NISSAN POWERS TO LMP2 VICTORY IN JAPAN

Nissan is celebrating a good day for Japanese brands after powering to LMP2 victory at Fuji Speedway in Japan. The ADR-Delta team took the class honours with its second win of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship with regular drivers John Martin and Tor Graves joined by Japanese ex-F1 driver Shinji Nakano. A smooth performance saw them cross the line ahead of all the other LMP2 cars after six hours of hard racing.

It was a particularly tough race for Tor Graves whose father passed away earlier this week. Team Manager Simon Dowson commented that the win was a real team effort and that it paid tribute to Tor's father.

"All the drivers did a fantastic job," said Dowson. "The pit stops from the guys were faultless, we had the right strategy and had good dpace all the way through the race."

The race at Fuji instantly became a highlight of the 2012 WEC season, thanks to the enthusiasm of the thousands of Japanese fans who attended the event. Nissan's GT Academy racer, Jordan Tresson, was struck by how patient the fans were when it came to meeting the WEC racers.

"It was so good to see so many people turn out to support us," he said. "The fans here are very enthusiastic, and in a way very like the fans at Le Mans as they are so knowledgeable about our sport. They are incredible courteous and it has been a pleasure to meet them."

Unfortunately for Tresson the Signatech Nissan team was unable to convert its performance to a podium at Fuji when a starter motor problem lost the team a number of laps, just one hour into the race. They recovered and finished in ninth place.

"Olivier (Lombard) started the race for us and he had a good run before he came in to hand over to Franck (Mailleux), explained Jordan. “Then the car wouldn't start so Franck had to be pushed back into the garage so the starter motor could be changed. I think this lost us around eight minutes and put us out of contention for the podium. I had a good run during my stint and didn't make any mistakes so I was pleased with that but disappointed with the overall result. It's a real shame as we wanted to keep the positive momentum going from our Bahrain podium."

The WEC teams have just one more shot at the podium in 2012 as the final round of the championship takes place in Shanghai on 28 October.

• <2012 World Endurance Championship Rd.7 LMP2>

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NISSAN MOTORSPORTS Web Site

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