Preview
WEC
Shanghai surprise for Shulzhitskiy
Fourth GT Academy winner to advance to Nissan-powered LM P2 car Nismo Global Driver Exchange provides opportunity for Russian racer
Published: Nov 6, 2013, 1:55 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
When round seven of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship takes place in Shanghai, China this weekend, it will mark the LM P2 debut of another GT Academy graduate. Russian Mark Shulzhitskiy is following in the footsteps of Lucas Ordonez, Jordan Tresson and Jann Mardenborough who all progressed with Nissan to LM P2 in recent years.
Twenty-four year-old Mark won GT Academy Russia in 2012 and since then he has been racing the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series. He will join Bjorn Wirdheim and Eric Lux in the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan in Shanghai and is keen to get back on track after getting his first taste of the car at Snetterton recently.
"The Snetterton test was a great experience for me," said Mark. "This is my first season of racing. I started in a GT4 car and then there I was on track at Snetterton, in the wet, in an LM P2 car! It was a good test and I feel confident going into the Shanghai weekend.
#32 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN, Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3: Mark Shulzhitskiy, Steve Doherty, Alex Buncombe, Chris Buncombe
Photo by: SRO/VIMAGES/Fabre
"The biggest difference between this car and a GT car is of course the downforce," he continued. "The LM P2 car has more grip in the wet that a GT car has on a dry track. I really fell in love with this car. I'm looking forward to going to Shanghai as I have not been there before. I have been preparing in the Nismo Simulator so I know the track well. It's an interesting circuit with some tricky parts, like the first two corners. My target is to do a good job, learn a lot and make no mistakes."
Mark is another driver to take advantage of the Nismo Exchange, which seeks to provide global opportunities to drivers early in their racing careers.
"Mark has worked hard this year and put in a lot of effort throughout the season so it is gratifying that we can reward him with a drive in a World Championship sportscar race," commented Nissan's Director of Global Motorsport, Darren Cox. "He has a very cool and calm temperament and I think he will do a great job for Greaves who in turn will look after another of our sportscar rookies."
All of the FIA WEC teams will be hoping for a dry race weekend after the washout at Fuji. With just two races to go there are championships to fight for across the classes. In LM P2 Oak Racing lies at the top of the table, closely followed by the Pecom Racing team. G-Drive Racing will be looking to pick up the form they showed with victories in Brazil and the USA and with seven Nissan-powered cars all fighting for the top spot it promises to be a thrilling ‘6 Hours of Shanghai'.
Nissan
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Benoît Tréluyer: Winning Chinese hearts
Next article Toyota Racing ready for Shanghai challenge
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Bjorn Wirdheim
Top 10: F1 feeder series kings who were overlooked the following year
FIA F2
FIA F2 Feb 18, 2024
Top 10: F1 feeder series kings who were overlooked the following year
Objectives achieved at Le Mans Test Day for Greaves Motorsport Secured by Kairos Technologies
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans test day
Jun 1, 2015
Objectives achieved at Le Mans Test Day for Greaves Motorsport Secured by Kairos Technologies
Lancaster bomber takes no prisoners in frenzied ELMS race
European Le Mans
European Le Mans
Silverstone
Apr 14, 2015
Lancaster bomber takes no prisoners in frenzied ELMS race
More from
Nissan Motorsport
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
Formula E
Formula E
Mexico City ePrix
Jan 13, 2025
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
Rowland: I was doubting myself a lot prior to Formula E podium return
Formula E
Formula E
Diriyah ePrix II
Jan 28, 2024
Rowland: I was doubting myself a lot prior to Formula E podium return
Nissan suggests NDDP moniker no longer suited to #3 drivers
Super GT
Super GT Nov 16, 2023
Nissan suggests NDDP moniker no longer suited to #3 drivers
Latest news
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 h
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
5 h
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe