Nissan unveils 2015 Le Mans competitor

For long has there been an air of controversy about Nissan’s 2015 Le Mans car. With rumours of it being a car with a difference, even some speculating a front-engine layout. All the speculation has finally been put to rest as Nissan took the wraps off its 2015 Le Mans challenger in a mid-Super Bowl television commercial. 

Set to compete in this year’s World Endurance Championship including the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Nissan has christened this new car as the GT-R LM NISMO. The Japanese manufacturer said that the new regulations introduced in 2014 has allowed it to think out of the box and turn the whole concept of the conventional LMP1 car of 2014 on its head. The new GT-R LMM NISMO will sport a three-litre twin-turbo V6 unit along with a kinetic hybrid system. But that isn’t the beauty of it. 

Nissan’s 2015 challenger is a front-engine front-wheel drive which is very unlike a LMP1 car. In totality, the GT-R LM NISMO makes around 1,250 horses with the help of the engine and the electric system combined. 

Due to the front-wheel system, the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO weight is forward biased which effectively was the reason for it having wider tyres up front than at the back. In the midst of this, Nissan also took the opportunity to announce Marc Gene as of the drivers for their campaign this year.  

Meanwhile, World Champion Toyota has also announced that they will sport two TS040s for this year’s World Endurance Championship with Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in car #1 and Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway in car #2. Toyota is yet to announce its test and reserve driver for the 2015 season. Along with the official driver announcement, Toyota has also announced that they will return to the World Rally Championship scene in 2017.