WEC: Nissan withdraws 2016 LMP1 entry

[Jack Hunsley]

Nissan have today confirmed they will not compete in the 2016 WEC championship after their LMP1 program has hit more problems during preparations for the 2016 season.

Nissan only competed at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans and have since suffered dozens of technical setbacks in their bid to introduce their innovative FWD Nismo GTR-LM to the LMP1 scene. However, rumours are circulating that the combined issue of a badly under performing 2016-spec hybrid system, along with a second failed crash test, has put the final nail in the coffin for the project.

Nissan's official statement reads, "Nissan entered LMP1 in the 2015 season with an innovative new, and bold concept, with the ambition to compete at the front of the field... however, the company concluded that the program would not be able to reach its ambitions and decided to focus on developing its longer term strategies."

The failure of the project will also see around 40 employees lose their jobs, whilst there is currently no news as to where Nissan's impressive driver lineup will end up for next season. Nissan have confirmed that they still intend to supply to upcoming LMP3 category with engines.

 

[Blimey]

Didn't they say that in like August or something?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Hopefully this Deltawing/LMP1 project finally dies. Has been overhyped at Le Mans for how many years now? Five? And each year they fail to deliver and this years successor was no different.

Give the available free slots to a manufacturer that rates the LM24 higher than a marketing campaign please.

 

[Chris]

I'd love to see them adapt the GTR to GTE-spec. Godzilla on the Mulsanne would be incredible. It would also be massively cheaper than trying to get two FWD LMP1 experiments on the grid.

 

[Torcano]

It's only logical for them to pull out at this point. They sunk a lot of R&D dolla' into this project and it flopped pretty hard, even they must've thought shoveling more money into it is not gonna yield any ground breaking competitive results when compared to their rivals with more traditional setups. Oh well, atleast we can still celebrate that the LMP ruleset allows for such a fresh and 'novelty' build to come and race. But yeah, a GTE spec Godzilla would be a treat, way cheaper and way more brand exposure given the amount of cars they can get on the grid, not that they need any more brand exposure anyway.

 

[R.J. O'Connell]

I'm not just disappointed that the project failed. I think about the roster they put together. I think about how this leaves stellar young drivers like Jann Mardenborough and Harry Tincknell out of a ride entirely when they could have been the franchise players for NISMO in LMP1 for years.

There's also the alarming fact that this now cuts LMP1-H from eleven cars at this year's 24H to just six, with Audi/Porsche downscaling to two entries and now Nissan and its three entries gone. Who's going to make LMP1-L viable? Who's going to step up and field competitive entries from the lower categories?

 

[Blimey]

Audi, Porsche, Toyota, Peugeot, Rebellion and Aston Martin would be cool to see all of them on track at once racing for a win.

Absolute treat would be if Bentley would return for atleast 1 race.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Sad for the drivers and engineers involved and also that Nissan have largely p*ssed away all the cred they have generated in sportscars over the years from GT Academy and being a major engine supplier in LMP2. I guess that Renault going all in on F1 probably meant that money for another major program was going to be hard to get especially when they have been so far off the pace.

I don't think I will miss them (and the 3rd Porsche/Audi) at Le Mans though as it makes it much more likely that one of the privateer teams will get a good result which is a lot of what Le Mans is about for me.

 

[formidable]

I said before the 24hrs of LeMans, that this car promise to be a disaster before the race.

 

[Dan Allen]

Pretty sure this is old news. Anyway, it's probably for the best. Maybe they should come back next year with something a little more reliable. And good looking.

 

[Jordan Wilkins]

Seems a shame they shelved the project after only a year but they probably finally realised they were onto a loser with their design and needed to make significant changes to be competitive. Shame for the people involved with the project will be interesting to see where their drivers end up next year.

 

[Matheus Machado]

It was reaching the highest speeds on the straight even without the hybrids.
I guess they should start a Drag-Racing team then...

In a more serious note, the LMP1 category overall is losing interest. Still no new car annouced for Toyota, so I highly doubt they will be competitive next year, and having 4 cars fighting for a win is a little bit sad to be honest.

 

[fortyfivekev]

...In a more serious note, the LMP1 category overall is losing interest. Still no new car annouced for Toyota, so I highly doubt they will be competitive next year, and having 4 cars fighting for a win is a little bit sad to be honest.

Funny thing to say after what was probably the best sportscar season since at least the Group C days. And as someone who attended quite a few Group C races back in the day the racing over 6/24 hours this season was WAY better.

Toyota announced the TS050 back in the Summer. New engine and hybrid system, ditching the super-capacitor and moving to a smaller turbo engine similar to Porsche. Sad to see the back of the great sounding V8. Whether they will be quick enough to beat the Germans though who knows?

 

[Matheus Machado]

Funny thing to say after what was probably the best sportscar season since at least the Group C days. And as someone who attended quite a few Group C races back in the day the racing over 6/24 hours this season was WAY better.

Toyota announced the TS050 back in the Summer. New engine and hybrid system, ditching the super-capacitor and moving to a smaller turbo engine similar to Porsche. Sad to see the back of the great sounding V8. Whether they will be quick enough to beat the Germans though who knows?

My bad then... But anyway I still think LMPs should have more cars.
And I never said this year wasn't exciting. Started to follow WEC when I went to Interlagos in 2014 and never regretted!

 

[Andrew Harper]

Shame it was cancelled as the idea was technically very adventurous and deserved some success.

It's not old news as up until recently the project was still alive, they just cancelled their WEC plans but were still going forward with Le Mans 2016. They just couldn't make the project work.

They were still testing the car up until a month ago.

Nissan still have a large presence in sportscar and GT so they are still around.

 

[Dan Allen]

It was reaching the highest speeds on the straight even without the hybrids.
I guess they should start a Drag-Racing team then...

In a more serious note, the LMP1 category overall is losing interest. Still no new car annouced for Toyota, so I highly doubt they will be competitive next year, and having 4 cars fighting for a win is a little bit sad to be honest.

Totally disagree (respectfully, of course)

From what I seen of the WEC last season (which wasn't that much tbh) the LMP categories were brilliant fun to watch

 

[Matheus Machado]

From what I seen of the WEC last season (which wasn't that much tbh) the LMP categories were brilliant fun to watch

For this season it was definitely. But In the end you just know Porsche had an upper hand.
That comment was for next season.

 

[Dan Allen]

Maybe. I'm hoping Audi will get their act together next season though.

 

[Grand Tourist]

I just don't understand why they didn't pull out the plug sooner for the FF project and held this absolutely magnificent looking more traditional built LMP1 car as as back-up for their WEC aspirations...

 

[Nick Gregory]

That was a render someone made a few years ago.