After the disappointing and sudden withdrawal from the much-followed Nissan DeltaWing racing car project (which was undertaken in conjunction with Highcroft racing), Nissan’s CEO, Carlos Ghosn, has confirmed the Japanese manufacturer’s return to the Le Mans 24-hour race in 2014.
Announced at the company’s opening of a new Nismo high-performance and motorsports headquarters in Yokohama, Ghosn suggested that the new racing project could see an electric racer occupying one of the garages at the prestigious 24-hour race next year. The project will be led by Nismo, the Nissan Motorsports arm, which also developed the bizarre and rather potent LEAF RC race car concept in the past.
Ghosn also touched on some of Nissan’s other motorsports plans for 2013, which include an update to the GT3 variant of the GT-R after last year’s success in both GT500 and GT300 classes of Japan’s highly-entertaining Super-GT series.
We can’t be sure if Nissan’s entry into the 2014 Le Mans race will be a full battery-electric vehicle because the company’s press release doesn’t state much detail, however, with hybrid vehicles already fielded by Audi and Toyota, it is clear the Le Mans grid is a hot bed for endurance testing when it comes to future car technologies.
Nissan’s return to ‘Garage 56’, the special entry for the most innovative and experimental concepts will undoubtedly add further longevity to the Le Mans 24-hour race. We can’t wait to see what Nissan come up with.
