Lucas Ordonez

As you’ve probably heard by now, the original GT Academy star will be taking center stage at one of the world’s most prominent racing events – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – and he’ll be doing it in grand style, behind the wheel of the radical Nissan ZEOD hybrid-electric race car.

While we’ve known for a while about Nissan’s factory attempt at Le Mans this year with Garage 56 entry ZEOD, it turns out they had something else in mind for some of the other Nismo Athletes.

Nissan today announced that it is bringing back the Nissan GT-R to the Nordschleife with an assault on the 2014 Nurburgring 24 Hours. The event, held on 21-22 June, is one of the toughest endurance races in the world, providing the ultimate test of man and machine as they compete on the daunting Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Lucas Ordonez, winner of the first-ever Nissan PlayStation GT Academy competition, will race in Japanese Super GT in 2014. After serving the ultimate Nismo apprenticeship – which has seen him take two international championship wins and two podium finishes at the Le Mans 24 Hours – the 28 year-old Spaniard will partner with Kazuki Hoshino in the NDDP Racing Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in the GT300 class.

Two-time Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 podium finisher and inaugural Nissan PlayStation GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez has been confirmed as the first race driver for Nissan’s revolutionary ZEOD RC prototype.

1000km in the Black Forest – that’s all that stands between GT Academy and two GT3 world titles.

It’s been a busy year for Lucas Ordoñez. We’re never quite sure what car he’s going to sit in next as he hops from 370Z to GT-R GT3 to LMP2 to Altima V8 and even Super GT – but the latest ride is unique in every sense.

In a weekend busy enough to merit its own Twitter hashtag, the Nismo Athletes have been showing off their skills over seventeen timezones.

Nissan’s all-gamer line-up of Lucas Ordonez, Jann Mardenborough, Wolfgang Reip and Peter Pyzera took a Pro-Am podium in the Spa 24 Hours today when they brought the No.35 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 to the chequered flag in third place in class and seventh place overall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l1MQFchpmuc

As part of their Goodwood Festival of Speed coverage this weekend, The Telegraph has put together a short video showcasing the Gran Turismo 6 demo on display at the Nissan booth.

Racing by the sand dunes of Zandvoort in Holland, the No.35 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 of Lucas Ordonez and Alex Buncombe took second place in class in this afternoon’s main race, bringing the tally of podiums in Nissan’s last three GT3 races to three out of three.

Not to be outdone by the exploits of Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordoñez at Le Mans last week, the newest Nismo Athletes scored some more track success of their own in the Blancpain Endurance Series round from Paul Ricard.

The Nismo Athletes on board the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan had nothing to be ashamed about. Completing a 24 hour race in a 4th place class finish after a night long battle for the podium with a first timer on board – and doing the lion’s share of the driving too – is well worth a round of applause. But this morning they find themselves with an unexpected trophy.

Le Mans 2013 got off to a tragic start, as Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen was killed in an accident on the Tetre Rouge corner shortly after the start of the race. The thoughts and prayers of the GTPlanet community are with his family as we all mourn the loss of a very talented racing driver.