The Nissan DeltaWing went from dead last to finish sixth overall at Saturday’s Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. But here’s what’s more impressive: The DeltaWing was punted off track and into a wall during Friday’s practice, yet the team managed to rebuild Nissan’s revolutionary racer in less than a day after the catastrophic crash.

During the practice session, DeltaWing driver Gunnar Jeanette was running alongside Peter LeSaffre and his Porsche 911 GT3 into turn 11. LeSaffre tracked wide, then cut in sharply, striking the DeltaWing. The Nissan flipped onto its lid and slid before hitting the wall. According to the onboard telemetry data, the DeltaWing slammed into the concrete abutment at 7 G’s – enough to shatter most of the racer’s body work and inflict serious damage to many of its components. Amazingly, Jeanette walked away unharmed.

The second shunt during the DeltaWing’s second outting (the first at LeMans, where the car was sent into a wall by another racer and was forced to retire), meant things looked bleak. But the Highcroft Racing team jumped into action, managing to rebuild the entire car before the green flag dropped on Saturday. And in the process, added new orange coatings to the top of the roll hoops and mirrors to increase visibility – something the team maintains has been an issue.

When the race began, the DeltaWing was at the back of the 42-car field. But in less than 40 minutes, the jet-black racer leaped from last to 10th place, fighting its way through the crowd of LMP2-class cars with half the power, half the weight and more than half the aerodynamic drag. Too bad it’s still running in an exhibition class that’s not awarded points … for now.