While top billing at the recent annual NISMO festival went to next year's Super GT500 GT-R, the surprise appearance made by the GT-R prototype that set the 7:38 lap time at the Nurburgring earlier this year got the most attention.

First Nissan had the masked maverick run a slalom course, flat out, down Fuji Speedway's mile-long main straight, demonstrating the preternatural abilities of the latest ATTESSA-ETS system. It then ran a quick 1/4-mile drag race against a 2007 Super Taikyu Class 1 350Z race car, which it didn't just win, it won by several car lengths. Unfortunately, the run wasn't timed and neither were the following laps, where the GT-R out-classed the endurance racer in every section of the circuit.

This begs the question: Where will Nissan race its road cars in Japan next year? Igor Sushko, who is currently contesting Super Taikyu Class 3 in a Z, can't see the GT-R being homologated even for the endurance series' Class 1, as it would simply embarrass the 911 GT3s, Zs and BMW Z4s now racing in that category.

GT-Rs are indeed heading to the Grand Am series, they may not be welcome for long. Could we see a replay of the R32's utter dominance that led to GT-Rs being banned from Australian Touring Car racing in the early 1990s?

[Source]