Davison, Heitkotter notch first wins in Pirelli World Challenge for Nissan at Barber Motorsports Park

• Davison pairs overall win Saturday with 10th place finish in race two
• GT Academy Champ Heitkotter earns first career pro win Sunday

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — James Davison and Bryan Heitkotter each drove their Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s to victory in the two Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) rounds at the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park circuit near Birmingham this weekend. It was Nissan's first overall and class victories in Pirelli World Challenge in just the sixth and seventh starts for the all-new Always Evolving-AIM Autosport Nissan team.

Davison's win Saturday was an exciting duel between pole-sitter Davison in his #33 Always Evolving Replay XD Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 battling Nick Catsburg in his Lamborghini Gallardo. The two cars were never more than a few lengths apart as they went after each other over the rolling hills of Barber in their powerful machines. Davison held off Catsburg during three restarts after full course caution periods during the 50-minute race on Saturday to earn his first PWC series victory.

Following a tough day on Saturday, 2011 GT Academy North American champ Bryan Heitkotter started Sunday's race 14th, looking to have a better run than he had Saturday in his #05 GT-R. The 34-year old Californian showed his pace early, making his way up to the 12th spot and second in the GTA classification for drivers who have not yet been rated internationally.

Trailing the Bentley of Chris Dyson and the Mercedes SLS of GTA leader Frank Montecalvo, Heitkotter saw an opening on lap 11 and made his move. Once clear of the Mercedes, Heitkotter pulled away and finished a strong eighth overall, handily winning the GTA category for his first professional victory.

"It's nice to get that win – it's been a long time coming," said Heitkotter. "What a track this is! The GT-R is really good in the high speed stuff, the fourth and fifth gear corners, so I had a blast out there today. It was a great day for Nissan and Always Evolving, with the two top tens."

The Always Evolving team has stayed busy refining the setup of the two GT-Rs to best suit the drivers at different tracks. That hard work paid off with the wins and fast lap times Davison and Heitkotter turned this weekend at Barber. Team owner Erik Davis is proud of the team's achievements.

"It was a good weekend for our team, and I'm very pleased with the progress our program has made in a short period of time," said Davis. "The team has worked tirelessly, and we are starting to see the results of those efforts. Bryan and James had great drives, and I'm thrilled to be bringing positive results to Nissan and NISMO here in the U.S. in this incredibly competitive series. We still have a lot of work to do, however, in order to get the outcome we expect."

The Barber PWC rounds will air on CBS Sports Network May 3 at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Next round of the Pirelli World Challenge will be May 15 to 17 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Mosport, Ontario, Canada. Live online streaming available at www.world-challengetv.com. Broadcast on CBS Sports Network will air Sunday May 24 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern/2:00 p.m. Pacific.

For more information on Nissan GT Academy North America, follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GTAcademyNA. NISMO Performance page on Facebook is www.facebook.com/NISMO.us

AIM Autosport team page is: https://www.facebook.com/AIMautosport

Always Evolving team page is: www.facebook.com/aeperformance.

Follow the Always Evolving teams:
Web: alwaysevolving.com
Facebook: /aeperformance
Instagram: @alwaysevolving
Twitter: @aeperformance
Hashtags: #alwaysevolving

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