PH’s best bets to Nissan GT Academy off to Silverstone

FOUR months of scouring the Philippines for the best Gran Turismo players, Nissan Philippines has finally released the six names that will represent the country in next month’s Nissan GT Academy Race Camp to be held at Silverstone in the United Kingdom.
Rafael Lesaguis, Luis Cachero, Terence Lallave, Jose Gerald Policarpio, Daryl Brady and Joel Agojo bested 14 other finalists and over 15,000 other hopefuls. The winners, who will represent the Philippines for the first time in this 7-year-old driver discovery/development program, were announced during last week’s awarding ceremony held at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

“Combining the natural talent these guys show in their gaming, and adding Nismo’s real-world racing knowhow, GT Academy will continue to unearth and develop some very exciting drivers in an incredibly short space of time. After just a few months of intense training, these guys have all done a great job in several races already. My wish is that a Filipino would soon emerge here in Asia,” said Nissan Philippines president and managing director Antonio Zara in one of his earlier interviews.
During the Race Camp in Silverstone, the six Filipino representatives will be put through their paces on track in Nissan sports cars under the watchful eyes of high profile judges and mentors. They will battle it out with other finalists from other countries belonging to the GT Academy Asia, namely Thailand, India, Japan and Indonesia.

Separate competition
Initiated in 2008, GT Academy includes separate competitions for Europe (France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic), International group (Australia, Mexico, North Africa, Turkey and the United States) and Asia.
The winners from each competition—Europe, International and Asia—will be invited to take part in the intensive Driver Development Program, where they have the opportunity to qualify for an international race license and race for Nissan professionally.
After passing the “Driver Development Program,” graduates will receive their International C License, allowing them to compete in a prestigious racing event anywhere in the world.

“Preposterous as this may sound, this has actually happened to a number of gamers who are now regarded as rising stars in professional auto racing. It turns out some video game skills do translate to the real world as proven by drivers whom, a year earlier, the bulk of their training had consisted of playing the racing video game ‘Gran Turismo’,” said Zara.

Now regular
Previous winners of GT Academy are now regular racing drivers. In 2015, Jann Mardenborough (represented UK and winner in 2011) is racing in the World Endurance Championship for Nissan in the top LM P1 category and in GP3, a feeder series to Formula One, with the championship-winning Carlin team. Lucas Ordoñez (represented Spain and winner in 2008) will be racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year in the Nisan GT-R LM NISMO LMP1 entry, alongside Mardenborough. The 2014 Champions, Gaetan Paletou (Europe) and Ricardo Sanchez (International), are competing in the Blancpain Endurance Series with the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN.

Before coming out with the best scores among the 20 finalists Lesaguis, Cachero, Lallave, Policarpio, Brady and Agojo went through a series of competitive virtual racing that culminated in a two-day testing program that included slalom racing on actual stock cars as well as physical and mental tests that included a panel interview with members of the media.
Lotus Junior F1 driver Marlon Stöckinger, Nissan GT Academy mentor and guest judge has one piece of advice to the six finalists, “Whatever happens, keep chasing that dream. I always believe in you.”
According to Laurence Wiltshire, GTA Global’s managing director: “We are looking forward to discovering even more new stars in 2015. Anyone in the Philippines who think they have what it takes should give GT Academy a go. Not everyone can win, but the experience is hugely rewarding at every stage of the competition.”