Nissan’s revolutionary ZEOD RC will make its first public on-track appearance at Fuji Speedway at the Japanese round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The car will provide demonstration runs on all three days of the event in all-electric mode, before making its first competitive appearance at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans. Between now and then, Nissan will trial various forms of new electric drive train technologies as part of its intended future return to LMP1 competition.
Two-time Super GT champion for Nissan, Michael Krumm, will drive the car at Fuji, having been a part of the team who drove the DeltaWing at the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, also scoring third in this year’s LMP2 class at the French classic.
“I’m totally thrilled at the opportunity to drive the Nissan ZEOD RC at Fuji,” said, Krumm. “Last year’s WEC round at Fuji was a great success and I am sure this year will be even bigger. Giving the fans in Japan the chance to see the Nissan ZEOD RC run for the first time will be fantastic.
“It is certainly going to be a very unique experience to go that fast with electric power – especially since Fuji’s main straight is nearly a mile long. Fuji Speedway is such an historic venue – it’s actually pretty fitting that the ZEOD RC will have its first public runs here because this car certainly has the opportunity to change motorsport history. We’re only doing a demonstration run but I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of top speed we’ll see on the straight.”
After the demonstration runs, Nissan will continue to develop the ZEOD RC in Europe with Lucas Ordonez in the driver’s seat. The car will occupy Garage 56 at next year’s Le Mans, an entry reserved by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest for cars using new and innovative technology not previously seen at the race.
“Nissan has become a global leader in the development of zero emission automotive technology and the Nissan ZEOD RC will allow us to further develop those capabilities using the toughest endurance race in the world as a mobile test bed to test the potential of our planned LM P1 power train,” added Executive Vice President and Executive Committee member at Nissan Motor Company Limited, Andy Palmer. “The ZEOD RC program is designed to develop multiple technologies to evaluate how they could be used for a future LM P1 class return of Nissan at the Le Mans 24 Hour.”
