You can hardly accuse GT Academy of being isolationaist but the program seems determined to spread its wings even further. Nismo’s new Global Driver Exchange program sees to that.
As the first GT Academy winner, it’s only fitting that Spain’s Lucas Ordoñez is the first man to take up the exchange and he’ll be heading over to Suzuka this weekend for an official Super GT test. In August he’ll be taking the wheel of NDDP Racing’s GT300 class Nissan GT-R alongside Kazuki Hoshino and Daiki Sasaki for the Suzuka 1000kms.
August will prove a busy month for Lucas as, along with fellow Nismo Athlete and 2012 Academy USA winner Steve “Dan Mitchell” Doherty, he’ll be driving a Nissan 370Z in the GTS World Challenge at Mid Ohio (2-3 August) and Sonoma (23-24 August).
Further expanding this program, Nismo have set up a full factory team called “Nismo Athlete Global Team” which will, with the Nismo GT-R GT3, contest the Sepang 12hr in August, the Nürburgring 1000km in September and next February’s Bathurst 12hr. Full driver line-ups have yet to be announced, though Nismo Athletes Wolfgang Reip and Mark Shulzhitskiy will join Katsumasa Chiyo at Sepang and Nissan Motorsport’s V8 supercar driver Rick Kelly is on the roster for Bathurst.
So, if you’re looking for more incentive to chase down those last few tenths in the GT Academy qualifier this week…
See more articles on Bathurst 12hr, GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez, and Super GT.
Nismo guys racing at Bathurst? GT recognizing Bathurst and v8 supercars? Wow, makes me wonder why they didnt include Australia in this years gt academy.
Hmm…I think there would be a Australian GT Academy most likely next year when the current Nissan Altima V8 Supercar will be in Dunlop V8 Supercar Series (the feeder series to V8 Supercar) because at the moment the Nissans are only in the main series and would need to wait a year until they can enter the feeder series (along with Erebus Motorsport with their E63 AMG V8 Supercar)
I could see the following when Nissan have a feeder series team here in Australia (pending PD and Nissan still have their partnership)
Australian GT Academy setup where the winner gets the following:
Full time ride for Nissan Motorsport in the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series Championship (feeder series)
One of the endurance drivers for the main V8 Supercar Championship (Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600)
One of the endurance drivers for the Bathurst 12 Hour
Opportunities to race all over the world thanks to Nismo’s Global Driver Exchange program
what do you think??
I can remember the last time a Nissan GTR ran the Bathurst 1000, it won the race, then the crowd all booed. Jim Richards comments on the podium were gold. Great stuff.
I loved that.
Congratulations on the team for going global !!
Make us proud
new seasonal live
Still waiting for that Official statement that Bathurst will be in GT6.
It might happen on Gamescom.
You’re right, no “official” statement has been given, but when you take this article into consideration, there’s hope!
Other things to consider are Nissan’s involvement with the V8 Supercars and the scanning of the track last year!
As for an “official” statement of inclusion, Gamescom or even at the Bathurst 1000 this year. We may not hear it on the television broadcast though, so I’m going to keep my eyes open for GT6 banners around the track!
They have shown pictures of the crew taking video and all the stuff they do to recreate circuits at Barhurst. I have no doubts it will be on GT6, if not at the start it wouldn’t be long for a DLC. Lets hope they add some of the V8 Supercars to the list also.
I remember playing V8 Super cars 3 on ps2 back in the day and Bathurst was by far my favorite track. Very excited to drive it in GT6!
I remember playing TOCA 3 on ps2 back in the day and Bathurst was by far the most terrifying track. Very excited to go careening into its walls in GT6!
Nice, finally the Nissan GT-R is going back to Bathurst!!! Of course, they will be participating in a 12hr race instead of Bathurst 1000 but it’s understandable since Nissan GT-R GT3 can’t race on the Australian V8 Supercars Championship. I hope that Nismo Channel on YouTube will broadcast the race live.
A little bit of trivia for you… The Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 was only in Bathurst for three years, 1990, 1991 & 1992 and it won the 91 & 92 races!
Before that, the HR31 GTS-R and the RS DR30 were the only other Skylines in the mix and they never won a race!
Other foreign (non-Australian) cars involved from 1983 to 1993 included :- Alfa Romeo 33, Alfa Romeo 75, Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Alfa Romeo GTV6, Audi 5+5, BMW 635 CSi, BMW 323i, BMW 325i, BMW M3, BMW M3 Evolution, Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Fiat Uno Turbo, Ford Capri Mklll, Ford Escort 1600i, Ford Mustang, Ford Sierra RS500, Ford Sierra XR4Ti, Isuzu Gemini, Jaguar XJ-S, Maserati Biturbo, Mazda RX-7, Mercedes-Benz 190E, Mercedes-Benz 190E 2 3-16, Mitsubishi Starion, Mitsubishi Starion Turbo, Rover Vitesse, Toyota Celica, Toyota Celica Supra, Toyota Supra Turbo, Toyota Supra Turbo A, Toyota Sprinter, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Corolla GT, Toyota Corolla FX-GT, Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE82, Toyota Corolla GT AE86, Toyota Sprinter AE86, Nissan Gazelle, Nissan Bluebird Turbo, Nissan Pulsar EXA and the Volvo 240T.
Now, who wouldn’t want them in their GT6 garage?
Sorry, I forgot two cars :- Ford Sierra and Toyota Carina.
Iwas reading about this yesterday and suddenly clicked as to why the Bathurst track or almost no (there’s 2) Australian racing cars are in GT5. THe last time Nissans were part of the series was when they won Bathurst 20-something years ago – and when there was huge uproar from the Australian yobbo fans. GranTourismo is unquestionably parochial in its outlook on motor racing and automotive branding and they obviously were sending the message back to Australi: Don’t want to race out GTRs? Well F- you!
But I guess the re-intro of Nissan into V8 supercars, and now the 12hour enduro might thaw relations.
Hmm…I don’t know what you are going on about??
The only Australian Cars in GT5 were the ’04 Monaro CV8 (mainly because this car was also released in the US and UK) ’00 Glenn Seton Racing AU XR8 Falcon V8 Supercar (due to Gran Turismo sponsorship they had at the time)….remember there were more Aussie cars in GT4 than in GT5 (essentially the GT5 cars were carry-overs from GT4) and then V8SC signed an exclusive deal with Microsoft and Forza Motorsport.
Remember it wasn’t only Australia that changed it rules…it was most of the touring car championships worldwide…remember the R32 pretty much won every championship it entered and to most people they don’t know about Bathurst as a race track until more recently (thanks to a bigger coverage).
It was good back in the day of GT4 when PD did the VY SS, Monaro, FPV GT & F6 Typhoon and the AU XR8 Supercar.
I guess with GT6…you’ll most likely see the VF Commodore (since its the SS in States)….V8SC’s I don’t know if they still have an exclusive agreement with Microsoft/Forza but it would be nice to see them in GT6
Much like Goodwood and the Hillclimb, I would be very surprised if there isn’t a similar setup promoting GT6 at the Bathurst 1000 this year. I CAN wait to see videos of the “locals” complaining that the burnout physics are not authentic.
Yeah I really don’t think the reason for no Bathurst track is the kicking out of Nissan in the 90’s.
From what I understand anyway, it wasn’t only Australia that kicked out the R32’s from competition.
“Such was GT-R’s dominance that it was a significant factor in the demise of Group A Touring Car racing, the formula being scrapped soon after. JTCC was similarly blighted by the R32 GT-R, and splintered soon after, leading to the switch to the Supertouring category and also indirectly to the GT500 category of today.”
I wish it was the Bathurst 1000 instead :(.
We CAN make our own events!
Even IF the V8 Supercars are not included in the game, think of all the online possibilities…
Plus, Kaz did say, in an earlier post, that there will be an event creator in the game, so who knows what could be done???
The world is our oyster when GT6 hits the shelves!
YES! A happy and enthusiastic outlook! Nice one @dawg – lovin’ it!
This track is the S%#T! For me it will be new Nurb. If you have Grid, go and enjoy it till GT6 is out! Sweet!
Wow that was intoxicating to say the least. These young men are truly living the dream. I wish them all the best as we follow their careers. This is great news for the GT Academy program and the Gran Turismo series. The amount of effort, attention, and seriousness that has been expended on the talent of these people is mind boggling. If you told me several years ago that GT Academy would be where it is today, I wouldn’t believe you.
GT is absolutely amazing. It brings cultures together. Worlds collide and when they, we have a fusion sometimes tech savvy, sometimes times car crazy, sometimes older and other times fresh out of the womb.
No matter what direction GT goes in as it evols, with the amount of enthusiasm that has been put fourth in the Nissan program, it will be interesting to see where we will be in a few years time.
I predict a star.
great post tpark. Most of us would have to agree, 100%.
? ..
Now they HAVE to put this in GT6
I Nissan is sending a GT Academy driver to Bathurst, what would the chances be of the Mount Panorama (Bathurst for the noobs) circuit making it into GT6? Pretty bloody good I’d say…
*IF* Nissan…
Yes, I know, the effin “f” effed off on me!
Have you been living under a rock? LOL
Already confirmed. ;)
Bathurst has already been scanned for GT6.
Tree’d damnit lol
R1600, re-read what I wrote! I first asked the question, then answered it!
Though the track has been scanned for a GT game, Kazunori Yamauchi has not yet stated that it will be in the final print of GT6! It may come as DLC and, if that’s the case, how long will we have to wait for it to come out? Like, would we have to wait until February’s 12hr race is done before it’s in the PlayStation Store…?
That being said, with Nissan being involved in the V8 Supercars and former Holden driver Rick Kelly driving for Nissan in both the V8 Supercars and the Bathurst 12hr, the chances seem “pretty bloody good” that it should make the final print!
No R1600 not confirmed yet. I hope it happens though.
@Pit Crew – Sorry, that should have been @R1600Turbo…
My bad! Unless, of course, you already knew that and you’re just taking the piss!
If Lucas Ordonez will make it to be a regular driver in Super GT it would be awesome. Too bad the TV coverage of Super GT is pretty much zero here in Sweden.
Same here in Australia! Oh well, we have this interweb thingy…
Don’t they have to be Japanese in order to be a regular?
Why would they have to be Japanese? Doesn’t André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer race there? They are not very Japanese are they?
Same goes for Michael Krumm. He’s a German but he was a regular driver at Super GT (not sure about this year).
Car looks quite nice