Nissan has pulled out of the opening two rounds of the World Endurance Championship to concentrate on its Le Mans 24 Hours campaign.
The head-turning front-wheel-drive GT-R LM NISMO will miss the Silverstone and Spa rounds after their test at Sebring in early March was cut short due to a problem with its front roll structure. The issue is being rectified with a view to carrying out further tests.
Nissan Global Motorsport director, Darren Cox spoke with eRacing to clarify the current situation surrounding the GT-R LM NISMO programme.
eRacing: Ben Bowlby mentioned that the Sebring test was cut short my a minor issue relating to engine mounting. Can this be clarified and was it due to the bumpy surface at Sebring?
Darren Cox: Teams go to Sebring to test their cars in the harshest conditions. It short cuts finding durability issues. The mounting issue was rooted out by the bumps – so Sebring did it’s job. It’s better to find it there than after 20 hours at Le Mans!
eR: There was some talk that the front roll hoop missed by a small margin in the monocoque crash test. Was this a design issue? Was it able to be rectified quickly?
DC: Many cars fail crash tests. Teams just hide the fact they do. Nissan wants to be transparent with the information to press and fans. So we told you! We will retest and expect to pass. A test is exactly that. A test!
eR: Whilst abandoning the the opening WEC rounds will refocus Nissan's efforts for Le Mans, do you think the absence of having direct competition have any effect on the team's race readiness?
DC: The team we have in the garage are all seasoned racing guys from US, Japan, Europe. They have thousands of races between them. Of course we would have liked to have raced in the WEC before Le Mans, but our guys in the car and garage are race ready. See for example Oli at Sebring, Harry in ELMS, Jann in GP3 / VLN, Al at Goodwood / GT3, Lucas at Super GT etc etc etc !
eR: Have the drivers made any comments about traffic management (e.g. having to adjust due to the length of the cockpit to the front of the car)?
DC: Once they are in they don’t notice it. We havn’t seen much traffic yet though!
Marc Gene and Olivier Pla undertook driving duties for the Sebring test, with Jann Mardenborough, Harry Tincknell and new signing Max Chilton all present.
Video courtesy of "Lanky Turtle"