Nissan is declaring itself ready to take on the world’s best sports cars manufacturers as it unveiled its Le Mans challenger, the GT-R LM NISMO. And in a bold move, Nissan has interpreted the sport’s technical regulations in a very bold way.

Instead of going for a typical mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, the GT-R LM NISMO is a front-engined, front-wheel drive car that’s powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine with a kinetic energy recovery system.


The gutsy new sports prototype will contest the LM P1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the highest category in world sports car racing. The series starts at Silverstone and travels to Spa in Belgium, onto the Le Mans 24 Hours, and even Germany’s famed Nurburgring.

The FIA World Endurance Championship is the ultimate proving ground for automotive companies as technological gains on the track can carry through to road cars. Racing car engineers are facing the same challenges as road car engineers as the spotlight falls on energy efficiency. With more technical freedom than Formula 1, the LM P1 engineers have ample opportunity to innovate.


“This is innovation that excites,” said Shoichi Miyatani, President of NISMO. “Sustainability is at the top of our agenda and the technical regulations for Le Mans give us the freedom to pursue new ideas in this area. Our record at Le Mans is third place overall so we have unfinished business there. We want to win and we have the knowledge to do that – for our customers, our employees and our fans. The competition is exceptionally strong and we are excited by the challenge.”

At the same time, Nissan unveiled their official partners for their FIA World Endurance Championship challenge. TAG Heuer is the team’s official watch partner and official timekeeping partner. Meanwhile, Motul is the official lubricants partner for the program. Finally, the LM P1 program will use tires supplied by Michelin.