WEC: Gene likely to return to Nissan LMP1

Former grand prix driver Marc Gene is likely to return to Nissan's World Endurance Championship lineup this season, despite stepping down into an advisory role for next month's Le Mans 24 Hours.

Nissan global motorsport boss Darren Cox insisted that the Spaniard had an ongoing agreement with the Japanese manufacturer that would involve him driving the GT-R LM NISMO again.

"It was a joint decision and Marc remains fully supportive of the programme," said Cox. "Marc will be in the garage with the cans on at Le Mans and he has just sent me a long debrief with his comments from the last test that he did with us."

Asked if Gene would drive the GT-R LM NISMO over the second leg of the WEC, Cox replied: "That is the plan and he will certainly be testing with us for Le Mans next year, because he has so much experience."

Cox revealed that Gene's commitments with Ferrari – as a development driver and ambassador – had played a part in the decision because they limited his mileage in the GT-R LM.

"He is so busy and we have had to move the test program around, so he hasn't been able to get in the car as much as he wanted," Cox said.

Nissan's driver lineup for the five WEC races after Le Mans has yet to be set in stone.

"We have said that the driver line-up we have announced is for Le Mans only," explained Cox. "We will take a breath afterwards and see how everyone has done; we have had some big surprises in testing."

Cox said that the six drivers who would race its two full-season WEC entries would be taken from the 10 who have so far tested the GT-R, with the likely exception of the Fuji round in October.

"Maybe in Japan we will see Ronnie [Quintarelli, Super GT co-champion last year with NISMO] and [long-time Nissan driver Satoshi] Motoyama-san driving," he continued.

It is likely that Olivier Pla, Harry Tincknell and Max Chilton, who signed with Nissan for this season, will do all the races, Cox confirmed. The other six drivers in the three GT-R LMs for Le Mans all had existing contracts with Nissan.

Originally on Autosport.com