Motorsport: Nissan out to cement their gains

Event 09 of the 2013 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series at the Winton Motor Raceway. Photo / EDGE Photographics

After a brilliant Bathurst, Nissan Motorsport are out to prove they've arrived as a major player on the V8 Supercars scene at this weekend's Gold Coast 600.

Nissan came away from the Bathurst 1000 with James Moffat and Taz Douglas having secured an unexpected second place and two more of their four Altimas inside the top 10.

Team owner Rick Kelly, who came eighth in the 1000km endurance event, says the success was the result of plenty of behind-the-scenes work at the factory-backed outfit.

Kelly believes nearing the end of Nissan's second season in V8 Supercars, the time has come for the outfit to start regularly mixing it up at the front of the pack.

"We've been working at Nissan Motorsport so hard on bridging the gap to the top teams on our straight-line speed," said Kelly.

"We had some great gains going into Bathurst so the results for us all the way through the weekend were a huge improvement on our first shot at the mountain in 2013."

"Having Taz and Moff on the podium and three Nissans in the top 10 is really a great run and makes us even more hungry to stand on that top step.

"Last year at Gold Coast we were really quite strong. We had Moff again on the front row there and I think we ran fifth or sixth ... we're pretty excited to get there."

Computer software company Norton's sponsorship of the Altimas of Moffat and Michael Caruso expires at the end of the current campaign.

Both drivers are contracted for next year and Kelly is confident a new partner will be found to ensure a four-car operation remains.

3 Things about the Gold Coast 600

Mean streets

The venue is one of Australia's most unforgiving street circuits.

Three dominate
Triple Eight Race Engineering, Walkinshaw Racing and Ford Performance Racing have won the last 21 races in a row between them on the tough street circuit.

Murph to party
The Holden Racing Team's Greg Murphy will celebrate his 200th Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercar Championship round start on the Gold Coast.