NISSAN'S RETURN TO LE MANS GETS UNDERWAY
All of the entrants for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours took to the track for the first practice session at Le Mans this afternoon. Tsugio Matsuda (JAP), Harry Tincknell (GB) and Jann Mardenborough (GB) were first out in the three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs, ready to make the most of the track time available during the four-hour session.
All of the entrants for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours took to the track for the first practice session at Le Mans this afternoon. Tsugio Matsuda (JAP), Harry Tincknell (GB) and Jann Mardenborough (GB) were first out in the three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs, ready to make the most of the track time available during the four-hour session.
The programme for practice focused on getting as much running as possible for all nine Nissan LM P1 drivers. The Nissan GT-R LM NISMO is still at an early stage of its development so the biggest gains can be found by providing the drivers with as much seat time as possible. The circuit was damp to start with but as it dried the times began to tumble. After his initial run in the GT-R LM NISMO, Jann Mardenborough commented:
"We're moving forward and making good progress," said Mardenborough. "The car feels more and more sorted with each run and there are still a lot of things we can do to improve it, such as dropping the front ride height to work better with the aero tunnels."
Despite numerous snags during the practice session the #21, #22 and #23 cars completed 19, 16 and 19 laps respectively as they prepared for the first of Le Mans' three qualifying sessions.
The first session took place on Wednesday night and with rain forecast for the two further sessions on Thursday night, most of the teams headed out early tonight to put in banker laps.
Jann Mardenborough's lap time of 3:38.468 put him in 12th position as the leading Nissan GT-R LM NISMO. Added to the laps completed by Max Chilton and Olivier Pla the #23 car completed a further 18 laps in Qualifying 1. The #22 Nissan in the hands of Harry Tincknell, Michael Krumm and Alex Buncombe ended the session in 21st place after completing a further 18 laps. Tsugio Matsuda, Lucas Ordonez and Mark Shulzhitskiy managed only nine laps and posted a time to put the in 31st position.
"It's good to get more mileage on the car and to get our mandatory night laps done," said Tincknell. "It's always fun to drive in the dark at Le Mans and we're pleased to have got through more jobs and ticked some more boxes."
Qualifying 2 and 3 take place tomorrow evening at Le Mans from 19:00hrs.
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.
