Nissan Motors announced that its GT-R LM will not join in the action at the 2016 World Endurance Championship. This is because the car was unable to meet performance goals set by the team.
Nissan confirmed that the GT-R LM will not return to the Le Mans in 2016. As a matter of fact, the car will not take part in the WEC next year. In a brief and short statement released by the company, they said that although the car participated in the LMP1 this year with an innovative, bold and new concept, and its ambition to compete at the front of the racing field, the company's race car was unable to meet its performance goals for next year set by the team.
Nissan said that its team worked diligently to bring the car up to the targeted performance levels. However, the team concluded that the program will not reach its targeted goal. With this conclusion, the company has decided to focus on developing long-term strategies for the car's racing career.
The company will be pouring considerable expertise into its engine programs specifically tailored for the WEC, including the recently introduced LMP3 engine. Aside from that, Nissan is also a huge engine player in the LMP2 series.
Announced in May 2014, the GT-R LM was the company's ground-breaking 1250 brake horsepower LMP1 runner that used a different concept to let Toyota, Porsche and Audi eat dust. While its announcement was a huge roar, challenges tormented its debut year. The car failed its crash test in March 2015. The failure meant to miss out crucial development miles at the Silverstone Racing Circuit. In addition, the team had three GT-R LMs on standby at the Le Mans 24-hour endurance championships that did not have hybrid rear-drive systems.
The GT-R LM designer, Ben Bowlby, stated that the team has managed to complete 600 laps using three cars and they are very proud of it. The company was even allied to the idea of bringing an updated version of the GT-R LM in the WEC 2016 Championships. Nissan even brought in a new team principal and already made multiple changes to the race car after the Le Mans.
The present announcement made by the company concludes the GT-R LM's interesting chapter.
