- 609
- Kingwood, TX, U
- parabulla
Congrats again to Lucas for another award... http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-2011-ilmc-rookie-of-the-year-lucas-ordonez/
Three years ago, he was on his sofa racing virtually. In 2011, Lucas Ordonez not only made his professional sportscar racing debut, but helped take the Signatech Nissan team to the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup LMP2 championship.
In a truly remarkable gamer-to-racer story, Ordonez was the inaugural winner of the Playstation GT Academy in 2008, where more than 25,000 contestants battled virtually to become a Nissan factory driver.
After two seasons of GT4 competition in Europe, the 26-year-old Spaniard was thrown in the deep end, stepping up to the international stage in a prototype unlike anything he had driven before. Yet, Ordonez took to Signatech’s Oreca 03 Nissan like a duck to water.
Sharing the wheel of the LMP2 contender with the vastly more experienced Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari, Ordonez impressed from the season-opening Twelve Hours of Sebring right through the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he enjoyed a podium finish in his debut in the legendary twice-around-the-clock classic.
While often the quickest car in the new-look prototype category, the French squad’s cost-capped Oreca 03 Nissan was struck with mechanical gremlins throughout the seven-round global championship, but managed to finish each race. It resulted in five ILMC class victories, including the team’s first outright LMP2 win at the season-ending Six Hours of Zhuhai in China.
Despite facing limited competition, it didn’t stop Ordonez from making a lasting impression in the ILMC paddock. And it not only turned out to be a brilliant marketing exercise for Nissan, but also a genuine success story for a virtual racer turned pro in the matter of a few short years.
That’s why there was no question in awarding Ordonez with SPEED.com’s “Rookie of the Year” honors for the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
With the Philippe Sinault-led Signatech team expanding to a two-car operation in the new FIA World Endurance Championship next year, Ordonez looks set to continue as a globe-trotting professional driver, while also becoming a mentor to recent GT Academy winners that will likely be following in his footsteps in the years to come.
by John Dagys @ Speedtv.com
Three years ago, he was on his sofa racing virtually. In 2011, Lucas Ordonez not only made his professional sportscar racing debut, but helped take the Signatech Nissan team to the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup LMP2 championship.
In a truly remarkable gamer-to-racer story, Ordonez was the inaugural winner of the Playstation GT Academy in 2008, where more than 25,000 contestants battled virtually to become a Nissan factory driver.
After two seasons of GT4 competition in Europe, the 26-year-old Spaniard was thrown in the deep end, stepping up to the international stage in a prototype unlike anything he had driven before. Yet, Ordonez took to Signatech’s Oreca 03 Nissan like a duck to water.
Sharing the wheel of the LMP2 contender with the vastly more experienced Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari, Ordonez impressed from the season-opening Twelve Hours of Sebring right through the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he enjoyed a podium finish in his debut in the legendary twice-around-the-clock classic.
While often the quickest car in the new-look prototype category, the French squad’s cost-capped Oreca 03 Nissan was struck with mechanical gremlins throughout the seven-round global championship, but managed to finish each race. It resulted in five ILMC class victories, including the team’s first outright LMP2 win at the season-ending Six Hours of Zhuhai in China.
Despite facing limited competition, it didn’t stop Ordonez from making a lasting impression in the ILMC paddock. And it not only turned out to be a brilliant marketing exercise for Nissan, but also a genuine success story for a virtual racer turned pro in the matter of a few short years.
That’s why there was no question in awarding Ordonez with SPEED.com’s “Rookie of the Year” honors for the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
With the Philippe Sinault-led Signatech team expanding to a two-car operation in the new FIA World Endurance Championship next year, Ordonez looks set to continue as a globe-trotting professional driver, while also becoming a mentor to recent GT Academy winners that will likely be following in his footsteps in the years to come.
by John Dagys @ Speedtv.com
