WEC: Nissan shifts focus to 2016 race program

The factory Nissan GT-R LM NISMO World Endurance Championship P1 program will not return to race in 2015.

"We are committed to competing at the highest level and we are not happy when we are not winning," said NISMO President Shoichi Miyatani. "Let's not forget that while we have been pushing forward with the LMP1 challenge we have won the Blancpain Pro Cup Drivers title in Europe with the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and are on target for another great year of success in GT500 in Japan. Racing is a vital part of our DNA and we will work to get this right."

Related Stories

The Indianapolis-based team has endured a challenging introduction to the WEC's top class. Its front-engine prototype fell well short of its performance targets prior to the start of the WEC season, which led to Nissan skipping the first and second rounds to focus on testing ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Three of the Ben Bowlby-designed P1 cars took the start at Le Mans, and with a notable gap still present, the team announced it would skip most of the post-Le Mans rounds before returning for the last two events of 2015.

Recent testing at Circuit of The Americas showed gains had been made, yet with significant upgrades required to be competitive against the leading P1 manufacturers, a new decision has been made to table racing activities until 2016. And with the addition of Michael Carcamo to the project's management team, Bowlby should have the support he needs behind the scenes.

"Ben had his hands full trying to do everything; managing the design and build but also the race and test operation," Carcamo said. "That's a lot to ask anyone to do, especially with a concept that requires this level of development. My knowledge of Nissan engineering processes and project planning experience will help Ben and the team concentrate on making the car deliver on its promise.

"The challenge that we took on was a monumental task. We have to learn all of the dynamics of this new vehicle and all the performance tuning, so it takes a long time to find the sweet spot of performance. We recognize that challenge and we've added the resources and infrastructure behind the program to try and bring it to that next level."