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Jamie Klein

De Oliveira eager to escape SUPER GT "comfort zone" in 2023

De Oliveira scored his second title in SUPER GT’s GT300 division in the space of three years last month alongside Kiyoto Fujinami, driving a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for Kondo Racing.

The Brazilian driver's last forays outside of Japan came in late 2019 and early 2020 when he contested the Kyalami 9 Hour and Bathurst 12 Hour driving for the KCMG Nissan team.

He was also due to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2020 for ByKolles, but Japan's strict border restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to give up the drive and focus solely on SUPER GT.

However, with Japan's borders now fully reopened, de Oliveira is hoping for a more varied schedule in 2023, with outings in some of the world's largest endurance races on his radar.

"My goal is always to win in more different stuff and that’s why I’m trying to do more things abroad and expand what I do, because I think for me that’s what has always motivated me," de Oliveira told Motorsport.com.

"Racing in Japan is great, but we go to the same tracks all the time and you're always in the same car, so you get used to it. When I do something else, it puts me out of my comfort zone and challenges me. That’s what makes you grow.

"I feel endurance racing is where I should be focusing, so hopefully I can do Le Mans, Nurburgring, Spa, these big 24-hour races."

De Oliveira added that he was hoping to participate in next month's Rolex 24 at Daytona with KCMG, but the Hong Kong squad was only offered a spot on the reserve list with its Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

The 41-year-old was also in action recently at Barcelona driving the Vanwall Le Mans Hypercar that the ByKolles team is hoping to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship next season.

 

De Oliveira said that joining the team for a full campaign is a possibility, assuming that the German squad lands an entry.

"It’s always nice to drive something that fast, especially in terms of straight line speed," he recalled of the test. "Even on a high-downforce track like Barcelona we are still reaching 310km/h, so it’s pretty fast.

"The car is still under development and there are things that need to be improved. But it felt quite easy to drive. I really enjoyed the experience and it would be great to be able to race in a Hypercar."

However, de Oliveira underlined that he plans to continue his relationship with Kondo Racing in SUPER GT for a fourth season.

"It’s good to have the stability of racing somewhere where I have the experience, and SUPER GT gives me that," he said. "We’ve been doing well in the last three years, so there’s no reason to abandon it."

Assuming that the Vandervell LMH project is green-lit for a full season, de Oliveira would face two SUPER GT clashes, with the Portimao and Bahrain WEC races falling on the same weekends as the Japanese series' Okayama opener and Motegi closer respectively.

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