Nissan Goes Retro With New Le Mans Racer

The Nissan GT-R LM NISMO might be the automaker’s most high tech race car ever, but when it hits the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans it’ll be looking decidedly retro.

Nissan is celebrating its stunning 3:27.020 lap of the Le Mans circuit from exactly 25 years ago, when Mark Blundell put the Nissan R90CK on pole position. This year, the brand will be competing with the GT-R LM NISMO but with the very same livery that was featured on the classic number 21 car.

Piloting the number-21 GT-R LM NISMO will be current Super GT champion Tsugio Matsuda and two winners of GT Academy, Lucas Ordóñez and Mark Schulzhitskiy.

SEE ALSO: Nissan GT-R LM NISMO Specs Detailed

In addition, the number-24 Nissan R90CK that set the pole lap 25 years ago will be featured at Le Mans in a special parade with Mark Blundell behind the wheel yet again.

Expect to see the three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs on the track at Le Mans this Saturday for the official Test day. This will also mark the first time the cars will run at Le Mans and the first time they will run with all of the other Le Mans entrants.

“Our racing heritage is hugely important to us,” said Darren Cox, Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, NISMO. “Our 1998 car hangs on the wall at NISMO HQ in Yokohama as a reminder of our Le Mans podium, and the blue liveries of the Group C and IMSA era of the 80s and 90s are a firm favorite with the fans. So much so that when we first started talking about the possibility of a third car livery specifically for our LM P1 debut at Le Mans this year, this was the one that fans across our social media channels called for. It’s a great way to celebrate our past achievements at such a key moment in our current motor racing history.”