Things just keep getting better for GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez! After taking his first race win at Zolder, his RJN Nissan team was running second in the championship standings for the GT4 European Cup with only one race left in the season. What happened at the last event? You’ll have to watch the video above to find out -- let’s just say some mechanical gremlins didn’t want to make things too easy…  The team pressed on, though, with very impressive results.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, congratulations and thank you, Lucas, for representing sim racers so well. We all look forward to seeing what you and the GT Academy have in store for us next year!

Despite spending the majority of his driving career in front of Gran Turismo, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez and teammate Alex Buncombe scored their first race victory at the Zolder circuit in Belgium last week, behind the wheel of the RJN Motorsport Nissan 350Z.

This is a huge step for the team (they’re running second GT4 European Cup championship) and a major landmark in Lucas’ career.  It’s also a very proud moment for sim racers everywhere -- whether your game of choice is GT, Forza Motorsport, or something on the PC, we all have Lucas to thank for “legitimizing” our hobby.  Here’s what RJN team boss Bob Neville had to say about the latest victory to gadget website T3:

“Whatever happens now in the rest of the season Lucas has proved a big point. His first season of GT racing has delivered a win in an international race series again top line drivers, in top line cars.  [...] The main focus is maintaining our second place in the [rest of the] Championship. That would really show everyone that a Playstation gamer can go from bedroom to championship contender in one year.”

GTPlanet user DustDriver was on hand at the event -- check out his gallery of photos and videos here.  Congratulations, Lucas, and good luck in Portugal next month!

When we last touched base with GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez, he scored a podium finish in the GT4 European Cup race in Germany.  Now, we’ve finally got the video from the latest race in the series, which took place at the legendary Spa Francorchamps.  Lucas continues to develop his skills and physical fitness while impressing the team managers at Nissan, and his progress shows in his race results at Spa -- check out the video to see for yourself, and be sure to subscribe to GTPlanet’s YouTube channel for more videos like this.

Congratulations on another excellent result, Lucas, and good luck at Zolder later this month!

As you may remember, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez is competing this summer in the GT4 European Cup with the Nissan PlayStation team.  Here’s a video catching up with Lucas and his teammate Alex Buncombe while they discuss their latest race in Germany.  No spoilers here -- you’ll have to watch the video to see how they do -- let’s just say they are making Gran Turismo fans everywhere very proud!  As always, GTPlanet wishes Lucas the best of luck, and we’ll continue to bring updates on his progress throughout the rest of the season.

For those of you who may have missed last year’s GT Academy competition, watch the full GT Academy Experience right here.

We knew it wouldn’t be long before more detailed information begins trickling out of Los Angeles – and sure enough – the first interview with Kazunori Yamauchi from E3 does just that!  He sat down with automotive news site Edmunds.com shortly after Sony’s E3 press conference and shared a few interesting things about GT Mobile and Gran Turismo 5.  Here’s a quick summary of what we learn:

• GT Mobile will include every track from Gran Turismo 4 - including the Nurburgring Nordscheife!
• GT5’s release date is “not decided yet”.
• Yamauchi views GT Mobile as a way to introduce new players to the series.
• Polyphony Digital is working to keep the entire game under 1GB in size.  This is important because the new PSP Go only contains 16GB of internal memory, although everyone with older PSPs will still be able to buy the game on UMD disc.
• Yamauchi owns a red Nissan GT-R.
• Yamauchi confirms a new GT Academy competition is coming to the U.S. and Japan.
• Specific brands of aftermarket parts will not be available in GT Mobile.

These are just a few of the high points – check out the full interview for much more!

If you’ve lamented about missing the GT Academy, relax – you could be the next Lucas Ordoñez!  A new article in Top Gear explains the competition, and if you’re a regular reader of GTPlanet, it won’t tell you anything you don’t already know.  However, in the last paragraph, the author mentions an exciting bit of information from Nissan’s own Darren Cox:

Kazunori Yamauchi is in Dubai, watching Lucas cross the finish line. He is impressed. “I always believed that someone good at GT could drive as fast as a professional,” he says. “In fact, I think that they could go even faster.”  Sounds like a challenge for anyone thinking of having a shot at the GT Academy this year, a competition Darren promises will be even bigger.

In other words – a new GT Academy is coming soon!  How, though, could the competition get any “bigger” than it already is?  An optimistic prediction would imply national Academy competitions beyond European borders, providing North American, Asian, and Australian drivers the chance to join in the fun.  Regional restrictions angered many eager competitors last year, and holding “Round 2″ on a world stage would be an excellent way to drum up excitement for the Gran Turismo brand before a late fall release of Gran Turismo 5…  We will definitely be keeping an eye on this!

Congratulations to GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez!  After competing in the 24 Hours of Dubai, the gamer-turned-racer is back in action for the first race of the GT4 European Cup at Silverstone, where he and teammate Alex Buncombe scored a podium finish in their RJN Motorsport Nissan 350Z.

Alex Buncombe: “It was a really good race. I had a really good start, passing 2 cars in the first corner and catching up to the Ginetta into Stowe and passed him there. I had been a but nervous that we’d get a penalty because I saw the safety car just after I overtook the Ginetta, but I must have timed it right because we were fine. After the safety car I drove as fast as I could and managed to, surprisingly, get a gap on the Ginetta. I think we might have had a bit of a long pitstop, because Lucas rejoined in 4th for some reason. We’re really delighted with our third place, getting a podium was our goal and we’ve achieved it.”

Lucas Ordoñez : “I was really pushing hard in the last corners, trying to overtake the BMW. I could tell that he was losing grip on his rear tyres, they’d worn out quite a bit, and I managed to overtake him in the last corner. I’m really happy to have got third and the podium in my first race in GT4, it’s great for me. We’ll try to get first in Adria in Italy, like Alex managed to get at the start of the race.”

Check out the Cup’s website for more news and details about the series, and stop by our forums where GTP_Grenade has shared some of his own pictures from the event.  Silverstone is just the first stop of the calendar, with Italy coming up next, followed by more circuits in Germany, Belgium and Portugal.  Everyone at GTPlanet wishes Lucas the best of luck, and we’ll be following his progress closely throughout the season – stay tuned!

The GT Academy Experience is about to jump off the internet and on to the airwaves via Dave, a men’s television channel in the UK.  The 30-minute episodes are set to air on Saturday nights at 7:00 PM, starting today (April 4, 2009), but no word yet on exactly how many shows you can expect.  Dave has already posted videos from the event that GTPlanet put together back in February, so the show will probably be put together from that footage.  Nevertheless, if you’re in the UK, check it out, and don’t forget to enter to win the PlayStation 3 that Dave is giving away to promote the show.

Thanks to Jack for digging this up – check out Dave’s site for more details, or check out the full TV listings for air times.

Richard Meaden, professional racer and writer for the (awesome) online publication Drivers Republic, was a witness to history last month when he drove alongside GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez in the 24 Hours of Dubai.  Meaden eloquently describes the experience of the 24 hour event from a personal, honest point of view in his latest article, and it’s a fascinating read.  He covers the race build-up, paddock drama, trials and tribulations of endurance racing, and complements Ordóñez for his calm head and steady driving.

Moreover, he came away impressed by the performance of a driver who has probably spent more time in front of Gran Turismo than on the track:

Perhaps more significantly, thanks to Sony, Polyphony Digital and Nissan’s vision, the GT Academy has the potential to tap into a whole new stream of undiscovered talent.  Until just a few weeks ago the thought of a gamer trading times with a former Le Mans and GP winner in a 24-hour race was preposterous.  Now there seems no reason why we won’t see a virtual racer make it to F1.  Place your bets now…

Read the full article at Drivers-Republic…