GT Academy 2011

European winner of the 2011 GT Academy, Jann Mardenborough, and his American counterpart Bryan Heitkotter, completed the final race of their intensive five-month ‘Driver Development Programme’ on Saturday 19 November. Competing in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship race at Brands Hatch, the pair recorded a notable first-in-class finish (fifth place overall) in their RJN Motorsport run Nissan 370Z GT4 race car. The result moves them ever closer to achieving their main goal of competing in the Dubai International 24 Hour race in January, 2012.

To celebrate the official conclusion of the North American GT Academy competition on Speed TV (hopefully you were able to join GTPlanet’s live viewing party!), Polyphony Digital and SCEA have now made the Nissan GT-R GT500 Stealth Model available as a free download in North America.

Sony has released a batch of pictures from last week’s GT Academy 2011 Netherlands region finals, where 24-year-old Thomas Arends (Thomms) from The Hague and 20-year-old Edwin Bos (GTHQ_BosjesmanEB) from Groningen came out on top after completing a series of physical, media, and driving tests (just as finalists did in the UK & Ireland).

Winner of the first GT Academy “Wild Card” was just announced last week, and I’m very happy to report the award goes to GTPlanet’s own James Hudson. Hudson, who goes by TwinturboCH here in our forums, has now become the very first confirmed national finalist in all of Europe. The second UK “Wild Card”, of course, is still up for grabs in the GT5 time trials currently underway at GAME retailers around the country.

I’m very excited to announce that GTPlanet has partnered with GT Academy and the Gran Turismo Boutique to run two special challenges alongside this year’s GT Academy 2011! Here’s an overview of how each works:

First mentioned at GT5’s Madrid launch party, the next round of the European GT Academy has been officially announced! The online time trials kick off Friday, March 4 and will continue through Sunday, April 17th. Players from 10 different countries, grouped by “territories”, will be eligible to participate: