NISSAN'S GT ACADEMY CHAMPIONS TO FIGHT FOR LMP2 VICTORY AT LE MANS
Unique Nissan-backed gaming innovation goes from strength to strength as two previous winners go head-to-head at La Sarthe
- Ordonez aims one place better and teams up with former F1 driver, Martin Brundle and his son, Alex
- Jordan Tresson joins all-French Signatech Nissan squad for his debut at Le Mans 24 Hours
- GT Academy 2012 qualification closes one week after Le Mans
Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson - respective winners of the first two Nissan PlayStation® GT Academy competitions - will go head-to-head in the Le Mans 24 Hours on 16-17 June as each man aims to become the first gamer-turned-racer to take class victory in the world's greatest endurance race.
In 2008, Nissan and PlayStation teamed up to create the uniquely innovative GT Academy, with the aim being to prove that if someone could be quick on the hugely popular and realistic Gran Turismo® game, they could be quick in a real racing car.
Lucas, a 23-year-old Spanish student when he won the competition, went on to finish as runner-up in the 2009 European GT4 Cup - his first season of racing - and in 2011 finished second in the LMP2 class in his first attempt at the famous round-the-clock race, before winning the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup title.
Two years after Lucas, Jordan won GT Academy as a 21-year-old French automotive engineering student and went on to win the GT4 class in the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series for the RJN Motorsport team in a Nissan 370Z GT4 car.
For 2012, he has moved up to race in the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Signatech Nissan team and will enter the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time.
Lucas shares a Greaves Motorsport-run Zytek Nissan with former F1 racer and 1990 outright Le Mans 24 Hour winner Martin Brundle and his son Alex, while Jordan shares a Signatech-run Oreca Nissan with Oliver Lombard and Franck Mailleux, who finished first and second respectively in the 2011 race. Both cars are expected to fight for victory.
"When we first came up with the idea of GT Academy some people said you couldn't take someone who had only shown their talent on a PlayStation and turn them into a racing driver," said Darren Cox, General Manager for Nissan in Europe. "Lucas and Jordan have not just become racing drivers, they've become racers who are capable of winning at Le Mans."
Further aspiring racing drivers are already following in the footsteps of Lucas and Jordan. Last year's European GT Academy winner, Jann Mardenborough, races a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car in the Blancpain Endurance Series and has already claimed pole position for a round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship. Bryan Heitkotter, winner of the 2011 GT Academy USA competition, claimed a class podium in January's Dubai 24 Hour race when he teamed with the other three GT Academy graduates, and currently races a Nissan 370Z Nismo RC in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in the top GS (Grand Sport) class.
The hunt is now on to find the 2012 GT Academy Champion. Anyone with a PlayStation®3 registered on PlayStation® Network can enter the eight-step online qualification format, developed especially by legendary Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi. Entrants complete a series of adrenaline-fuelled driving contests, ranging from handling powerful Nissan rear-wheel drive performance cars and mastering cornering techniques at high speeds, through to setting lap times in wet and challenging conditions.
"In 2012, more people than ever before will have the opportunity to move from the virtual world to driving real Nissan cars at National Finals and then Race Camp," says Cox. "It is encouraging that they will be better prepared than ever before, as a result of these new ‘virtual' qualification challenges."
Anyone from a participating country, aged 18 or over, holding a full driving licence and eligible under the terms and conditions of the competition, can enter GT Academy 2012. The online qualification stage runs until the early hours of Monday 25 June in Europe (closing at 2359 hrs BST on 24 June which is 0059 CEST on 25 June). The fastest 16 online gamers from each territory will qualify for National Final events. A maximum of 16 further National Final places will be up for grabs via a series of ‘Live Event' GT5 competitions.
A total of six winners will emerge from each participating GT Academy territory to attend ‘Race Camp' at Silverstone, where the winner will be selected. The 2012 GT Academy Champion will then be put through one of the most advanced driver development programmes in the world in preparation for competing in the prestigious Dubai International 24 Hour Race in a full race-spec Nissan 370Z GT4 car.
NISSAN LMP2
Nissan's engineering excellence has resulted in more than half - 13 out of 20 - LMP2 class cars in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours choosing Nissan engines. At Nissan's two partner LMP2 teams, yet more of the Company's innovation in motorsport is in evidence, with two drivers from its unique GT Academy initiative aiming for a class win. At Greaves Motorsport, inaugural GT Academy winner, Lucas Ordonez, will be looking to go one better than the second place he scored on his Le Mans debut in 2011, as he shares his car with ex-F1 driver, Martin Brundle and his son, Alex. Meanwhile, at Signatech Nissan, second GTA winner, Jordan Tresson makes his Le Mans debut this year alongside Olivier Lombard and Franck Mailleux. To follow their progress, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/nissanineurope for videos, http://newsroom.nissan-europe.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/NissanSportsCars for news and follow @Nissan_OnTrack on Twitter.