The NISSAN ZEOD RC, which is the “Garage 56” entry this year, will have veteran Satoshi Motoyama, who raced in the DeltaWing two years ago, lining up alongside Lucas Ordoñez and Wolfgang Reip. The new car, which will carry out the first lap of each “fuel” stint will be 100 percent electrically powered. It has a revolutionary power plant with Nissan’s DIG-T R 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine providing 400bhp, and weighs a mere 40 kilograms.
A new addition to the LMP2 class for the forthcoming blue riband event of endurance racing will be the new Ligier JS P2 Nissan, which is being run by OAK Racing. Seasoned sportscar racer Alex Brundle, who has been well-associated with the Japanese manufacturer, will now be teamed with fellow British driver and GT Academy Europe 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough, who also races with Arden International in GP3, as well having made his debut at Le Mans last year.
The pair will be joined by GT Academy Russia 2012 winner Mark Shulzhitsky, who had a baptism of fire in sportscar racing at the Shanghai round of the World Endurance Championship last year, but has been working with Onroak Automotive to help the forward progression on the new Ligier ahead of its Le Mans debut.
The young Russian has worked hard alongside Olivier Pla, as his dream is about to turn to reality, as he continues the trend of drivers that are emerging from GT Academy and bringing in the results, and has enjoyed the experience so far: “Now it is going to get even better as it is finally my turn to race at Le Mans. This is what the winners of GT Academy dream about so I hope I can live up to the performance of the winners who have gone before me.”