Brit takes podium on Daytona debut

Sunoco Whelen Challenge winner Stuart Middleton finished an impressive second in last weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours on his prototype racing debut.

The 18-year-old reigning British GT4 champion was part of an Action Express Cadillac DPI-V.R crew that also featured former Sauber Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway and Eric Curran.

They eventually finished 1m10s behind the sister car at the flag, with Middleton ensuring the closing third-placed ORECA was unable to challenge in the final stages.

Nasr had suffered a puncture earlier in the race and had a minor collision in traffic overnight, which denied them a chance at fighting for the overall win.

Despite this, Middleton was delighted to finish second on his US racing debut.

“The opportunity to race in the Rolex 24 is just crazy, I couldn’t have pictured it at the start of 2017, to come here and finish P2 on the podium is just crazy,” he said. “It’s been an incredible 24 hours for us, my first-ever time in a 24-hour race and in a DPI car, and hopefully there’s more to come.

“It was a big learning curve for me. Lap after lap I was learning as much as I could. I couldn’t have asked for more. It’s insane to me. Hopefully I’m back sometime soon.”

Middleton’s main programme this year will be in European GT4 where he will again team up with Will Tregurtha in a Hhc-run Ginetta G55.