Despite its innovative nature, the Nissan GT-R LM has been withdrawn from the FIA World Endurance Championship as Nissan intends to fix its technical issues. No mention of how long the GT-R LM will be out of action.
Shoichi Miyatani, president of Nismo said, “We know people will be disappointed, but be assured that nobody is more disappointed than us. 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 program 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.”
Issues arose from the energy recovery system (ERS), which resulted in the Nissan GT-R LM running purely on engine power. Even with the powerful 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 engine, the lack of the ERS system meant that the rest of the car’s system was greatly compromised.
“We’ve said it before, but innovation hurts,” said Darren Cox, Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, NISMO. “We’ve built an LM P1 car that is very different to other racing cars as we continue to drive motorsport innovation. The beauty of this program is that people have got behind us and they are willing us to succeed. This has shown us once again that people want something different in motorsport, and that gives us increased motivation to make our LM P1 car competitive.”
Unlike the rest of WEC entrants, the Nissan GT-R LM features a front wheel drive layout, with a total of 1,250 horsepower going through the front wheels. 700 of that 1,250 hp comes from the electric motors.
