Nissan power holding strong on a sad day for racing

At the halfway mark of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours the top seven positions in LM P2 are held by Nissan-powered cars. The Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan lies in fourth place and the No.26 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Nissan sits in sixth after leading the class for a long time in the early stages of the race.

#42 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN Nissan: Lucas Ordonez, Jann Mardenborough, Michael Krumm

Photo by: James M. Holland

This Le Mans though has been overshadowed by the death of Aston Martin Racing driver, Allan Simonsen, who lost his life on lap four of the race. At the request of Allan’s family the race goes on but most are competing with heavy hearts.

Jann Mardenborough came to Le Mans as a rookie after winning the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy competition two years ago. Astonishingly he has been setting lap times faster than many vastly-experienced professional drivers.

Despite being a rookie Jann was tasked with starting the race in the Greaves car. In true Jann Mardenborough style he made a great start and quickly settled into the race. An extended safety car period just a few laps in didn’t faze the British driver and he completed a strong double stint before handing over to Lucas Ordonez, who completed a triple stint before Michael Krumm jumped in.

“The build up to the race takes a long time here so it was great to just get in the car and get going,” said Jann after his first run. “I knew what I had to do and that was to bring the car back in one piece. There were a few moves I could have made but I backed out of them. The safety car period was hard as it is easy to lose concentration; I was pretty busy trying to save fuel but at the same time trying to keep heat in the tyres. Once we got racing again I really enjoyed it. Racing at Le Mans is everything I expected and more.”

“Taking the race start in your first ever Le Mans is a big responsibility but Jann delivered yet again with great composure and maturity,” said Darren Cox, Nissan’s Director of Global Motorsports. “He is showing fantastic consistency out there and his sector times have kept us all glued to the timing screens. We put him in an F3 car at the start of this year to teach him about downforce and he is now demonstrating that was the right thing to do. This is a sad day for our sport but we continue on in the memory of a fallen racer.”

Nissan