When GTP covered Bryan Heitkotter’s return last week, we said it had come as a bit of a surprise he wasn’t retained as a Nismo Athlete for 2013. In timely fashion, Bryan has reminded all of us why he was 2011’s US GT Academy champion.
Reunited with Doran Racing and BJ Zacharias, Bryan’s Nissan 370Z blitzed the timesheets during Friday qualifying with a 2’22.295 lap of Road America that put them nigh-on quarter of a second ahead of their nearest rival. This was Bryan’s third pole position in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge to date – and he only raced a partial season last year.
Smattered with full-course yellows, the race itself didn’t quite match this lofty start. However, the pair did manage to lead 23 of the 53 laps and set a 2’21.6 lap that was just about a second clear of any other car’s pace all weekend.
In the last stint alone they managed to make 40 seconds on the leaders after their final pitstop to refill the 370Z’s tiny tanks, to come home 3rd.
A pole start, a fastest lap and a podium finish were nevertheless just reward for Bryan, BJ, Doran and Nismo and we look forward to seeing what they can do next weekend at Kansas…
Images courtesy of grand-am.com and Bryan Heitkotter.
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Congrats to Bryan, aside from the 2012 racing with Nissan he also bagged another SCCA Solo National title. It was great fun to see him teach the Evo School this year. Hopefully he’ll get more Nissan outing, if not get another SCCA win.
Missed it! Early morning nap after an earlier morning of yard work. Awoke to the DeltaWing Nissan being passed by a Pcar… followed by a Viper racing into 2nd place (class) with about 1hr and 45mins(?) remaining. Dang commercial television bores me to sleep everytime ;) Not a 370 in sight. Congrats to Bryan… keep those wheels in quick step.
I agree road america is an awesome track and should be available in gt6 to be honest it should of been in gt5 but we can only hope
If PD really wanted to give us a proper track creator, they could easily produce one that would allow for a more direct way to duplicate our favorite circuits, hills and “dirty racing line” included.
It’s like Monza except better. Better than Silverstone as well. History buffs may scoff at it but Road America is just more fun to race on, simple as that.
+1 Tom. Road America has been my favorite circuit since the 80s. I wouldn’t compare it to Mazda though. Elkhart Lake’s track has twice the speed and is almost twice as long… more like the old Hockenheim without the forest. Love that one too ;)
Road america is awesome
Great track Road America, it should be in GT6 really as a default track and not DLC.
Oh yes please, Road America is an awsome track. PD please listen.
agreed, been racing the MP4-12C GT3 car at Road America this week in iRacing, such an awesome track.
@Burial Me too. Plus I just raced the HPD LMP2 proto tonight, and the skip barber last night. Great track
Is there a replay of this race Bryan is in….??? If so, can i get a link please..
You’ll likely be able to find the full race on Youtube in a few days.
screw special editions!! i would like my gt6 copy to come with that hat and a full and sealed bottle of that drinkie drink too. Down the hatches folks!! lol
Alright Bryan Woooo!!! I’m glad he’s back at racing again. Just need to get his feet back in the water (or wheels on the road) and rise to the top! You can do it bro.
Bryon was long overdue for this one. Congrats to him and the rest of the crew.
Ditto
Great work and congradulations all around!!! Show them that GT creates top notch race car drivers that can run with the best of them!
CongraTulations guys!!! You make us all prod
Fantastic news…Bryan obviously has some serious talent he just needs to work hard and catch a break here and there and there’s no telling how far he can go!!
Awesome! I’ve been wondering what the hell happened to him. It seems that Nissan wasn’t interested in the 2011 winner that much. Maybe they’ll start to rethink it a bit again now…
Cool. (Has nothing to say. Lol)
I want all those cars in GT6.
I agree with you :-D
+100
same here and the Road America course with it too please.