24h Le Mans
Up until 2017 when the LMP2 regulations restricted the class to one engine supplier, Honda then Nissan engines largely dominated LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the early 2010s.
At the end of the 2000s, Honda made a remarkable return to endurance racing in the American series ALMS with a chassis and engine developed by Honda Performance Development (HPD) and two titles in the U.S. in 2009 and 2010.
In 2010, two Honda HPD ARX-01cs took the start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, fielded in the LMP2 class by American team Highcroft Racing (ALMS title-holder) and British outfit Strakka Racing, respectively. They managed a top 5 finish and the latter became the first to surpass 5,000 kilometers at the 24 Hours with an LMP2 prototype.
At the end of that year, another British team, Greaves Motorsport, decided to equip its Zytek chassis with a Nissan engine. So it was as an engine supplier that Nissan became the Japanese marque to clinch the pole at Le Mans (1990). The car achieved a stunning one-two in the LMP2 class at the 2011 24 Hours: the Zytek driven by Tom Kimber Smith-Olivier Lombard-Karim Ojjeh (Greaves Motorsport) finished ahead of the ORECA shared by Soheil Ayari-Franck Mailleux-Lucas Ordonez (Signatech Nissan). In the wake of the announcement of the creation of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), Nissan's involvement in the class intensified.
Though in 2012 Honda HPD won a second LMP2 victory at the 24 Hours with the ARX-03b fielded by American team Starworks Motorsport thanks to Ryan Dalziel-Tom Kimber Smith-Enzo Potolicchio, the Nissan engine went on to dominate the class until the regulated arrival of the Gibson engine in 2017.
From 2013 to 2016, Nissan's engine won with four different teams and chassis: OAK Racing and Morgan (2013), Jota Sport and Zytek (2014), KCMG and ORECA (2015) then Signatech and Alpine (2016).
In the 2010s, Japan has certainly made its mark at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with to date a total of eight wins (all classes considered): four for Nissan and two for Honda in LMP2, and a one-two for the Toyota TS050 HYBRID LMP1s in 2018.
PHOTO: Alpine triumphed again at Le Mans in 2016 with the A460 (ORECA base) powered by Nissan thanks to an alliance between the Japanese manufacturer and Renault.
