Nissan today announced it will delay its planned return to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMP1 class in the GT-R LM Nismo. The automaker has decided to withdraw from the series to instead focus on technical issues that arose during the team’s outing to the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year.
“We know people will be disappointed but be assured that nobody is more disappointed than us,” Nismo president Shoichi Miyatani said in a prepared statement. “We are racers and we want to compete but we also want to be competitive. That is why we have chosen to continue our test programme and prepare the GT-R LM NISMO for the strong competition we face in the World Endurance Championship. When you innovate you don’t give up at the first hurdle. We are committed to overcoming this challenge.”
The team acknowledged the front engine, front-wheel drive GT-R LM Nismo is “very different to other racing cars,” that compete in the FIA WEC’s LMP1 class. The team was forced to deactivate the hybrid system in the GT-R LM Nismo at Le Mans amid problems, and two of their three entries failed to make it to the checkered flag. As a result, Nismo will head back to the drawing board and hopefully work some of the kinks out of the car, possibly in time for a return to the FIA WEC next year.
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