The inaugural Motul R35 GTR Class delivered big horsepower and awesome racing!

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October 17-19 saw the Motul R35 GTR Class race into World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) at Sydney Motorsport Park for the very first time. Split into two categories, the Motul 300V Tuner Class catered for street registered vehicles with limited modifications, while the Motul Competition Oils Pro Class featured the best of the best drivers and their GTR racing cars.

Motul has partnered with WTAC in the past, and with this new and exclusive partnership we’re hoping to further enhance our support of the leading event of its kind in the world.

The Nissan GTR has been a favourite with enthusiasts the world over for decades, and it was only a matter of time before a dedicated class was added to the already stellar WTAC competition.

One of Motul’s biggest partnerships is with NISMO, the factory motorsports and performance division of Nissan, from one-off Super GT GT500 Prototypes in Japan to GT1 and GT3 machines racing out of Europe, as well as a co-branded NISMO Competition Oil by Motul that is favoured by the most hardcore NISMO enthusiasts.

With a small, but elite field of Australia and Japan’s most talented R35 GTR drivers for the inaugural class event, it was an all-out battle to see who would reign supreme and call bragging rights by taking home the first trophy.


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The Pro GTR Class featured drivers Nobuteru “NOB” Taniguchi and Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada from Japan, whilst Nick Streckeisen was the lone Australian representative with Willall Racing.

Would it be Australia, or could Japan’s Nob Taniguchi or Tarzan Yamada steal the win?

During the off-season, Taniguchi and his team tested at the Motor Games at Fuji Speedway in Japan, a high-speed track with a layout not too dissimilar to Sydney Motorsport Park.

It was the first public reveal of the car in its final form, and they managed a 1:37-range lap time on a damp track. In comparison, the GT300 lap record is a 1:36.736, also set by an R35 GTR but in dry conditions and with the advantage of loads of aerodynamics and R&D under its belt!


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Off the track, the exclusive hospitality lounge hosted guests as they enjoyed the racing in comfort, while a host of Motul products and demo cars lined the Motul booth in the pit paddock below


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Taniguchi’s 1300 horsepower claim from Motor Games was backed up immediately on Day One at WTAC, as he battled hard against Yamada in the Top Secret GTR in the first sessions. Tarzan stole the lead early in the day, but by carefully chasing the track’s constantly changing conditions, Taniguchi found himself leading the Pro Class at the end of the day by over a second with a 1:30.8380 time.

Day Two of the GTR Pro class saw the raging battle continue between the Japanese heavyweights, Taniguchi and Yamada.


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Taniguchi opted to sit out the morning session to save his tyres, hoping to return to a cooling track towards the end of the day, as Tarzan continued to chip away at Taniguchi’s time to eventually improve by over half a second come the Superlap Shootout.

Unfortunately Taniguchi’s team’s strategy proved fruitless in the end, as they failed to improve their Day One result. However, he eventually prevailed over Tarzan by almost a second to take first place, while Streckeisen struggled in a distant third with a 1:36.7770 lap time.

Meanwhile in the 300V Tuner Class, Brian Burgh with Just Car Insurance took the win with a 1:40.3560, followed closely by Phil Sutcliffe in the Sutty Racing GTR just over a second behind.

Make sure you get down to Sydney Motorsport Park next year to catch all the racing action at World Time Attack Challenge 2015!

For more information visit: https://www.motul.com/
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