While the eyes of the world may have been aimed towards two of motorsport’s Triple Crown events this weekend, GT Academy’s graduates were busying themselves with their own racing exploits in three continents at once.
Taking the largest headlines were the pair of Nissan GT-Rs entered in the Blancpain Endurance Series. Gunning for both the Pro and Pro-Am championships this year, it was the Pro car that made the early running as Alex Buncombe secured overall pole position for the race. Wolfgang Reip started the car and set the fastest lap of the race on just the second lap, but a lengthy pitstop to repair damage caused by collecting an out of control Ferrari dropped them well down the field and out of contention.
The mantle quickly fell onto the Pro-Am car of Jann Mardenborough, Gaetan Paletou and Ricardo Sanchez which had qualified 2nd in its class. A steady, trouble-free performance saw them maintain their place and come home 2nd, in 15th place overall – just behind the sister car, guided to 13th by Katsumasa Chiyo.
Slightly faster-paced was Lucas Ordonez’s weekend as he took part in another round of the All-Japan Formula Three championship at Okayama. Lucas qualified his Dallara in 5th for both races and picked up good points in both – with the standout performance being his drive to a 2nd place finish in round 6, his first silverware in the series.
Slowing things right down though is Nissan Canada. The North American branch of the company has set up a domestic Canadian race series for Nissan Micras – the Nissan Micra Cup – and two of last year’s GT Academy International finalists are participating, with India’s Abhinay Bikkani and Thailand’s Thanaroj Thanasitnitiket representing the Academy in cars 2 and 3.
It was Thanasitnitiket who took the headlines though as not only did he win both races at the Mont Tremblant circuit, but donated all of his prize money to fellow competitor Mario Berthiaume, who was unable to race after damaging his car badly in practice. With the organisers and a few other parties following Thanaroj’s lead, Mario should be able to return to participate in the third round next month which supports the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix. GT Academy is clearly not just churning out good racing drivers, but top notch sportsmen too!
Photography by Rajan Jangda of EnduranceRacing.co.uk.
See more articles on Blancpain Endurance Series, Gaetan Paletou, Jann Mardenborough, Lucas Ordonez, and Ricardo Sanchez.
I’m really wondering now if the GTAcademy drivers are too much OP compared with other drivers.
Talk about sportsmanship!
That is sportsmanship indeed – winning both of the races and donating your purse to another driver – very well done.