Nissan Motorsports net three wins, seven podiums in U.S. in a weekend to remember

• Davison, Heitkotter, Kozarov stand on top step in Pirelli World Challenge 
• Jaeger, Zacharias podium in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nissan’s U.S.-based pro road racing teams had a weekend to remember at Road America (WI) and Watkins Glen (NY), taking three class wins and standing on a podium seven times overall. It was a stunning achievement, with all three racing teams taking home hardware on a single weekend.

James Davison closed out the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) GT races at Road America in Wisconsin Sunday with a dominating performance in the #33 Always Evolving / Replay XD Nissan GT3 GT-R NISMO. The talented Australian transplant powered his GT-R past the Lamborghini of former Formula 1 driver Tomas Enge around the halfway mark in the 50-minute sprint race and then pulled away from the field on the scenic four-mile road course. Davison survived a late race restart to easily notch his second PWC victory in impressive fashion.

“I’m just so happy for this team,” said Davison post race. “The Always Evolving / AIM / Replay XD Nissan team has done such a fantastic job in our first season. I’m so happy to get us a well-deserved win. This has been a great weekend.”

Davison took two second-place finishes in the first two races of an unusual three-round PWC weekend at Road America, while teammate and 2011 GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter took a win and a second place in the GTA category. Heitkotter had the only bad luck of the weekend when his #05 Always Evolving GT Academy GT-R had a driveshaft issue at the start of the third race on Sunday not allowing him the opportunity to triple podium alongside Davison.

"I've never seen such rapid progress in pace over only half of a racing season," said Heitkotter. "Congratulations to James on his win. He gets absolutely everything from the car, and having him as a teammate has shown me some things I didn't know were possible before. My weekend was up and down with a win in class to a DNF. It only sharpens my will to score as many points as possible the remainder of the season.”

"Wow – that's my initial reaction to this weekend for the Always Evolving Nissan NISMO GT-R team," said Erik Davis, team owner. "We thought Road America would be a good track for the GT3 GT-R to stretch its legs, but I don't think we could have anticipated two wins and three second place finishes in three starts amongst this field of competition. I just can't say enough about this team, our drivers and the car. We are hitting our stride and look forward to continuing to develop the platform and push for great results.”

On Friday, Vesko Kozarov piloted the Skullcandy Nissan Altima 3.5 to a win in Touring Car (TC) for Salt Lake-based CA Motorsports. It was Kozarov’s second win in TC this season. Kozarov led the first four laps of the final TC race Sunday when a mechanical issue dropped him back in the field.

Broadcast of the Road America PWC Weekend will air on CBS Sports NetworkSunday July 5 at 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central.

Doran Racing 370Z Grabs a Podium in the Rain at Watkins Glen

Doran Racing’s #14 Nissan 370Z NISMO continues its string of strong performances at historic Watkins Glen, New York, with Brad Jaeger and B.J. Zacharias taking a solid third place finish in wet conditions. Rain dogged events at the 3.4-mile road course all weekend, making visibility a challenge for the drivers.

“This car (the Nissan 370Z NISMO) loves Watkins Glen,” said Cincinnati native Jaeger. “The car was so good and the set up on the money again. In some ways it’s a shame the rain ended things early, and B.J. didn’t get a shot to grab a second or even the win. Sometimes we struggle with restarts, though, so we’ll take the points and a solid third place.”

Fox Sports 1 will air the CTSCC race Sunday July 5 from 10 a.m. to noon Eastern.

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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

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