Esports

Silverstone once again played host to the final stage of the UK GT Academy national competition yesterday – and provided exactly the level of competition we’ve come to expect from it.

When GTP covered Bryan Heitkotter’s return last week, we said it had come as a bit of a surprise he wasn’t retained as a Nismo Athlete for 2013. In timely fashion, Bryan has reminded all of us why he was 2011’s US GT Academy champion.

The international qualification round of GT Academy 2013 concluded over the weekend, involving over 1.3 million total participants.

The GT Academy drivers are ready for another assault on the Spa 24hr this weekend as eight drivers line up in the two GT3 class Nismo GT-Rs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l1MQFchpmuc

Sony and Nissan have formally announced GT Academy 2013 has received over 1 million downloads worldwide as of July 16, just two weeks after the GT6 demo which hosts the competition was released.

For those of us in the UK still scratching around for the four or five seconds we need to trouble the top 16 and couldn’t make Goodwood last weekend, good news! Four more wildcards are up for grabs at the O2 this weekend.

Since the start of the competition last week, our GT Academy 2013 forum has been buzzing with discussion amongst participants from around the world, sharing tips and tricks on how to get faster and move up the leaderboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjqmvGpoFcc

On the eve of the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 6 demo and the start of GT Academy 2013, 2012 champion Steven Doherty offers some advice and behind-the-scenes insight into what it’s like to win the competition in an exclusive interview with GTPlanet.

Not to be outdone by the exploits of Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordoñez at Le Mans last week, the newest Nismo Athletes scored some more track success of their own in the Blancpain Endurance Series round from Paul Ricard.

GT Academy expanded to the Middle East late last year, with a special round of the competition that started last December.

The Nismo Athletes on board the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan had nothing to be ashamed about. Completing a 24 hour race in a 4th place class finish after a night long battle for the podium with a first timer on board – and doing the lion’s share of the driving too – is well worth a round of applause. But this morning they find themselves with an unexpected trophy.

Details on GT Academy 2013 have finally been released.

Nissan and GT Academy are making a big splash at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with both Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough driving together in Greaves Motorsport’s LMP2 car. (We’ll have a post up tomorrow with links to all of the live coverage feeds you need to follow the race this weekend – stay tuned.)