Nissan is gearing up to challenge rivals Audi, Toyota and Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Japanese automaker plans to enter the storied 90-year-old French endurance race, considered one of the world’s most grueling motorsports events, next year.
Nissan has been actively involved with Le Mans competition in recent years, having won the LM P2 class twice and supplying about a quarter of the 2014 Le Mans field with engines. However, for 2015 Nissan will be making a full factory prototype effort, its first since the Nissan R390 GT1 took third place in 1998 (the 2012 DeltaWing ran in an experimental class).
The car, called the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO, will pay tribute to the 46-year history of the GT-R name, which can be traced back to the Skyline GT-R sports sedan of 1968. Nissan Chief Planning Officer and Executive VP Andy Palmer said that while it will be built within the confines of the Le Mans rulebook, it will “hopefully… be very iconic in its appearance.” Perhaps apropos to the GT-R’s Godzilla nickname, Nissan has released a monster movie-themed teaser showing the GT-R’s trademark afterburner taillight configuration first introduced on the 1972 model.
The car will be developed by Nissan facilities across Japan, the US and Europe. That the announcement was made on May 23 was no mistake, as “23″ has long been Nissan’s lucky number. In Japanese “two” is pronounced “ni,” “three is pronounced “san,” and “five” is pronounced “go”. Read together, May 23 is said in Japanese “Go Nissan!”
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