GT Academy 2011

European winner of the 2011 GT Academy, Jann Mardenborough, and his American counterpart Bryan Heitkotter, completed the final race of their intensive five-month ‘Driver Development Programme’ on Saturday 19 November. Competing in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship race at Brands Hatch, the pair recorded a notable first-in-class finish (fifth place overall) in their RJN Motorsport run Nissan 370Z GT4 race car. The result moves them ever closer to achieving their main goal of competing in the Dubai International 24 Hour race in January, 2012.

To celebrate the official conclusion of the North American GT Academy competition on Speed TV (hopefully you were able to join GTPlanet’s live viewing party!), Polyphony Digital and SCEA have now made the Nissan GT-R GT500 Stealth Model available as a free download in North America.

European GT Academy 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough had another amazing weekend on-track, recording a notable first in class, third overall, finish at the Donington Park round of the Production Touring Car Trophy. More importantly, the weekend’s results have moved Jann another step closer to qualifying for an international race licence, necessary to compete at the next 24 Hours of Dubai. With the 19-year-old from Cardiff collecting valuable signatures at Donington, his licence has now been upgraded from National ‘B’ to National ‘A’, and his motor sport CV now reads; two race meetings, two podiums.

The first complete interview with 2011 European GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough has been posted to GT Academy’s Facebook page, and offers an interesting, inside look at the competition from the winner’s eyes. Once again, congratulations, Jann!

The results are in: 19-year-old Jann Mardenborough from Cardiff, UK, has just been chosen as the European GT Academy 2011 champion! Head judge (and former F1 driver) Eddie Irvine made the announcement on Thursday after Jann finished first in a 20-minute race against the three other finalists (Thibault Lacombe of France, Carlos Murillo of Spain, and Danilo Bordino of Italy).

Sony has released a batch of pictures from last week’s GT Academy 2011 Netherlands region finals, where 24-year-old Thomas Arends (Thomms) from The Hague and 20-year-old Edwin Bos (GTHQ_BosjesmanEB) from Groningen came out on top after completing a series of physical, media, and driving tests (just as finalists did in the UK & Ireland).

Regional finals for GT Academy 2011 are taking place around Europe, and the official results from the UK & Ireland event are in with two GTPlanet members earning tickets to Silverstone! 19-year-old Jann Mardenborough (TECHNIKRS4) from Cardiff and 29-year-old wild-card winner James Hudson (TwinturboCH) from Bromley came out on top after a challenging event. Not only did the finalists have to compete against each other, they also had to prove themselves in a series of media, driving, and physical fitness tests at Brands Hatch.

The GT Academy EU 2011 Round 1 time trials just wrapped up earlier this week, and SCEE has released some official stats about this year’s contest. More than 90,000 players from each of the 10 eligible countries took part in the competition (as you may recall, the first U.S. competition brought in 50,000), but only the top 20 drivers from each region will be moving on to their respective, head-to-head racing finals.

Winner of the first GT Academy “Wild Card” was just announced last week, and I’m very happy to report the award goes to GTPlanet’s own James Hudson. Hudson, who goes by TwinturboCH here in our forums, has now become the very first confirmed national finalist in all of Europe. The second UK “Wild Card”, of course, is still up for grabs in the GT5 time trials currently underway at GAME retailers around the country.

If you missed out on the first-ever GT Academy 2011 “wild card” competition in London last weekend, listen up! There’s now one more direct ticket to the UK national finals up for grabs, and this time, the time trial competition is being held at GAME retailers across the country over the course of the next week:

I’m very excited to announce that GTPlanet has partnered with GT Academy and the Gran Turismo Boutique to run two special challenges alongside this year’s GT Academy 2011! Here’s an overview of how each works:

GT Academy EU 2011 is in full swing, but this year, Sony and Nissan have revealed an interesting new twist for players in the UK. A live “wild card” time trial event will be held April 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the Nissan Innovation Center inside London’s O2.

The European round of GT Academy 2011 has had a bit of trouble getting started in Italy. As you may recall, the rules officially stated the competition wouldn’t kick off in the country until today, March 18th, at 8 AM GMT. However, the launch date has passed and, as of writing, there’s still no sign of the Academy there yet. Italy also appears to have been removed from the list of eligible countries on the official website.

First mentioned at GT5’s Madrid launch party, the next round of the European GT Academy has been officially announced! The online time trials kick off Friday, March 4 and will continue through Sunday, April 17th. Players from 10 different countries, grouped by “territories”, will be eligible to participate: