GT Academy

2011 GT Academy champion Jann Mardenborough is headed back to the track, reuniting with Team RJN to compete in the Silverstone 500 on April 27/28 behind the wheel of a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

A new Spanish language documentary (be sure to turn on the subtitles in the YouTube player) has been released by Madrid-based sports media outlet Relevo, covering the early life and career of the first GT Academy champion Lucas Ordonez.

The Gran Turismo movie‘s official tag-line is “Based on a True Story”, but you may be wondering just how close to reality it actually is.

Welcome to the 100th edition of the Wednesday Want! To celebrate in style we are once again bringing you a piece of Gran Turismo history. However, unlike the Art Morrison Corvette and the ‘51 Ford Coupe, this car is not from the GT Awards. Instead, it has an important connection to GT Academy.

As you may have heard by now, GTPlanet and Hooncorp have partnered to bring together a team of drivers to contest the 2019 24 Hours of Lemons New Zealand. It’s an amazing opportunity to race in a real, honest 24-hour endurance race alongside other members of GTPlanet.

Many sim racers have the aspiration of someday making it to the pros. However, the world of professional racing is notoriously difficult to break into. But, for one member here on GTPlanet, the dream is just within his grasp.

Although we’ve finished sharing the direct-capture GT Sport videos, we haven’t touched on the off-screen recordings from the general public that attended the 2016 PlayStation Experience. Possibly one of the earliest among them provides more information on several aspects of GT Sport. Darwin Albano, a 2012 GT Academy USA finalist, shared interesting footage showing new in-game menus, new performance statistic bars for each car and more sub-groups for the road-biased Gr.N.

The season finale of the Pirelli World Challenge took place last earlier this month at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. While the hunt for the title was essentially a two-horse race between McLaren pilot Alvaro Parente and Porsche driver Patrick Long, few would have predicted quite how the final standings would shake out. Parente emerged victorious, snatching the title from the 2011 winner as well as putting an end to Johnny O’Connell’s four-year-strong title run with Cadillac.

The penultimate round of the Pirelli World Challenge took place a few weeks ago at the sunny, rolling hills of Sonoma Raceway. Continuing a trend set by GT Academy grad Bryan Heitkotter at the previous race weekend in Utah, veteran GM racer Johnny O’Connell swept both races in California in his bright red Cadillac ATS-V.R.

Last weekend saw a landmark achievement for one of the most promising graduates from the GT Academy programme, as the 2011 U.S. winner Bryan Heitkotter was able to to take his first overall win in professional motorsport — which was then swiftly backed up by a second win the day after.

Nicolas Hamman, who won the 2014 US GT Academy, will participate in NASCAR for the first time this weekend after securing a seat for the XFINITY series race at Watkins Glen. Driving the #74 Mike Harmon Racing Xfinity Car, Hamman will make his debut at the famous circuit in a Dodge branded stock-car.

Gran Turismo’s immensely successful GT Academy programme has started to roll out it’s preliminary rounds across Asia as it reaches it’s 8th year in competition. The hunt for new racing drivers start with Sony and Nissan hosting live events across Thailand and the Philippines. The top 20 drivers who set the fastest times will progress to the next round. The car/track combo is the Nissan GT-R 2017 on Tokyo Expressway, PD’s newest street circuit for the series.

GT Academy, the notable racing program made as a result of cooperation between Nissan and PlayStation, quickly gained recognition for offering PlayStation and Gran Turismo users an opportunity to take part in real racing. Currently running strong in its 8th year of existence, the program has life in it yet as, according to recent news, there are more things to come.

You’d be excused for calling the beginning of 2016 a rough start for most of the previous GT Academy grads. While veterans like Ordonez, Mardenborough, and Heitkotter all had their positions announced by Nissan in February – joined by recent grads like Matt Simmons – an alarming number of winners were notable for their absence. Gaetan Paletou and Wolfgang Reip were just two of the drivers that found themselves without a seat in the new year.

Following on from the Nismo mention of the program last week, GT Academy held a press event yesterday in Egypt. Taking place at the Autovrooom track in Cairo (Facebook link if you have a particularly strong interest in the Sunny and/or Juke), few details were released, though GTPlanet member (and 2015 GTA North African champion) sems4arsenal was present. Much as the case was last year, expect some changes to the format…

The Le Castellet circuit in France, better known to the motorsport community as the Circuit Paul Ricard, was this week’s home to the Blancpain GT Series as the official pre-season testing began for the upcoming season.

So far in 2016, GT Academy’s fortunes have not been the brightest. One of the program’s prime proponents, Darren Cox, left parent company Nissan last fall. Shortly after that, the company unceremoniously shuttered it’s front-engine prototype program. More bad news arrived last month, when word got out that successful GTA grad Wolfgang Reip’s contract wasn’t renewed for 2016, which was shortly followed by similar news for multiple previous winners.

Our friends over at CarThrottle have posted a new interview with 2011 GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough. The 24-year old briefly recounts the series of events that lead to him climbing the top step of the podium, as well as what the experience has been like mixing it with racers of more traditional backgrounds out on the track.

With rumours swirling earlier this month, Wolfgang Reip has now confirmed the bad news (care of Daily Sports Car): Nissan has chosen not to renew his contract for the 2016 season.