RJN's switch isn't the cause of Sony/Nissan GT Academy ending, it's the indicator of it.
As we also mention, Nissan has rejigged its entire motorsports portfolio. Lucas and Alex - both drivers that GT Academy and RJN relied on to co-drive both Dubai and all other GT4/GT3 races - both lost their Nissan contracts (or rather did not have them renewed for 2019) making them unavailable (or financially unavailable; they'd need to bring their own funding rather than Nissan money) to RJN. Nissan as a whole has no interest in running any factory GT3 cars this year, only supplying to customers like Gainer, KCMG and Kondo for IGT3 and GT300. There's no Blancpain effort, for example.
Essentially Nissan has stopped its factory GT3 program, meaning no Nissan drivers or sponsorship for RJN, which in turn means that if Sony/Nissan GT Academy were to take place, there's nowhere for the winning drivers to go... so it won't.
He old. Possibly also he doesn't have a super licence any more (they're valid for two years, I think) and doesn't drive LMP-class cars (Edit: Actually, he will in 2019, as he's in the SMP Racing BR1...). Alonso's probably still a platinum.
Last edited: Feb 13, 2019