V8 Supercars racer James Moffat claimed a podium finish at the Dubai 24 Hours race in a successful international sportscar debut.
Moffat joined the works Nissan GT Academy squad for the endurance event at the Dubai Autodrome alongside former F1 driver Karun Chandhok, Ashley Oldfield and World Endurance Championship driver Tor Graves.
Despite suffering mechanical issues during the race, the quartet managed to recover the Nissan 370Z to finish third in the SP2 class.
The team’s sister car driven by Lucas Ordonez, Miguel Faisca, Florian Strauss, Nick McMillen and Stansislav Aksenov won the class.
Moffat’s entry into the race was courtesy of Nissan Motorsport’s global driver exchange and the Australian was pleased to mark his international debut with a podium.
“It was great to be the first Aussie to benefit from the Nismo Exchange,” said Moffat.
“I’ve always wanted to do a 24 hour race and I’ve definitely got the bug now.
“A smoother run would have been good but that’s racing.
“All credit to the team for getting us back out there each time we had a problem. To get two cars on the podium is a great effort so well done to them.”
The Sadler Motorsport Porsche 911 Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Marcel Matter, Adrian Amstutz and Christian Engelhart won the race outright by a margin of three laps.
Munnich Motorsport’s Mercedes SLS of Rene Munnich, Marc Basseng and Rob Huff pipped the much fancied Black Falcon Mercedes SLS to second spot courtesy of a lengthy stint from Huff.
