
The Nissan Deltawing in the opening hour of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (Photo Credit: Highcroft Racing)
The revolutionary DeltaWing's Le Mans adventure came to an end after six hours and fifteen minutes of racing.
Following the restart after Anthony Davidson's huge crash, the DeltaWing was caught out in traffic as the leaders came through. The remaining Toyota driven by Kazuki Nakajima made contact with the Nissan powered car, sending it hard into the barriers at the exit of the Porsche Curves.
Despite Satoshi Motoyama's attempts that lasted ninety minutes to try and get the car back to the pits, the damage was too substantial to continue.
The eye catching car had won over the hearts of many fans this week, and was recovering back through the pack from an earlier gearbox problem when the accident occurred.
Remarkably, the Nissan DeltaWing was completing 11 lap stints at LMP2 pace despite only having a 40 litre fuel tank and 300 horsepower.
“When we went green I was trying to let the leaders by and not interfere with their race but the Toyota swung across and hit me very hard.
“Once I was on the grass there was nothing I could do. The Nissan DeltaWing was in the wall very hard but I was very determined to try to get the car back to the pits.
“The crew could give me instructions, but I am the only person who can touch the car. We tried for a long time to find a way to get the car back to the pits, but the damage was just too much,” Motoyama said.
“I had two great stints and was really enjoying my time in the car. We had a really long safety car period and I was really looking forward to finishing off my last stint.
“I have had such a great time driving this car and I've loved working with Marino, Michael and the entire team,” he added.