As you’ve probably heard by now, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez and his teammates Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari drove an incredible race at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite two unfortunate tire punctures, they pushed their Signatech Oreca Nissan back up through the field of LMP2 cars – all the way to a second place class finish in the world’s toughest endurance race.
“Today all of my dreams came true,” said Lucas. “Three years ago I won an amazing prize but never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would take me all the way to the Le Mans podium. I have been on the biggest adventure you could ever imagine and I must thank Nissan and PlayStation for creating GT Academy! I also have to thank my two teachers, Franck and Soheil, from who I have learnt so much, and of course the Signatech Nissan boss, Philippe Sinault. Finally I must thank my family and friends for putting up with me while I pursue my dream. It will take a while for this to sink in for me but so far it is the most amazing feeling.”
This not only marks another amazing chapter in the story of Lucas’ racing career, but increases the international prestige of GT Academy and the Gran Turismo brand, and hopefully will bring a new level of awareness and respect for this virtual hobby so many of us enjoy.
Congratulations to Lucas, Soheil, Franck, and the entire Signatech team on a job well done!
See more articles on 24 Hours of Le Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Lucas Ordonez, and Signatech Nissan.
Very impressive, I’m quite stunned actually. Congratulations to Lucas and the entire Signatech Nissan team.
Yes, congrats. They got the pole and if it weren’t for a tire issue early in the race they may have won. Great driving.
They also had a tire go down later in the race. Without both of them, they would have won by quite a bit…
Have you seen this ad with Lucas in french newspaper : http://www.jvn.com/jeux/articles/lucas-ordonez-gt-academy-fait-de-la-pub-pour-nissan.html
Great looking Ad!
this year, the race was amazing !!!
congratulation to all the drivers for this race of anthology !!!
At one point after a tire puncture, they were in second to last place, & worked their way all the way to second. Great job Lucas. Fantastic race. Just wish the world feed would have shown more of the Signatech Oreca Nissan in action.
From a game to one of the biggest races in the world.
Damn the two tire punctures, as without them they would most definitely have placed 1st in LMP2 instead…
Hope to see GT TV on this. Very poor coverage with LMP2 in Speed Channel. They were more focus on LMP1 and GT Cars.
It was a world feed. I’m sure they would have focused a little more attention to him if they were in control, especially since SPEED are going to have a TV show about GT academy soon.
If it wasn’t for Kaz,Lucas wouldn’t have been there.
Now we want booth Zytek and Signatech Nissan in GT5! Come on PD i’m talkin about a NISSAN I know you like that :)
Congratulations to Lucas and the other drivers, and the Signatech team for finishing 2nd in class, and 9th overall. I was checking on my phone whilst at work, and really glad you got to the chequered flag. Well done and all the best for the future…;-)))…
gg
When I was watching the 24hr of Le man, I was looking for Lucas name at P2, and I was just wowed! He was at the third place! I never expected that one. This guy is a future great. Well Lucas, better keep in mind where you started and don’t forget! Congratulation!
Congratulations Lucas and GT Academy!
Very nice.
WOW!!! awesome, well done Lucas! :D
LMP1 car next year maybe? There’s rumors of Nissan building one. Why not stick Lucas in it if it’s true!
Ah-mazing. This has to be the biggest cinderella story of video games and racing.
yep.
and we all have to thanks KAZ for it.
congrats to the Signatech Nissan team!! was a joy to watch that race and the Canadian F1!!! lol
PS did anyone else see any marshals fall over in the F1?! because i saw 2 and both where rather ‘chunky’
Yes and he fall twice at the same spot in front of the world!
Awesome racing. Great Work, second in LMP2, amazing work
very funny but le mans 24h suxx comparing the 24h of the nurburgring!
Your completely wrong bud.
Actually i agree, Le Mans is amazing but the Nurb 24 hour just beats it. 200+ cars on 20 kilometers of track is something of a spectacle, mind you, bith are amazing
Not sure if anyone else noticed but the Signatech Oreca Nissan team finished ahead of the RML team which had a driver called Ben Collins driving for them who was previously known as ‘The STIG!’. Drive with GT and you too could beat the STIG. ;-) Lucas, you and Signatech Oreca Nissan team ROCK!
@occasionalracer: if the drivers list of 3rd june is still correct, Kaz will be driving a Nissan GTR #71 togeter with Tobias and Michael Schulze and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto
Thats great!
Do you have a list with drives and cars participating? thanks.
Absolutely awesome.
Watching him and the rest of Signatech Nissan team was amazing. All of em showed major skills, and they are now a credit to themselves and their sponsors in scoring 2nd place in the LMP2. Well done!
Once again – second in LMP2, NOT second overall. Stop being misleading!!
You noob just STFu how can he be 2nd overall are you out of your mind the cars in 1st are like triple faster than his car, before you make stupid comments read homeboy.
AMEN!
OHHHH YEAHHHH! Proud of them, from GTPLanet!
Hey I just thought, if Gran Turismo Ancademy is the big thing PD is using to promote GT, why is te car the winners of the academy go race in the game? Give us the Nissan, it’s really strange, even for PD, it isn’t on the game.
You’re right, they should really make the affiliation more official, and have online competitions weeks beforehand to raise awareness of their team and the Academy.
Anybody know if Kaz will be driving in the 24h Nürburgring race?
Perhaps they will release the car in celebration. That would be really cool.
It would be neat to know some of the Lap times posted in the podium finishes to try and beat them in GT5 Le Mans too :o
Way to go!!!
Good drive, wish we could watch some of you onboard like Audi did (streaming their cars onboard online)
great job!
I just wish Speed tv showed you more during the race!
Great job! Especially after the tire problems!
SPEED had no control over the feed. Same with F1 races, it’s a world feed.
Way to go! Congrats to you and your whole team Lucas!
I was really hoping for a win for you guys, but well done. 2nd place is amazing and Lucas is living one hell of a dream!
Congrats to the Signatec Team. GT5 is the best!
Nice i had to stay up 24h to watch him hope we win next year :) good job Lucas!
Congrats Lucas. Maybe next year we will see you win
Awesome! This truly shows the world that Gran Turismo is the Real Driving Simulator. :)
no it doesn’t
No, it actually kind of does.