Nissan have revealed a revised driver line-up that will be spread across no less than three GT-R LM NISMOs for this June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In a shock move, Russia’s first Nissan PlayStation® GT Academy champion Mark Shulzhitskiy (who first sampled the car at NCM Motorsports Park earlier this month) will replace Marc Gene, with the Le Mans winner (with Peugeot and Audi) stepping into an advisory role with the manufacturer
“It was a tough decision for me to take a step back for the Le Mans 24 Hours,” said Gene. “I am so impressed with the efforts being made by the team and even though I won’t race at Le Mans I will be there to help with my knowledge of the great race.
“Nissan is innovating in a big way with the GTR LM. Le Mans is going to be a huge challenge and I think that the best way for me to help the team is by taking on an advisory role. I am excited to see from the garage how the car will perform at Le Mans.”
Shulzhitskiy will move into Nissan’s third Le Mans entry (No. 21) to partner Lucas Ordonez and Tsugio Matsuda.
The shuffle will see Alex Buncombe slot into Olivier Pla’s seat in the No. 22 LM NISMO with Michael Krumm and Harry Tincknell, with Pla now joining Jann Mardenborough and Max Chilton in the No. 23 car.
The Nissan NISMO team is now back at its Indianapolis base to complete the build of the third car before heading to its UK base at Silverstone to make the final preparations for Le Mans.
“Obviously we would like to have more time but we have had three good days of working through a long list of jobs,” said Ben Bowlby, Nissan’s LM P1 Team Principal and Technical Director. “Our focus now moves to the re-preparation of these two cars and completing the build of the third. I’m very happy with the drivers who have all applied themselves well this week and I look forward to getting on track at the Le Mans test day.”
Musical chairs at NISMO