2014 24 Hours of Le Mans - Nissan’s #eatsleepRACErepeat picks up the pace in the build up to Le Mans

The first race results of the weekend came from Japan with a fantastic 1-2-3 finish in the Super GT race at Autopolis. Nissan’s new GT500 GT-R dominated the race and fought hard for the full podium lock-out result.

Nissan was fastest in the LM P2 class at the Le Mans test day at Circuit de la Sarthe, gave the revolutionary Nissan ZEOD RC electric prototype its Le Mans debut and recorded strong results in both the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in Detroit in the US and the British GT Championship at Silverstone with Olympic cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy at the wheel.

NISSAN ZEOD RC ON TRACK AT LE MANS FOR THE FIRST TIME

The Nissan ZEOD RC completed its first 24 laps of Circuit de la Sarthe with GT Academy winner Wolfgang Reip and two-time Le Mans P2 winner Tommy Erdos at the wheel.

While the car was delayed with two small technical issues – a broken fuel pump issue and a broken exhaust – today’s test was an important step in the development of the car that aims to complete an entire lap of Le Mans on pure electric power.

 “Today has been a very important step in the development of the car and what we have achieved is actually quite remarkable,” said NISMO’s Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, Darren Cox. “We knew we were tackling a huge challenge with the goal of building a car that could complete an entire 8.5 mile lap of Le Mans on nothing but electric power. We have certainly discovered why nobody has tackled it previously.

“We completed large sections of the circuit today on EV power and learned a great deal,” Cox continued. “Today was about testing the systems and ensuring the transition from electric to internal combustion power was seamless. Testing at other venues is extremely valuable but there is no substitute to running here at Le Mans. We ran with the test car today and we’ll continue to test with the actual race car all week back in the UK before heading back for the race.

“I’m very proud of everyone associated with the programme because of the amount of work that has gone in. Today was very rewarding. Our guys already feel like they have raced the 24 hours already – they did two all-nighters last week. The level of commitment to showcase what this programme is capable of is truly remarkable.”

The Nissan ZEOD RC team will continue testing in the UK this week with the actual race car, which will replace the test machine that was used today. Super GT regulars Satoshi Motoyama and Lucas Ordóñez will return from Japan to join Reip at the wheel for the race.

ANOTHER GT ACADEMY WINNER QUALIFIES FOR LE MANS AS NISSAN DOMINATES LM P2

Russian GT Academy winner Mark Shulzhitskiy joined fellow winner Wolfgang Reip in qualifying for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours by completing his mandatory 10 rookie laps during today’s test day.

Remarkably, four previous winners of the gamer-to-racer competition will contest this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.Shulzhitskiy will race alongside fellow GT Academy alumni and last year’s rookie stand-out Jann Mardenborough for OAK Racing, with Alex Brundle. Reip will joined the inaugural winner of the GT Academy competition, Lucas Ordóñez aboard the Nissan ZEOD RC with Satoshi Motoyama.

Nissan today filled 10 of the top 11 spots on the LM P2 timesheets with Roman Rusinov recording the fastest time at 3 minutes, 37.795 seconds. The Shulzhitskiy/Mardenborough/Brundle Oak Racing entry was fourth fastest in LM P2.

“This was a great #eatsleepRACErepeat weekend for Nissan,” concluded Darren Cox. “A 1-2-3 in Super GT in Japan, three of our four GT Academy winners running very well here at Le Mans today, Nissan dominating P2 again and very strong results in British GT and the TUDOR Championship.”

Nissan press release

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 1ST 2014, TEST DAY.