Sixteen “Wildcards” Join Portugal’s GT Academy 2012 Finals

If you thought the 33rd “Racer X” wildcard position brought a dramatic twist to the U.S. GT Academy finals in San Diego last weekend, you’ll be very surprised to find out what the competitors in Portugal had to contend with!

For the Portuguese national finals, there were not one but 16 wildcard positions up for grabs at a live, public time trial event. All of those players joined the other top 16 finalists from the country who had set their fastest laps in the GT Academy 2012 mini-game, any of whom could be eliminated in the first round of the two-day competition.

On the second day, the final 16 competitors faced another round of virtual and real driving challenges, including physical fitness tests similar to those seen in other European finals. At the end, three competitors survived to represent their country in the European GT Academy Boot Camp at Silverstone next month:

  1. Raul Pereira
  2. Diogo Sousa
  3. Hugo Araújo

Our friends at GTOnlineRacing, a Portuguese Gran Turismo fan site, have done an excellent job documenting the wildcard competition, day one, and day two of the competition on their blog. Congratulations, gentlemen!

See more articles on .

Comments (15)

  1. Zuel

    16 WILD CARDS DIVERS……… WOW!!!
    Good luck to the top at Silver Stone.
    16 I still can’t beleave it.

  2. TOM CAT

    Just enjoy those moments at Silverstone, we will be supporting you guys, good luck Raul, Sousa and Hugo!!!!
    SEE ONE OF YOU AT DUBAI!!!!!

  3. taboaamassa

    It was definitely an epic event… The 1st online didn’t make it to top12, and the 2nd and 3rd overall arrived from Wild Card Event…

    I was 3rd overall and 20th online, and Diogo was second overall and 24th online !

    Come on Silverstone !!!!

  4. Goruk

    Just to you guys have a idea how it was: first on the online time trial did’t make it to the top 12, two of the winners came from the wildcard event… Congratulations to the winners racing4jsus, dsouza, and taboaamassa…well done guys…

Comments on this post are now closed.

About the Author