At Nissan, the name Patrol goes back to the early fifties and invariably represents the SUV  in the the Japanese manufacturer’s range. In 1988, Nissan released a GR (for Grand Raid) Patrol version. It was more modern, more comfortable, wider and replaced its leaf suspensions with springs. It is equipped with a manual rear axle differential lock and a new turbo diesel block. The Patrol GR would be quite successful during its career that would continue in competition on tracks around the whole world. In the Paris-Dakar, the Norman dealer André Dessoude, nicknamed "The sorcerer of Saint-Lô" would make it a war machine by winning the "series vehicles" category several times .