Following yesterday‘s disappointing qualifying, with traffic issues leading to a 34th place start, the RJN Motorsport team were looking forward to a strong race in the familiar, wet conditions that play to the GT-R’s strengths.
Alex Buncombe took charge of the car for the first hour of the race and immediately set about clawing through the field. A staggering drive saw Alex bring the Nissan up to 10th place before he came in, setting one first sector time that wasn’t matched for the rest of the day!
GT Academy graduate Jann Mardenborough took the driving seat for the second session and lifted the car higher still, into 8th place overall with some stunning overtakes – one into Vale right in front of our eyes. However, the car developed a misfire towards the end of the stint – Jann driving without the traction control in an attempt to cure it – and after handing the car over to Chris Ward the team had to bring the GT-R back in.
After four minutes in the garage, the problem frustratingly disappeared and Chris went out again, resuming in 36th place. Yet more excellent pace from Chris saw him pull the car home to a 30th place overall finish.
Although the finish is not necessarily what was hoped for, the car – brand new in January and competing in only its second endurance race – clearly has the pace of the field and with the drivers wringing the best from it the team can only hope to move forwards in the race at Paul Ricard at the end of the month.
Nissan have also released this short video of Jann interviewing his GT Academy/RJN teammates during the Monza race earlier in the year.
Thanks to RJN Motorsport, Nissan and Jardine International for the access this weekend! Additional photographs provided by Kevin Mc Glone of Red Square Images.
See more articles on Blancpain Endurance Series and Jann Mardenborough.
That kid is going to me something in the racing world, driving that powerful car without TC in such conditions is incredible. He must have very precise and keen nerves to accomplish such things so early in his racing career. He can only get better, GT Academy is finding potential that would have otherwise not been found. Too bad for all the mechanical problems but none the less these guys put out the best they could with what they were given, thumbs up for a respectable race. Keep up the great work guys, hope to see them in the many racing seasons and series to come.
With brutal, hand-on-heart honesty, he’s stunning to watch. We watched the overtake on the SLS into Vale (in the photos above) happen in front of us and he was ludicrously lairy through Maggotts – again, a 458, a 911 and an MP4 span in front of us in the same place he was four wheel drifting through. Let’s hope he joins Lucas and Jordan at Le Mans next year.
MMMM, reliability issues, now he knows what its like to race GT5 online !!!! I had 3 failures in a row, heart-breaking !!
Yeah, because disconnecting from an online lobby is as bad as your car failing and losing a real-world race…
It is to the 95% of people who dont get to race a real car in a real race……You obviously cant see the irony there. Oh well.
I don’t see your point… A disconnection from a video game isn’t all that bad, nothing’s really at stake. In a real race, you’ve got your career, money, and social relevance to worry about. You’ve got to wait days-MONTHS for your next race, not a few seconds or minutes to have some fun. Percentages don’t show anything relevant, either, and video games aren’t ANYTHING like careers, unless you’re a bug tester… in a sense.
Quake, you missed seeing the sarcasm and irony of my comment obviously. Of course its worse for someone failing to finish a race in the real world, (i know, i crew for race team sometimes so your point isnt lost on me) but for a GT5 team to have troubles, as do a lot of gt5 players racing in leagues getting booted from the game i thought there was an ironic comparison that can be made. As for percentages, for 95% of people, watching a race live or on TV is as close as they get t the “racing” experience. I would hope that a lot of race fans use GT5 to get their “experience” so getting kicked from an official league league race is definitely a bummer !!
Well Yasher, it sounded to me like you knew what you were talking about. So I took a leap of faith in guessing you were a pro driver.
I never use (in GT5) traction control because I found over time it does slow you down. In fact the only aid I ever use is ABS set to one. But GT5 is a game.
Still, you said “I would never use abs, a servo, or traction control in the rally car, and if it was on, it would really eat into my time. Is there something I’m missing here?”
I guess what I am missing is I did not thiink these were “Rally Cars” running at Sliverstone. Am I wrong about that?
Oh yes, if GT series had Sliverstone, that might bring Brtish Touring Car Championship (BTCC) into play.
That would mean some new machines from: Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda, MG, Proton, Toyota, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen.
Now that wold be something to look forward to would it not?
What is so impressive about driving without traction control in the wet?
I would never use abs, a servo, or traction control in the rally car, and if it was on, it would really eat into my time. Is there something I’m missing here?
It’s impressive to me. And I am not sure if that is a 4wd or not. Perhaps it does not move you because you are a professional driver. I am not nor do I want to be. I just like the game love cars and admire the drivers.
Also did not the story indicate that the TC had to be turned off because of engine problems. If true elite drivers were using traction control prior to developiing engine problems. So what does that tell you?
It tells me that they were using TC. So what sence does your coment make Mr. Pro Race Driver? Seems you are missing something. Abilty to read seems to be a major miss on your part.
I knew the traction control had to be turned off due to problems, so don’t claim that I do not have the ability to read (unlike your lack of ability to spell).
I just don’t see why you would ever want to use it! The power cutting out when you’re going around a corner. Not being able to spin the wheels when you want to. Not being able to set the diff up correctly… it just seems nonsensical to me. The only benefit that I can see is that it would maybe help look after the tyres as it is an endurance race?
+Thanks for saying that I’m a “professional driver” when I’m nowhere near that by the way. I have beat a few however, and still have the fastest time down Moll’s Gap in a group N car.
All the cars in the field – which are 600hp, RWD, GT3-spec race cars – were running Traction Control and many were still spinning the cars in the horrendous conditions. For Jann – who is classed as a “Bronze” (lowest ranked) driver in the Blancpain series – to drive the car at all without the TC in the wet is impressive. To do so while gaining places on the Silver, Gold and Platinum drivers in the top 10 is really impressive.
It was impressive that Jann Mardenborough was able to get round the course in the wet without traction control.
As well as gain two positions while running in that state.
The red and black GTR is a very nice car for inclusion to GT5 or 6. Sliverstone must also be a GT5/6 consideration.
Can’t help but think GT6 will offer livery editor for creation of this and other rival cars.
But Sliverstone with all 5 configurations and time/weather change in addition to Bathurst and maybe some V8 Supercars sound really good.
Finally there is rumor of V8 Supercars coming to the USA. That would be cool.
What’s important is how well the team managed to raise up to higher positions so well, if that glitch never happened, the team would have placed very high. Errors happen, it’s racing.
Silverstone would make a nice track in GT5. With weather please.
Im for some older layouts from 90’s too.
That is 1 good looking example of an R35 rc. wondering if its 4wd or rwd, hoping we see it in gt5 sooner than later.
It’s rear wheel drive – which makes Jann’s TC-less driving in the monsoon conditions even more impressive. We did ask about the car compared to the road car in a short post-race interview we did, which you can look for here in the next day or two.
T’was probably the crank sensor or something stupid like that. My SE-R was doing that all last week, but the MIL light was coming on, too. :P
GT need mechanical failures.
Have you think about to create a specific forum for GT Academy?
GTPlanet does have a GT Academy forum.
They keep moving up with even with trouble. keep it up guys.
Thats what I say. despite all the trouble they keep gaining positions. Good job guys!
Oh well. Theres always next race to improve.
They still beastbloods
That’s unfortunate.. They’ll do better next time
+1 for not saying “first”
Seconding TomBrady’s motion.