Motorsports

The following was written by Nicolas Hammann, the 2014 GT Academy North American champion, as he offers an inside look at the Nissan Driver Development Program which he joined after winning this past season of the competition.

Facts & Guides

Nissan is making waves in the endurance racing world this year with a new car to compete in the top LMP1 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and you’ll be able to drive it in Gran Turismo.

Bronze

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – the most famous and challenging hill climb race in the world – has just announced that Gran Turismo will be the “Platinum Sponsor” for the 2015 event, and will even be part of the race’s official name.

2011 GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough will take advantage of the increasing motorsport co-operation between Nissan and Renault on 3 November when he tests a Formula Renault 3.5 racing car at the Motorland Circuit in Spain.  23 year-old Mardenborough will drive the single-seater at the invitation of Renault Sport Technologies.

This weekend the final European Le Mans Series event takes place at Estoril in Portugal and Nissan will be there to celebrate 30 years of NISMO with the fans of Le Mans racing.  This event also sees the LM P2 debut of 2013 GT Academy Europe winner and local man, Miguel Faisca.

GT Academy champion Lucas Ordoñez scored his first Super GT victory in the series’ latest round at Thailand’s Chang International Circuit last weekend. Lucas and his teammate Kazuki Hoshino held off highly experienced driver Jorg Müller in the Studie BMW Z4 GT3 car.

This guest contribution is by Nick McMillen, 2013 United States GT Academy Champion. This is the account of his journey as one of the newest Nismo Athletes. Stay tuned for future articles from our racing driver contributor coming soon as he experiences and progresses through his professional career.

Nissan’s Alex Buncombe put on a world-class performance at the Nurburgring in Germany today, after jetting in from Australia where he did a great job in his first V8 Supercars race last weekend. The British racer has been mentor to all of the GT Academy winners since 2008 and at today’s season-closing Blancpain Endurance Series race it was clear to see why they all learn so much from him.

Nissan will begin the search for an American star to join its new LM P1 Le Mans 24 Hour and FIA World Endurance Championship team, giving a former gamer the opportunity to graduate to the highest levels of the sport.

2012 GT Academy U.S. champion Steven Doherty scored a first-in-class victory in the final race of the Pirelli World Challenge while behind the wheel of his #94 Skullcandy Team Nissan TC Altima.

This guest contribution is by Nick McMillen, 2013 United States GT Academy Champion. This is the account of his journey as one of the newest Nismo Athletes. Stay tuned for future articles from our racing driver contributor coming soon as he experiences and progresses through his professional career.

Jann Mardenborough had another successful weekend in the GP3 Series, taking a podium finish at the Hungarian round of the championship.  The young Brit had to work hard in Saturday’s race – he qualified in 13th place after a red flag stopped his fastest run – but he got stuck in and took a very creditable seventh.  This put him on the front row of the grid for race two on Sunday.“I didn’t get as good a start as yesterday and Patrick (Niederhauser) got the jump on me,” explained Jann. “I settled in to third place and managed to hold onto it for the full race, despite the pace not being as good as yesterday.“It’s great to get a podium, and of course last week’s win, which takes me into the summer break with lots of new points.  This also builds my confidence for the next round at Spa so I can’t wait for that to come around now.”

Nissan and GT Academy head back to the fabled Spa-Francorchamps Circuit for their third run at the Blancpain Endurance Series flagship race. The team and drivers’ have experience on their side and are more determined than ever to take the top step on the podium in 2014.

Schulze Motorsport has published a video which documents the team’s dramatic experience at this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours.

Nissan has shuffled its driver line-ups ahead of this month’s Spa 24 Hours. In the No.35 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 squad – already strengthened by the addition of two-time Super GT GT500 Champion, Masataka Yanagida –  Mark Shulzhitskiy replaces his Russian counterpart Stanislav Aksenov and joins Katsumasa Chiyo and Miguel Faisca.