Ordóñez. Mardenborough. Reip. Matthew Simmons of Brisbane, Australia now gets to see his name added to the increasingly-long list of GT Academy winners, as word from Silverstone today has him hoisting the trophy after a gruelling week of camp
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With only 10 of the original 30 finalists remaining, the mentors sent home half of them (one from each remaining territory) after the morning’s first test, a 5-lap run around Silverstone’s National Circuit. This left Simmons – who would be lining up on pole for the final race after a win in the previous day’s stock car challenge – along with Ryan Lynch (USA) in 2nd, Hüseyin Dağlı (Turkey) in 3rd, Ali Samy (North Africa) in 4th, and Juan Carlos Carmona (Mexico) rounding out the lineup.
The final eight-lap race was filled with passes. With Simmons starting on pole, he was passed by both Lynch and Dağlı in the first turn. Shortly after, Ryan missed a braking point, dropping him all the way to fifth and giving Matthew the opportunity to catch Hüseyin. Catch him he did, setting back-to-back fastest laps. Unfortunately, his car suffered a mechanical issue once he re-gained the lead, and Matthew would end up crossing the line third. Nearly an hour’s worth of discussion amongst the judges followed, at which point they announced Simmons’ victory straight from the podium.
As well as following Matthew on Twitter, you can catch him around our forums as MINT_GTR – making for yet another success for GTPlanet in providing NISMO with its gamer-to-racer graduates! To watch the footage of the race (as well as any other bits from the week), head over to NISMO TV on Youtube: the race starts roughly 52 minutes into the live race commentary video. Simmons will now enter a long-term training regimen in preparation for the Dubai 24H race in January.
A huge congratulations to Matthew on his win!
All images provided by GT Academy’s Flickr page.
See more articles on GT Academy 2015 and Matt Simmons.
Matthew got 3rd place in the final race. Did I miss something? Is there going to be a video on the whole GT Academy race camp? 3rd place is 2nd place looser last time I checked.
Just winning the final race doesn’t guarantee you’ll get picked. Matthew’s car started overheating during the race. Even so, he had the fastest race lap.
Ryan Lynch had the fastest qualifying time but one of his brake rotors shattered and he was unable to finish the race.
And yet, both of those guys will probably not be unemployed for a while if you know what I mean.
Congratulation Matthew, from all the Turtles in the Turtle Racing League!
So, does this mean he won’t be able to Tune our GHH car for SPA 24hr? LOL ;-)
WOW! So excited for Mint.
Congrats!
What a man, what a champ what a legend! What a HEATHEN!! :) Look at dat smile he’s got going on there, haha you earned every inch of that smile Matty!
Top job Matthew always knew you had it in you mate
Congrats Matthew!!
Way to go! You Rock!
He also needs a Good Job Sticker.