A good day for Doran and Skullcandy Nissans at Sebring

SEBRING – BJ Zacharias prefers to finish races, and in Friday’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Sebring he finished strong, crossing the line in third for Doran’s first podium of 2014. Brad Jaeger qualified the Doran Racing 370Z NISMO ninth and spent the first hour of the race in a battle up front, turning the car over to Zacharias in sixth.

“I was happy with the way the car was handling and I felt like I gave BJ a good car to finish with,” said Jaeger. “BJ brought it home third, and the whole Doran team did a fantastic job putting us in a position to finish up front.”

After the driver change Zacharias broke into the top ten with about an hour remaining in the 2.5 hour race. Charging hard and using his handling advantage to the fullest, BJ worked his way into fifth with just 27 minutes to go with a beautiful pass on the Mustang of Scott Maxwell. Once past another Mustang, Zacharias set his sights on the Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Kris Martin and a podium spot.

“The car felt good at the end, but all the cars in that top five were strong,” said Zacharias, a veteran road racer from Cincinnati. “Once I got by the Aston Martin the caution came out and kept us at third. As much as I’d like to have raced for P1 or P2 at the end, I’m happy with the result.”

Doran’s second team car #41 370Z, driven by Canadians John Farano and David Empringham, overcame hard contact and a pit road stop and go penalty to finish an impressive ninth. Farano qualified the car in 19^th and worked the car up into 14^th when his car was hit hard in the side by the BMW of Boris Said. Speeding on pit road on the ensuing pit stop earned the car a stop and go penalty, putting Empringham way back in 21^st position with about 90 minutes remaining. Undaunted, Empringham consistently put down laps among the top five cars on track, grabbing 13^th place with about 30 minutes left. Over the next ten minutes the veteran driver from Toronto broke into the top ten just as the caution flag came out that would last until the checkered flag.

Tim Bell Racing’s #28 370Z NISMO had a challenging day - missing the grid due to a throttle issue and starting the race dead last in in 66^th place. Tim Bell came out charging, bringing the car all the way up to 16^th before handing the car over to Dane Cameron after about an hour. The team drew two pit lane penalties, dropping Cameron back to 20th before the Californian started a charge back through field. The car came home 15^th after a strong performance that gave the team great optimism for the season.

In Street Tuner (ST) class, the Skullcandy Altima #33 of Derek Jones and Vesko Kozarov had a great drive, finishing in fourth. Jones qualified the car tenth and turned it over to Kozarov in sixth. Kozarov worked his way through traffic after the stop and looked like he had a podium finish, the caution flag locked the cars in their places for the final 20 minutes.

The sister Skullcandy #34 Altima of GT Academy winners Steve Doherty and Bryan Heitkotter had some bad luck on the day. Doherty had started the car 20^th and worked his way up to 14^th after about 45 minutes, when a clutch seal let go, dropping the car out of the race before Heitkotter took take a turn at the wheel.

“I was starting to get a good rhythm and really have some fun out there,” said the 2012 Nissan GT Academy US champ. “I had just pulled inside the car in front of me to gain a position and something popped when I shifted. I wish I could have gained some more ground and handed it over to Bryan for the finish, but it just wasn’t in the cards today.”

The race will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports 1 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern/noon Central time on March 19, and rebroadcast at 7:30 p.m. March 23 on Fox Sports 2.

For more information and the latest news about Grand Am Racing and the CTSCC, follow the series online at http://www.imsa.com/series/sportscar-challenge.

Check out NISMO USA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NISMOUSA

Information about Nissan GT Academy: http://www.nissanusa.com/gtacademyshow/

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Contact

Steve Yaeger, Corporate Communications
Nissan North America, Inc.
615-725-4443
Steve.yaeger@nissan-usa.com