Nissan power dominates LM P2 grid for 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours
Top three LM P2 cars on the Le Mans grid are powered by Nissan
Photo by: James Holland
Nissan-powered cars took the first three positions in the LM P2 class during qualifying for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours tonight. All three qualifying sessions were affected by lengthy red flag periods which has made it tough on the teams and most opted to run in race trim for tonight’s sessions in order to prepare for 24 hours of flat out racing coming their way this weekend.
The No.24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan will start the race from pole position and will be joined on the front row of the LM P2 grid by the No.26 Oreca-Nissan of G-Drive Racing, followed by the Zytek-Nissan of Jota Sport.
The No.42 Greaves Motorsport entry took 12th place after running in full race trim during qualifying. Rookie Le Mans racer Jann Mardenborough completed all the running he needed to qualify for the race.
The drivers of the No.26 G-Drive Racing car held pole position throughout qualifying but were pipped to the post at the very end of the session.
“The time we held was set during the first session last night and, as we were running in race spec today we knew that we could be beaten,” said Roman Rusinov. “A little rain would have been great for us but the weather held out. This is a 24-hour race so pole isn’t everything but of course it would have been good to take the point for pole.”
Nissan is focusing on the fans at Le Mans this year with a #fansfirst initiative that is already proving popular. The Nismo FanZone is now fully open in the new karting area so fans can go along to see the drivers of the No.42 Greaves Motorsport and No.26 G-Drive Racing entries. They can experience the Nismo Lab where they can get an insight into the life of a Nismo Athlete and try out various tests to see if they too have what it takes.
For now though Le Mans has now fallen silent after a fast and furious qualifying. In just a few hours time Nissan will reveal its 2014 Garage 56 entry and it’s hope for an LMP1 future. The new car will be unveiled in the Le Mans Village at 10:30am (Friday) in an exclusive reveal for the Le Mans fans. A simultaneous press briefing will take place in the ‘Nismo Live Lounge by G-Drive’, which is situated in the Le Mans paddock hospitality area.
Nissan Nismo
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Nissan battles rivals and the weather in Nurburgring 24 Hour
Nissan’s two-car GT3 assault on the Nürburgring 24-Hour
Mission accomplished at Le Mans for Nissan
Rowland: I was doubting myself a lot prior to Formula E podium return
Nissan suggests NDDP moniker no longer suited to #3 drivers
P3 overall for NISMO Nissan “acceptable” after misfortunes
A2RL launches new era of autonomous motorsport in Abu Dhabi
Exclusive: F1 defers decision over points system tweaks
McLaren needs to understand puzzling “up and down” F1 form - Piastri
F1 announces 24/7 streaming channel in the US
The Le Mans oddities that have added to the race's legend
The Peugeot rookies who conquered Le Mans but missed out on F1
Why the stars have aligned to bring Aston Martin back to the top class at Le Mans
Inside Toyota’s alternative path to the future of motorsport
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments