Winner of the first GT Academy, Lucas Ordoñez, has just been announced as a driver with Team Signatech Nissan, to compete in the 2011 International Le Mans Cup – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans! He’ll be piloting their ORECA O3 LMP2 car at ILMC events around the world, starting with the 12 Hours of Sebring next month.
This is an awesome step forward – not just for Lucas, GT Academy, and the Gran Turismo series, but for sim-racers everywhere. Here’s what Darren Cox, European Marketing Manager for Nissan Sports Cars, had to say about the announcement:
“When we started the GT Academy in 2008, we knew we were going to discover new talent, but we did not imagine that the Academy would take the turn of a training program to serve as a springboard to the biggest race in the world. With Lucas, we have indeed proved that a player on PlayStation could translate his skills on a real car on a real operating system. His progress in just two seasons racing sports are spectacular. They reflect the reality Gran Turismo and know-how and support that Nissan was able to provide players who have gone through the Academy. Nissan has a rich history in international motorsport and we are also a very innovative company. Therefore, we return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a driver that we have discovered three years ago through a race on PlayStation, for us is quite normal, although this will probably surprise many. “
Congratulations to Lucas on this amazing accomplishment! GTPlanet will be following your progress closely throughout the season. Thanks to all who sent this in so quickly.
See more articles on 2011 ILMC, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Lucas Ordonez, and Signatech Nissan.
And the Signatech team takes LMP2 pole!!!
Unbelievable; best of luck.
Congratulatons from Spain Lucas.
This was another reason why Gt5 was introduced in Madrid.
Can I find that car in GT5?
Awesome!
Beating the competition Like a Boss.
GOOOOO Lucas! Mételes caña!!!
@ Lucas! Congratulations for giving me more credibility when I defend simracing. What wheel did you use in the Academy?
Right on, man! That’s a huge step forward for you and for GT Academy.
I should let my mom and my wife read this! LOL… Congrats man. So proud of you! More power to GTplanet, Jordan, and of course, Kaz & Gran Turismo.
Way to go Lucas! This is for all the people who say that video games only spark violence and bad habits. This guy plays video games and look at the result..something positive. Man and I thought beating Ninja Gaiden was an accomplishment, rock on Lucas the GT commmunity will be rooting for you!
What interests me that Nissan decided to participate in the 24 le man :)
That car is AWESOME! I hope it comes to GT5 on a DLC package.
Congrats Lucas!
Go Lucas! You’ve done the GT community and everybody involved in GT academy so proud!
Lets just hope PD honors us GT5 owners with a free download of that ORECA O3 LMP2 car.
So this is where the money for GT Academy Canada and GT Academy Scandinavia went LOL
Ha, and people said putting someone in a real race based on their talents in a game was a stupid idea.
Good luck, not that you’ll need it.
Wow, I knew he was doing well, but this is pretty impressive . Nothing but the best to Lucas and the new team !!!
Go get’em tiger.
Wow that’s amazing..like a dream come true! Good luck Lucas.
That’s very impressive. Good luck to you and your team!
Hey Lucas–maybe you can talk Kaz into releasing Sebring as DLC so we can follow along with you… :D
Big congratulations to this guy(however much i hate him, for stealing my dream:P) and also to Kaz, who provided this dream, you see people GT, is more than just a game, and i hope this guy does well in le-mans and finishes the race, for the glory of all GT drivers.
Hey GT Planet family!!!! What a nice day for all of us!!! Living the dream guys!!
Thanks a lot for your support I hope you come to see us not only at Le Mans! Sebring 12h is getting closer. Can’t wait to test the car tomorrow!
Follow me on twitter, facebook and of course at lucasordonez.com!
Congratz mate!
Congratulations! Waiting for Sebring administration to refresh their entry list.
Hope to see the race too.
Let’s hope he can spring a surprise!
Godspeed Lucas!
YEAH! Go Lucas!!!
24H? Will he get to save during the race?
No, but he won’t be driving more than 4 hours straight, he won’t have anything else to do in the weekend, and his equipment won’t melt if he let’s it running while taking a break (which he will take, as all LM racers do).
This is just…a fairy tail. Amazing oportunity for Lucas and as CarBastard said…live the dream for all of us
I never thought he would get to this point so fast! When he races at the Petit Le Mans in october I’ll be sure to get him to sign my GT-R model that I got with my copy of the GT5 Limited Edition.
No kidding!
If I won like he did..I’d prolly still be in go-karts.
Biggest congrats to Lucas and GT Academy for the game changing success story. What an awesome deal.
Congratulations and all the best to Lucas for all he has achieved, and for this step forward into a much higher class of car. All the best too, for the big race at Le Mans…;-))…
Besides congratulating Lucas (Dude, do you realize you’re living the dream of millions?!?!?) for this amazing achievement and wishing him a thrilling ride throughout La Sarthe, I’m dying with a question:
Does this mean we’ll have this car in GT5? :D
I was thinking the same thing.
If we had the Academy 370Z’s (Albeit this is a different case. They were intended to be just 370Z’s for the GT5TT Demo, but they had the sticker thingy and that made them completely different cars to PD’s eyes) and the Academy GT-R, I believe it’s quite reasonable thinking we could get the GT4 (GT4 is the category where Jordan Tressnor will be racing, right?) 370Z and this Nissan powered LMP2.
Though, PD isn’t exactly where they are at the moment for being “reasonable”.
Beautiful opportunity to race in the 24 hours of Le Mans!! Wow, maybe next year move onto LMP1 class, join the Peugeot sport team or Audi’s camp?
Take that all you nay-sayers who claim GT Academy was nothing but a PR scheme that will never amount to anything.
It’s great to see that it ended up exactly as they said it could, congratulations and good luck Lucas!
Damn, talk about a life changer, rags to riches! Good luck Lucas!
WOw…how cool is this?
Absolutely a dream! Really cool for the guy! Hope he does well!
Sexy car. And they say playing games all day won’t get you a job…
Chances are still against you that gaming all day will get you a job ;)
Amazing to see he’s going to participate in 24hrs. Good luck Lucas!
Whoa, that is awesome. Maybe we will see one of this years finalists doing that ina few years. Really incredible, congrats Lucas.
Looking forward to seeing him on the track then, live and colored. :P
Wow, what a great looking car & what an awesome opportunity Lucas has – the 24 Hour of LeMans !!!!
Pretty impressive. Also interested in the car, aka an audi r10 with the front end somewhat like a 908, and headlights like a 787b.
That would be the Oreca O3 LMP2.
Yeah, I did read it, just interested in how it will perform.
What a boss. This is really awesome, hope he does well.
Great, great news! Well done Lucas:)
Now, watching 24 Le Mans will be even more interesting!
Lucas, every GT fan are with you! Do it and show the world what GT give you!