Bryan Heitkotter to Drive for Doran Racing in 2012

Following the GT Academy drivers’ successes in the Dubai 24 Hours in January, we brought you news of the three European drivers’ schedules for 2012. As promised, we now have news on Bryan Heitkotter’s plans for the coming season.

Bryan has joined Doran Racing of Ohio, who will be running a Nissan 370Z Nismo RC in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in the top GS (Grand Sport) class. He’ll be participating on a limited schedule, joining Nissan Z-car veteran BJ Zacharias for their first round of the series (having missed the opener at Daytona in January) at the Barber 200 at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, on March 31. The series runs over eight more races through to the end of September:

  • March 29-31; Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama
  • April 27-28; Kia 200 at Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida
  • May 11-13; New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, New Jersey
  • June 8-9; Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Lexington, Ohio
  • June 22-23; Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
  • June 29 – July 1; Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International – Long Course, Watkins Glen, New York
  • July 27; Super Weekend at the Brickyard, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • September 7-9; Continental Tire Sportscar Festival Powered By Mazda at Laguna Seca, Salinas, California
  • September 28-30; Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Connecticut

Bryan has also hinted at some other “exciting things” from Nissan in 2012, so stay tuned! Thanks to R1600Turbo for the tip.

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Comments (84)

  1. slick1ru2

    I prefer the Continental series over the Grand Am races because it has the Camaro, Mustang, BMW battle.

  2. stealth646

    Not to sound like a nerd but 4 days away from the day of the last DLC for the u.s today jan 18 and todays date is march 14 but if I’m correct pd said every 2 months and they haven’t even mentioned DLC come on pd get the ball rolling people want new cars!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. SZRT Ice

    I feel a DLC announcement coming… I can feel it, it’s like a sense, as if I can smell it, like I can almost taste it… Argh! I need some tracks!

  4. BlindArchangel

    I hope in the future they scan Watkins Glen International, I live 10 min from the track and it would be cool to race around it in cars that I can’t afford in real life. Maybe I’ll go watch Bryan race in June.

    1. Amac500

      The Glen is great, very historic course, and one of the very few high speed road courses in North America. I would love to have it for sure, both the long and short course. The short course is a simpler road course, but one of my favorite Grand-Am races, the sprint is very exciting. The long course is just a terrific track, running through the boot and all. It’s one of the top tracks I want for sure.

  5. stealth646

    Gt5 is getting boring because there any new cars or tracks to play with come on pd get some new dlc

  6. Mac K

    So a fellow GTP member is going to race for real, and all you guys are worried about DLC? Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

  7. joetruckv8

    Since there going to all these tracks, we should get them in future DLC’s? I know highly unlikely, but that would be nice.

    1. Amac500

      No, if it is exciting Nissian news relating to GT5 it better be an Oreca Signitech LMP2 car. Any other Nissian and I’m going to my nearest bridge.

    2. MyFavoriteGame

      My friends and I jump off bridges all the time, its a really great way to relieve stress….but I digress, get on with the Tweeting Kaz, we need news

    3. uneaq27

      You guys are right about that NISSAN thing. We have 1 too many unless they plan on adding some Amuse GTR35!

    4. Amac500

      Exactly uneaq27, although all the incredible tilt of Japanesse to American / European cars are annoying, but come on, there are more cars in the world, and even in Nissian, then the GT-R. I mean, if you ask anybody what cars they would add if they were to add about 5 cars or something, nobody will say “I hope for a 73rd Nissian GT-R in PD’s terrific Gran Turismo GT-R game…… Oh wait it’s Gran Turismo 5, not Gran Turismo GT-R?”

    1. Toyota2jz

      Guys, the page didn’t fit on my screen. It viewed the picture first, and then I saw the title -,-

      @MyFavoriteGame I know how to read, I wouldn’t have commented otherwise duh! Haha

  8. Zuel

    The ZED RC, very nice can’t wait to see how ye does. We may see a factory backed team running the GT-R RC later this year. Even though any team running a factory built RC car gets some support.

    1. teppischfresser

      Me too. That series blows. Why not put him in alms? He was a better driver than the others in my opinion.

    2. R1600Turbo

      Have to work your way up from somewhere.

      When it comes to professional racing, you take what you can get. Finding/obtaining a ride is not as easy as you think.

    3. BWX

      Wasn’t the whole point of winning GT academy that they get him a full time drive, or a ”racing career” or whatever?

      I guess I have to research exactly what happened with all the other GT Academy winners and compare what Bryan is getting, but I don’t think they got a ”limited schedule” in a second rate series.

      I actually like watching Grand Am Continental series, I liked SPEED Touring car championship too- but they are pretty low spectator, low dollar, second rate race series compared to Bryan’s obvious huge talent level.

      He deserves better, a lot better IMO.

  9. 2012GT325

    This is so cool. Congrats, Bryan! Hopefully some of their race cars will make their way into GT5. And, hopefully, we’ll hear about the next batch of DLC soon. After all, it’s been nearly 2 months since the last batch.

  10. Snaeper

    Good luck Brian! But I’m still an APR fan first and foremost, so forgive me for cheering on the Audi S4 before the 370Z. You’ll be number two in my heart, though!

  11. smskeeter23

    Nice! Road America is only about 20mi from me and already have passes for that weekend… sweet. Good luck Bryan ;)

  12. Sam48

    Is the list of tracks mentioned the “Limited schedule” Bryan will be running, or is it the season schedule for the CTSCCS?

  13. Turkey :D

    I’ll be at Millville, NJ in May. Can’t wait to see the Nismo 370Z RC in action! I’ll be sure to snap photos while in the pits.

    1. Jason_B

      This is where he gets to start at. ALMS/IMSA is on their death bed right now, GT is the only class but I do not there are any Nissan’s in the GT category. In CTSC he’ll be with 70-90 cars on track depending on the track. It’s a good starting place but the series is nuts. Hopefully I’ll have time at the track to watch how he does.

    2. Carlos Fandango

      Seconding Jason_B’s comments – this series is really very strong with some top line teams and drivers competing. I think the biggest issue is that the 370Z isn’t as strong as the Camaro, Mustang or the M3 so getting recognition for strong drives is going to be a challenge for him.

  14. acedition333

    Sweet! Must be alot of hard training and a load of fun. congrats!

    — Wonder if the 370z will be the next TC to down load. ??

  15. Mac K

    I’m completely envious! CIngrate Bryan and good luck! I know he still reads these forums from time to time so he’d better comment :p

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