Photo: V8 Supercars

Jack Daniel’s continues with Nissan for 2014

Jack Daniel’s will continue to sponsor Nissan Motorsport for the 2014 V8 Supercar Championship season.

Nissan returned to the series in 2013 with four of its Altima models running under the Norton 360 Racing (driven by Michael Caruso and James Moffatt) and Jack Daniel’s Racing (driven by brothers Todd and Rick Kelly) banners.

The team revealed its new Jack Daniel’s livery on February 11, and announced both Kellys will continue to drive for the outfit in 2014.

Rick Kelly, who finished the 2013 V8 Supercars season in 14th place, believes both drivers staying with the team for the forthcoming season is a good platform for a successful season.

“We’ve sat down with the team and analysed our strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “What we have to do to improve ourselves, and the results that we’ve got, and we’re ready to implement that now.

“It’s really exciting. The team have worked really hard over the summer, and the last six months in fact to develop and aero package that’s going to be a lot stronger for us in 2014 than what we saw in 2013.

“To match that and to get the most out of that, we’ve got to do a better job in all of the other areas that it takes to be successful on the track.

“That’s everything from engineering, to driving, to the strategy.

“For us, we’re very excited that we have a new opportunity in 2014 and to make the most out of it.”

Meanwhile, brother Todd hopes the team’s work over the winter will allow Nissan to take the fight to the front runners in 2014.

“All in all, it wasn’t too bad a year last year.

“The guys have all been working extremely hard through the second half of last year, and especially through the off-season to develop a new aero kit for the car, which we haven’t used on a race track yet.

“Hopefully that has given us the gain that we are looking for.”

The 2014 V8 Supercars season will mark Jack Daniel’s ninth consecutive season as a title sponsor in the series.