Nissan made its Daytona return with a top five finish thanks to Muscle Milk Pickett Racing in the opening round of the inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season, the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr and Alex Brundle shared driving duties for the twice-round-the-clock race, finishing the race as the first Le Mans-style prototype in the first race for the newly combined LMP2s of the former American Le Mans Series and Daytona Prototypes of the former Grand-Am Sports Car Series.
Both of the Nissan powered entries finished in the top ten, with OAK Racing‘s Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov, Gustavo Yacaman and Oliver Webb finishing eighth overall.
Had both teams not suffered from some bad luck during the race, then the result may have been even better for the Nissan-powered machinery. Graf suffered a flat tyre shortly after the team’s first pit stop, dropping the the #6 car two laps down, while an alternator issue wreaked havoc with OAK Racing’s race while they were holding third overall.
Also holding both teams back was the balance of power ruling, with Daytona Prototypes able to reach much higher speeds while on the iconic high banking of Daytona International Speedway.
