Picariello Wasn’t Prepared to Sacrifice LMDh for Nissan Drive

Alessio Picariello says that clashes with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar made it impossible for him to drive for Nissan in SUPER GT this year.

Picariello emerged as a surprise candidate to join Nissan for 2024 as he took part in the marque’s annual ‘shootout’ Fuji Speedway in early December, getting two days of running behind the wheel of the No. 23 NISMO Z GT500.

However, in the end the Belgian driver dropped out of the running as he instead renewed his ties with Porsche, leading to him making his IMSA GTP debut in last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with customer 963 squad Proton Competition.

Picariello revealed that Nissan had contacted him after he scored pole position for the Okayama round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS in August, describing himself as “lucky” to get the chance to test the Z.

But ultimately, accepting a Nissan drive would have left him unable to contest any clashing races with Porsche, which he admitted was a deal-breaker.

“I had the opportunity, I could do it, but I didn’t want to do only SUPER GT,” Picariello told Sportscar365. “It was not possible to combine it. 

“For me it is important to still drive in Europe, and to drive the LMDh was something I wanted to do. Actually, Nissan was ok for me to do something else, but they had to take priority, and with the clashes it wasn’t possible. 

“The car was very fun to drive, very fast, faster even than the WEC pole time at Fuji! The tires were amazing. It was a good experience, the team was really professional as well.

“I was not ready to race just in Japan. Maybe in the future, but I still want to do Le Mans in a Hypercar and so on.”

Picariello’s program with Proton in the WeatherTech Championship will also include appearances in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans, while there is also the possibility of some sprint outings in the No. 5 Porsche.

He shared driving duties at Daytona with Neel Jani, Gianmaria Bruni and Romain Dumas, helping the team to a top-five finish.

On his first taste of the 963, Picariello said: “The car is not so agile, it feels pretty big and it’s easy to make a mistake. I tested the LMP2 car once, and the LMDh is closer to a GT [than the LMP2] because of the agility. 

“It’s very challenging to double-stint the tires. Instead of adapting your driving style you need to adapt the car settings when you have tire degradation during a stint.

“This is something I am not used to because we don’t have this in GT cars, and I am used to just adapting myself to the conditions.

“It’s not been easy to learn, but so far it’s been ok. My teammates are very experienced, so I have been listening more instead of talking.”

Picariello will continue to be active in GT3 competition this year with Porsche, with his yet-to-be announced program set to include the Nürburgring 24.

The 30-year-old, who will also appear in next weekend’s Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, says he has no intention of transitioning purely to prototypes.

“In the future the goal is to do more LMDh races but still be in GT and do both, which is in the DNA of Porsche,” he said.