24 Hours of Le Mans: The Nissan Nismos Rescued But Already Left Behind
Qualified more than twenty seconds behind the pole at Le Mans, the Nissan Nismos did not meet the regulatory 110%. Nevertheless, they have been allowed by the race stewards to start from the back of the grid.
The regulations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are clear: a car that sets a time more than 110% of the pole position during qualifying cannot start the race… unless there is a kindly gesture from the race stewards.
The three Nissan Nismo cars are unfortunately affected by this rule, having been relegated to more than 20 seconds from Neel Jani’s pole position yesterday (although with constant progress). Rescued by the race stewards, the revolutionary prototypes – still in a break-in period – will start from the 15th and 16th rows of the grid, ahead of the GTEs for safety reasons.
The main objective for Nismo will, of course, be to finish, with at least one car, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Absent for the first two races of the season in WEC, the Japanese manufacturer is clearly facing a significant challenge.
