After a 16-year absence from the 24 hours of Le Mans, Nissan is back and will be fielding a car in the LMP1 class. And Nissan thinks it has a winning car with its front engined, front-driven GT-R LM NISMO.

Traditionally, race cars have always had a rear or mid-engined layout with their power channeled to the rear wheels. It is pretty brave of Nissan to think that front wheels are capable of doing the steering and putting the power down simultaneously, especially when the 3.0-litre V6 engine up front produces 550bhp. But Nissan reckons the front-wheel-drive layout will create a long hood that will provide an aerodynamic downforce advantage. That in turn, will provide a traction advantage.

That said, the car is not strictly front driven as there are electric motors and energy recovery systems that will put power to the rear axles also. All in all, the GT-R LM NISMO is expected to output around 1250bhp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=Gq8I0_wygpI