Gran Turismo 6 fans will have something to brag about, and also aspire to, as GT Academy 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough is taking a step forward to joining the F1.
Mardenborough is not your typical racer for sure. While he did some kart racing when he was 8 in his hometown of Cardiff, the track was closed three years later, and so he did not have the extensive karting experience other racers usually have.
The 2011 GT Academy tournament was sponsored by Sony and Nissan. Beating 90,000 other entrants, he entered Nissan’s driver development program, under which capacity he was trained by F1 veteran Johnny Herbert.
Mardenborough grit his teeth like other racers, competing in the British GT and the Blancpain Endurance Series. In 2013, he switched to formula racing, joining the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and then the FIA European Three Championship. Now, under Infiniti Red Bull Racing, he will have a customized intensive driver development training program, and will compete in F1 feeder series, the GP3, with Arden International.
The news not only legitimizes Mardenborough as a talented young driver, it lends credibility to Nissan’s driver development program for GT Academy. Prior GT Academy winners have also become renowned professional racers, such as Lucas Ordóñez in Le Mans or Jordan Tresson in the FIA. However, Mardenborough is the farthest to go of all the GT Academy graduates, and at 22, is the youngest of them all to go this far as well.
The message could not be clearer to gamers either. Play Gran Turismo and you have a chance to become a real life racer, now, possibly even a Formula 1 driver.
Last December, Nick McMillen became 2013 GT Academy champion, and will now enter the same program Mardenborough and the others did. His first race will be 2014’s Dubai 24 Hours, and he is set to compete for the European FIA GT3. Aspiring race drivers will now know to join up for the next GT Academy competition this coming holiday season, and get their chance in the limelight.
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