle of the 52 lap race and subsequently changed the race order.
Yanagida who took over #22 car from Krumm chose harder tyres than Motoyama in the #23 car, but it was Motoyama who came out on top to secure victory.
"Before the race we felt a bit of pressure to make a debut win for the GT-R but believed that we could win because the car was fantastic and the team had done a great job," Motoyama said. "The combination with Benoit was also very good and we proved to be the strongest pair. I'm really happy that we won the race in the GT-R's very first race."
Of the other Nissan runners, the #24 Woodone Advan Clarion GT-R of Joao-Paulo de Oliviera and Seija Ara took fifth, while the #3 YelloHat YMS Tomica GT-R of Ronnie Quintarelli and Naoki Yokomizo was running sixth in the closing stages before being forced into retirement with mechanical problems.
![Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer - Xanavi Nismo GT-R [Pic credit: Nissan]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/418393.jpg)
