Somewhere, John Heinricy is cracking his fingers lol. I’m REALLY surprised GM didn’t use him to make the run. Every other car they have sent out to set records with (CTS-V, new Cobalt SS turbo, etc) he drove. And yet he didn’t drive the ZR-1? Kinda odd.
As far as the tires thing, they should be running with whatever they come with off the showroom floor. I don’t see why the cars should be even. The manufactures pick the tires to suit the purpose of the car. The 911 GT2 uses pilot cup sports. Yet the Vette & GTR use run flats and are faster on the ring. GM or Nissan could easily drop faster tires onto their cars and go faster, but whats the point if you can’t pick the car up like that from the dealer?