Deltawing Will Get Second Race at Petit Le Mans

The NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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DeltawingNissan DeltaWingJapan, 2012 > present19 photos
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will get a second chance at racing at Petit Le Mans on October 20 at Road Atlanta. It raced for the first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last June but crashed after an incident with the Toyota TS030. The car will have two new drivers for Petit Le Mans - Nissan GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez and 2011 LMP Challenge champion Gunnar Jeannette.

"I'm very proud that Lucas will get his chance in the car − the GT Academy is a major innovation in motorsport that is making the elitist sport of motor racing genuinely accessible to everyone, including those who do not have access to big budgets and sponsorship. Lucas is living proof that the innovation works," said Darren Cox, General Manager, Nissan in Europe.

The American Le Mans Series is also considering allowing the Deltawing to race in the series in 2013. It would have to reapply for the post-merger 2014 season to be legal. 

In many ways this announcement is not a major surprise. Don Panoz created Petit Le Mans in 1998, owns Road Atlanta and had a hand in the creation of the Deltawing. As part of the takeover of the American Le Mans Series by Grand-Am, Panoz will give up control of the track and the series in 2014. This year and next year are his last attempts to exercise any control over the series. Think of the Deltawing racing as a farewell power move from Panoz. 

The Deltawing was meant to use half the fuel and half of the tires of a LMP2 car. It uses a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine with 300hp.