Nissan accelerates towards Le Mans

The four-day test took place at the Paul Ricard in the South of France and involved all three Nissan cars, the two R391s and the C52.

Also present were the six R391 drivers, Comas, van de Poele, Suzuki, Kageyama, Motoyama and Krumm, and the two C52 drivers, Ekblom and Cottaz.

The test was spent working on the chassis set-up, suspension set-up and engine performance.

'Our main target on this test was to improve top speed,' said Krumm.

'We reduced the downforce and we adjusted the ride-height to reduce drag. That worked out really well and we found about 10 kilometres of extra maximum speed.

'Everything went well and the only minor problem was with the clutch, but the team seemed to think it would be easily remedied.

'Our main components, the engine and gearbox performed perfectly throughout the test,' said team director Kunihiko Kakimotowhich.

'The team will now change all major parts for the race and carry out some pit training.'

Driver pairings for the race were also confirmed at the test. They are:

Car 22 - (R391) Erik Comas (F), Michael Krumm (D) and Satoshi Motoyama (J)

Car 23 - (R391) Masami Kageyama (J), Eric van de Poele (B) and Aguri Suzuki

(J)
Car 21 - (C52) Didier Cottaz (F), Fredrik Ekblom (Sw) and Marc Goossens
(B)