Nissan seems almost certain to field a factory GT-R GT3 racer in the 2015 Bathurst 12-hour race, despite a clash with the V8 Supercars compulsory pre-season test that prevents it adding any of its star local drivers to the team.
Nissan is the only brand to have a factory presence at both the 12-hour and in the V8 Supercars Championship. Last year local hero Rick Kelly shared the Nismo Athlete Global Team GT-R with imports Wolfgang Reip, Katsumasa Chiyo and Alex Buncombe. He qualified the car fifth before it was crashed out early by Chiyo when running near the front.
Both events will be held over the February 7-8 weekend, with the V8 test expected to expand from one to two days. They will be telecast by rival networks, with new V8 carrier Fox Sports covering the test at Sydney Motorsport Park and current host, Channel 7, taking over the 12 hour.
New Nissan Australia CEO and managing director Richard Emery expressed his disappointment the company would not be able to attack the 12-hour with one of its V8 Supercar stars.
"It's not ideal, it's absolutely not," he said. "And I hope it is not pettiness [causing the clash]."
But Emery expressed confidence Nismo would return to Mount Panorama for a second consecutive year and revealed he would know more after meetings with Nismo president Shoichi Miyatani and global motorsport marketing boss Darren Cox in Japan in August.
"I get the impression from Miyatani and the Nismo people that they have some unfinished business with the 12 hour. I think they thought they had a really good chance last year and things conspired against them.
"They want to come and give it another crack and that's been my gut feel. It hasn't been formally put in place yet, but I would expect them to come back."
Kelly was one of a number of V8 Supercars star who raced in a thrilling 12-hour last year, with Craig Lowndes sharing the winning Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia and Shane van Gisbergen starring in local GT3 driving force Tony Quinn's McLaren MP4 12C.
The date clash has been blamed on the cricket world cup, which kicks off the following weekend and is a major event for Fox Sports.
Perhaps inevitably, as the biggest player in Australian motorsport, V8 Supercars has copped plenty of criticism for the clash. The argument goes it is flexing its muscles to prevent talent developed in the category being used to promote an emerging rival in GT3 sports car racing.
It's a view Emery agreed with.
"V8 Supercars rightly or wrongly – and good on them because it is their responsibility to run the category – has somewhat sucked the money and interest out of everything else.
"Maybe this is a bit of turf protection going on here ... let's not let another category get in. Because, to be honest, if there was a really strong GT cateogory in Australia, maybe that's where we would be.
"We are not wedded to V8 Supercars because of V8 Supercars the category – we are wedded to being in motorsport."