Finishing a race is not a big deal, granted. But if you were aware of the drama Nissan DeltaWing went through during the practice sessions for the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans race in Atlanta, you’d be surprised by the result they achieved at the end of the day.

The DeltaWing had a bad practice session on Wednesday, in which they got badly hit by a Porsche GTC. But the team persevered and managed to repair the clipped-out car in less than 24 hours. They started the race from the back of a 42-car grid, but managed to finish in the fifth place overall.

That is a very respectable position, given the circumstances, and the fact that Nissan DeltaWing is nothing more than an experimental vehicle. Before Petit Le Mans, DeltaWing had taken part in Le Mans 24 hours, but had to retire half way through because of an accident.

“What I am most pleased about is that while the car obviously passed all the virtual and actual FIA crash tests prior to running at Le Mans,” said Nissan’s Darren Cox. We’ve unfortunately tested the car in real world incidents twice now and in both cases the car has done it job in protecting the driver. We’d rather not do it again but we’ve certainly shown the concept works and it is very safe.”