Nissan's Le Mans racer continues to improve
The three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs finished Thursday's qualifying practice sessions at Le Mans in 12th, 13th and 14th positions in LM P1. The #22 car was the top finisher in the hands of Harry Tincknell (GB), closely followed by Jann Mardenborough (GB) in the #23 car, which is the second full-time WEC entrant.
The three cars completed over 2,000kms during qualifying at Le Mans, gathering precious data and improving with every lap.
"We continue to make progress every time we go out on track," said Nissan's LM P1 Technical Director Ben Bowlby. "We've gone faster with each session, despite dealing with red flags, slow zones and changeable weather conditions. We got some good dry running in today though and this has helped us a lot. Remember that we are tuning the car for Le Mans and developing the car all at the same time. We've got to the end of qualifying with three cars in one piece and a tonne of data so I'm happy with that."
Harry Tincknell was on an even faster lap at the end of Thursday's final session but had to back off for yellow flags. The British racer was happy to report that many of Wednesday's problems have been solved.
"Thursday was much better than Wednesday," he said. "I think I was five seconds faster in the final session so we're definitely doing something right. The boys were mega as they changed the clutch for me in 30 minutes and in reality that should take an hour. It's good to be the fastest Nissan and I was up on that final run so we are definitely headed in the right direction. We still have a long way to go but I'm pleased with progress."
The race team has a full day today to prepare the cars for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours, which gets underway on Saturday at 15:00hrs.
ENDS
About Nissan in Europe
Nissan has one of the most comprehensive European presences of any overseas manufacturer, employing more than 17,600 staff across locally-based design, research & development, manufacturing, logistics and sales & marketing operations. Last calendar year Nissan plants in the UK, Spain and Russia produced more than 675,000 vehicles including award-winning crossovers, small cars, SUVs, commercial vehicles and electric vehicles, including the Nissan LEAF, the world's most popular electric vehicle with 96% of customers willing to recommend the car to friends. Nissan now offers a strong line-up of 23 diverse and innovative models in Europe under the Nissan and Datsun brands.
About Nissan Motor Co.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 247,500 employees globally, Nissan sold 5.32 million vehicles and generated revenue of 11.38 trillion yen (USD 103.6 billion) in fiscal year 2014. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of more than 60 models under the Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun brands. Nissan leads the world in zero-emission mobility, dominated by sales of the LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle. It is the best-selling EV in history with almost 50% share of the zero-emission vehicle segment.
