Nissan to race at Le Mans 2015 with GT-R Prototype

Nissan will unleash the GT-R and go head-to-head with Audi, Porsche and Toyota at Le Mans in 2015. The Japanese manufacturer will also contest the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship with a full factory effort of two LM P1 cars.  Nissan’s LM P1 car will be called the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO, carrying on a sporting bloodline that stretches back 30 years and recognizes the company’s flagship road car, the Nissan GT-R.

Nissan’s LM P1 program was launched in the heart of Europe’s fastest-growing area of digital innovation in East London, close to Nissan’s new global digital hub. ACO President, Pierre Fillon joined Nissan’s Chief Planning Office & Executive Vice-President, Andy Palmer; NISMO President Shoichi Miyatani and NISMO Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, Darren Cox, for the announcement at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, London.

“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do,” said Palmer. “There is no better place to demonstrate innovation than here in Europe’s new hot-bed of digital marketing and, from next year, on track at Le Mans. We have chosen this venue – and made it a celebration, rather than yet another press conference – to reflect the fact that when we go racing, we do so differently.”

The new Nissan GT-R LM NISMO gives Nissan the opportunity to return to Le Mans where the company has some unfinished business. Nissan last raced in the prototype class with the R390 GT1, a mid-engined 352 kph race car powered by a twin-turbo V8. Only two road-going versions were produced, and one was sold to an unreported buyer. Of the racing cars entered at Le Mans, the highest finish in 1997 was in 12th place. In 1998 Nissan had more success, finishing 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th overall, beaten only by the Porsche 911 GT1.

 

“The design and build of the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO is a global project with its DNA firmly rooted in Japan,” explained Miyatani-san.  “The team comprises engineers and technical crew from Japan, the US and Europe. We know that LM P1 competition is very tough and with serious manufacturer competition, but we are absolutely determined to make our cars competitive and to operate strongly against those competitors.

“We have chosen to take the GT-R name to Le Mans as the GT-R symbolizes the ultimate in Nissan’s performance. It is a true aspirational brand; a car our fans, our customers love to drive, and love to own. We have been using GT-R in motorsport for many years now, in Super GT and GT3. For us LM P1 is the ultimate test. We have unfinished business at Le Mans and now we have our chance to target victory with the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO.”

Nissan is accessible to the racers, to the fans of motorsport.  Over the next six weeks NISMO has vowed to #eatsleepRACErepeat, a campaign designed to engage with the fans or motorsport.  NISMO.TV continues to produce outstanding access-all-areas films and live streaming to fans and at Le Mans the channel will broadcast live from the NISMO-sponsored Le Mans Village, taking the spectators right to the heart of the action.

The race is now on to get Nissan’s LM P1 car on the grid in 2015.  Announcements will be made in due course concerning the drivers of the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO, who will come from both inside and outside of the Nissan family. The date the new car will first take to the track and the full technical specifications will also be revealed in due course but the intentions of Nissan are clear.

“You don’t go to Le Mans to just turn up,” said Palmer. “The brief to the team is to go with something different, go with something that brings new technology which is transferable to the road car technology and an approach that is innovative and exciting and of course, go to win.

“Believe me, I think this is the car that will go down in the annals of time and be one of those cars which will be long remembered, not only for the fact that it will have won Le Mans but also that it reset the real meaning of NISMO as a link between success on the track and success on the road.”