OREANDA-NEWS. October 04, 2016. Nissan GT Academy Team RJN concluded the 2016 Blancpain GT Series at Barcelona with some impressive pace and a barnstorming race start by Alex Buncombe.

After qualifying 20th at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya aboard the No.23 GT-R, Buncombe charged up to 12th in the early stages of the qualifying race before handing over to Japanese driver Mitsunori Takaboshi.

The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 continued to move forward to cross the line in ninth place at the checkered flag.

Sean Walkinshaw and Ricardo Sanchez also made strong progress in the No.22 Silver Cup entry – moving from 29th on the grid through to a 24th place finish.

In the main race, Takaboshi was on board for the start before handing over to Buncombe. The Japanese/English duo battled hard but just missed out on a top ten result in 11th place.

Walkinshaw and Sanchez moved up one position to take the flag in 23rd.

"We finished every race this year with both No.23 and No.23 – sometimes delayed like at Spa and Paul Ricard – but we had a 100 percent finishing record which says a lot for the GT-R," said Bob Neville, head of Nissan GT Academy Team RJN. "We've had some great highlights this year including fourth place at Monza, fifth at Paul Ricard and on the podium at the N?rburgring in third."

Nissan contested both the Sprint and Endurance cup rounds for the first time this year with Buncombe, Takaboshi and Lucas Ord??ez completing the Endurance line-up and GT Academy winners Matt Simmons and Romain Sarazin driving with Walkinshaw.

NISMO Calendar

October 8-9
Super GT, Chang International Circuit, Thailand
Australian Supercars, Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama, NSW, Australia
Pirelli World Challenge, Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, USA

October 15-16
FIA WEC, Fuji Speedway, Japan

October 22-23
ELMS, Estoril, Portugal
Australian Supercars, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia