Motorsports

With 322 race starts to his name, Rubens Barrichello handily owns the title of most experienced Formula One driver. Despite never winning the driver’s championship, the Brazilian did finish second in points in 2002 and 2004 as Michael Schumacher’s teammate at Ferrari, and more recently third in 2009 during Brawn GP’s whirlwind single-season campaign.

Following the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s (ACO) announcement of the new 2017 LMP1 class rules for the FIA World Endurance Championship, Ginetta has disclosed that it will be an LMP1 chassis manufacture for the 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship with an all new chassis.

Many consider June 2008 the birth of the ‘Gamer-to-Racer’ movement – this was the starting date of the immensely popular and successful GT Academy. Before the Sony-sponsored initiative however, there were pioneers who made the jump from digital to reality through different racing simulations. One of these drivers is Mark Drennan, a sim-racer who started off on the classic ‘Grand Prix Legends’ and has recently obtained a drive in the Battery Tender MX5 Cup. The story of how Drennan got his big break is exciting as it is inspiring for the racing simulation community.

The second season of JD Motorsport Organization and Nissan Canada’s Micra Cup is about to kick off in less than a month. One of the 30 drivers who will get the opportunity to steer the wheel of these one-make machines and reach for the trophy is Nicolas Hammann, the 2014 North American GT Academy champion. As one of the few newcomers who didn’t compete in the previous season, it is a challenging path to conquer, but worth of his talent and skills.

The Le Castellet circuit in France, better known to the motorsport community as the Circuit Paul Ricard, was this week’s home to the Blancpain GT Series as the official pre-season testing began for the upcoming season.

2016 will see Nissans of all manner of shapes and sizes take to the track all over the globe once more, as the manufacturer, aided by the NISMO Athletes, aim to top a hugely successful 2015 with 34 drivers across 14 series.

With rumours swirling earlier this month, Wolfgang Reip has now confirmed the bad news (care of Daily Sports Car): Nissan has chosen not to renew his contract for the 2016 season.

Australia’s prime racing circuit hosted an absolute thriller over the weekend which saw Tekno McLaren take the title, despite harsh competition from defending champions Nissan and a few issues faced along the half-day event. The driver team of Shane Van Gisbergen, Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb faced a car break-down and drive-through penalty, which threatened their chances of domination by pushing them down to 3rd in the closing stages of the endurance race.

A fight to the finish was what fans wanted last weekend, and receive one they certainly did. As the season opener, the Daytona 24 served as an excellent sign of things to come, a day-long sprint with record-setting wins in the Prototype and GTLM categories.

This weekend sees the international motorsport season kick off with a bang, as the 54th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona starts the ball rolling for another bumper year of global sportscar action. The twice round the clock Florida classic will be the first event for IMSA’s newly renamed WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, as a grand total of 54 cars, many of which are brand new additions to the field, take the green flag on Saturday afternoon.

European GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough and his American counterpart Bryan Heitkotter faced the toughest challenge so far of their intensive ‘Driver Development Programme’ on Sunday, 24 July at Castle Combe. The pair campaigned their PlayStation® Nissan Team 370Z to a second-in-class finish (17th place overall) in the competitive Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship. The strong result in the two-hour endurance race secured each driver two more vital ‘signatures’ required for them to attain the international race licence that will allow them to compete in the Dubai International 24 Hour Race in January 2012.

GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez and his Signatech Nissan team finished second in class during their first race: the challenging 12 Hours of Sebring. After starting on pole, the team was forced to battle with gearbox and electrical issues, but still managed to bring the car home in one piece with a very respectable finish. Check the official race report for a complete overview of all the results.

Great news for our man Lucas Ordoñez (winner of the first GT Academy)! Lucas and his team, RJN Motorsports, have qualified their Nissan 370Z have first in its class for the Spa 24 Hours race this weekend. I’m not aware of any online live video streams of the race (if you find one, please share it in the comments below), but Lucas has promised me that he’ll be constantly updating his Twitter feed and his Facebook page directly from the paddock throughout the event. Good luck, Lucas!

With the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race coming up the weekend of June 12-13, Sony has re-affirmed their interest in motorsport with title sponsorship of Team Peugeot Sport. Of course, the PlayStation and Gran Turismo brand has been prominently connected with the event for several years now, with highly-visible banner placement around the Mulsane chicanes. This year, though, with the pending release of GT5, they’ve got more reason than ever to support the big race. Here’s the Sony France press release, via GT5rs (thanks to Vidor for the tip!):