THIS weekend will see some rising stars take the wheel of Nissan Supercars which are significant for one reason or another.
A third of the nine-car Super3 field in Newcastle will be Altimas, each of which will be driven be second- or third-generation drivers.
At the centre of attention will be Jett Johnson, the grandson of Dick Johnson, whose NAPA Auto Parts livery broke cover yesterday.
Johnson will drive one of the inaugural Nissan Altimas to compete in the Repco Supercars Championship and the first which two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Rick Kelly raced.
Kelly was the best-placed non-Holden/Ford in the first race of the Car of the Future era, taking 11th in the opening leg of the 2013 Adelaide 500.
Chassis KR002’s best event of the season came at Circuit of the Americas but silverware would prove elusive until 2015.
It was then that Kelly recorded podiums at Winton, Darwin (where he also took a pole position), Gold Coast and Homebush before the car was parked for the best part of a year.
It was wheeled back out for Simona De Silvestro and Renee Gracie’s 2016 Bathurst 1000 tilt, and stayed in action for the following season in the hands of the Swiss star.
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Owned by Stuart Eustice, KR002 did not return until November 2021 – for Matt Payne’s Super2 debut with Grove Racing – picking up a pair of race wins last year.
As for KR007 being driven this weekend by Mason Kelly, the nephew of Rick, it’s a fitting combination.
KR007 was the Altima used by Mason’s father Todd during his final full-time season in 2017, Newcastle being the site of his final race.
The car was then handed over to his successor Andre Heimgartner, powering a Phillip Island podium and a front-row start for the 2019 Sandown 500.
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Just like Todd, Newcastle (the 2019 edition) was the scene for its final start as Kelly Racing switched to Ford thereafter.
The third of the Altimas running in Super3, owned by Bradley Neill and allocated to Cameron McLeod, has gathered the most race starts of them all.
KR005 is a main game race winner, courtesy of Michael Caruso at the 2016 Darwin Triple Crown, and completed its fifth and final Supercars Championship campaign in ’19 before being deployed in Super2 by MW Motorsport for Tyler Everingham.
Everingham tallied four Super2 race wins across the 2021/22 seasons, proving the Nissan is still a force to be reckoned with.
Johnson, Kelly and McLeod are joined in Super3 by Jobe Stewart, Matt McCutcheon, Ryan Gilroy, Jason Gomersall, Chris Smerdon and Jim Pollicina.
