Salman Al-Khater is GT Academy’s Middle East Champion

GT Academy expanded to the Middle East late last year, with a special round of the competition that started last December.

The series’ Race Camp was broadcast on the widely-viewed Arabian television channel MBC, and also saw the first female national finalist – GTPlanet’s own “Hollow”.

Earlier this week, the Middle East champion has finally been announced as Salman Al Khater, a 29-year-old mechanical engineer from Qatar.

“GT Academy has made my dream of becoming a professional racing driver come true,” said Salman.

“I had no professional motorsport experience, but I did have the passion to follow my dream. It was tough as the standard of my competitors was very high but that makes winning even more rewarding. When GT Academy Middle East was announced, I was so glad to hear the news that I started training on the same day.

“I have been playing Gran Turismo ever since I was a kid and until today Gran Turismo is my favourite game.”

Salman has already moved to the United Kingdom, near Silverstone, where he will continue to train for his first professional challenge, a six-hour endurance race, in September.

Congratulations, Salman, and thanks to Feras for the tip!

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Comments (43)

  1. magsolid

    Congratulation Salman. I hope you do really well in your racing career. Just show the world that Gran Turismo racing game and GT Academy (the greatest program / show on this planet) really put your driving skill to its very hight!

  2. KRAZY SLOW IVAN

    Congrats
    hope your find success in your new carrer.be thankful you have a secondary carrer as a mechanical engineer as a back up.that background will be of more help than you may ever know

  3. Louie_Schumii

    For those of you who want GT Academy to go to your country don’t just sit on your backsides and do something about it. May I recommend that you get in touch with the parties responsible directly instead of just complaining here on GTP. Here’s a head start for those of you living in Australia and New Zealand.

    Nissan:
    ——–—
    Website NZ – http://www.nissan.co.nz/insidenissan/contact/
    Website AU – http://www.nissan.com.au/webpages/information/Contact_us_footer.html
    Facebook NZ – http://www.facebook.com/NissanNZ
    Facebook AU – http://www.facebook.com/nissanaustralia
    Twitter NZ – http://www.twitter.com/NissanNZ
    Twitter AU – http://twitter.com/nissan_aus

    PlayStation/Sony Computer Entertainment:
    ——————————————–
    Facebook NZ – http://www.facebook.com/PlaystationNZ
    Facebook AU – http://www.facebook.com/PlaystationAU
    Twitter NZ – http://www.twitter.com/PlayStationEU
    Twitter AU – http://www.twitter.com/PlayStationAU

    1. Sphinx

      In your haste to get the word out it appears that you’ve completely forgotten to give any form of congratulations to Salman Al Khater. After all, this topic is about his achievements, is it not?

    1. magsolid

      It’s never too late. You can be fit if you make yourself become one. Age is just a number and noting more.

  4. VspecZR1GT2RS89

    Congrats Salman on winning GT Academy ME!!! :D Enjoy your passion of racing to the fullest and I can’t wait to see him in action soon.

  5. African Kat

    Jordan. is this the winner of the South African/Middle East finals? i qualified for the SA finals and when Lucas Ordornez visited, there was a kart race with various journalists and Lucas. One of our SA finalists was in the mix as well. Lucas and our finalist was way ahead swopping the lead frantically – awesome racing – am surprised he did not win :o. Nevertheless well done Salman
    !

  6. 2012GT325

    Congrats! Fans of all other racing games, can your game do this? Can it turn dreams into reality and give ordinary people the chance to be extraordinary? I didn’t think so!

  7. lGNAl

    well done Salman, akweyyyy lol … shame i never knew there was a middle east GT academy version (wasn’t a GTP member back then) ,,, i only did the international version ,,, hope this time around Gran Turismo will make sure GT5 players from every separate GT Academy region will get notifications concerning the local regional competition, with separate GT Academy versions to download from the store, yet the players can see all other Gran Turismo regions players times, for competitive comparison .. thanx for the article Jordan … wish all the best to Salman

  8. A_Higher_Place

    Congrats, soon we’ll have a whole league of them to watch. Getting hard to keep up with all there individual updates!

  9. LeftyWright69

    It will be interesting to see how he stacks up on the world stage. I hope Hollow shows up for some WRS stuff now that we know what she is all about.

    1. sumbrownkid

      You can’t really say something is irrelevant just because your country can’t participate in it.

      Blame your laws.

  10. tka_tha

    Congratulations! I wish Salman and all the other GT Academy graduates the best of luck a successful racing career.

  11. sangdude82

    Congrats. Finally we get to see the winner from Middle East. Good luck and we will be looking forward to see you in action Salman :)

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