WEC: Gene steps back from Nissan seat

Former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Marc Gene has stepped down from Nissan's driver lineup for this year's race. The Spaniard, who won at Le Mans with Peugeot in 2009, was due to race the #23 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO together with Max Chilton and Jann Mardenborough, but he has opted to step back into an advisory role.

"It was a tough decision for me to take a step back for Le Mans. 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," Gene said.

"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."

Nissan has reshuffled its lineup, moving Olivier Pla from the #22 car to drive with Chilton and Mardenborough, while Alex Buncombe steps up from the Le Mans-only #21 car to join Michael Krumm and Harry Tincknell in #22.

Russian Mark Shulzhitskiy – like Mardenborough and Ordonenz, a winner of Nissan's GT Academy gamer-to-racer scheme – takes Buncombe's place in #21 alongside Tsugio Matsuda and Lucas Ordonez.

Nissan has yet to comment on whether Gene will return to the lineup for the remainder of the WEC season after Le Mans.

The Japanese manufacturer completed its final U.S. test of the GT-R LM, which included the first run of the second chassis, with three days at the General Motors Bowling Green test facility in Kentucky with all nine drivers present.

"Obviously we would like to have more time, but we have had three good days of working through a long list of jobs," Nissan LMP1 team principal and technical director Ben Bowlby said. "Our focus now moves to the re-preparation of these two cars and completing the build of the third."

Tincknell added that "every test so far has brought progress."

Originally on Autosport.com