*Lucas Ordoñez takes second in European GT4 Cup and helps win team title to complete ‘virtual to real racer’ experiment*
Lucas Ordoñez, the Spanish winner of PlayStation® and Nissan’s GT Academy competition in 2008, capped an incredible year (Sunday, 13 September) when he and team-mate Alex Buncombe took a race victory to secure second place in the European GT4 Cup championship.
The victory also sealed the team title for GT Academy partners RJN Motorsport. The result was a clear demonstration of PlayStation and Nissan’s belief that true racing talent could be unearthed from among PlayStation’s legion of Gran Turismo® game fans. Some strong results throughout the season, including three second places and a win, saw Ordoñez and Buncombe take their RJN Motorsport Nissan 350Z into the final round of the season six points adrift of series leader Joe Osborne.
Their high hopes of overturning the deficit were dealt a blow by some dreadful luck. Despite their track time on Portugal’s stunning new Algarve circuit being severely limited by an engine change, Buncombe still managed to qualify on pole for race one. But luck went against the GT Academy team again and an electrical failure forced their retirement before the start. Second for Osborne was enough to secure the title with race two still to go. Starting the second race from fifth on the grid, Ordoñez shot through to second by the first corner.
Spectacular drives from both team-mates saw them take the win and head the tight fight for the second championship place. Commenting on his fantastic debut season, Lucas Ordoñez said: “This has been the most amazing 18 months. When I look back at what has happened to me since I entered the online part of GT Academy on my PS3 there are just too many fantastic moments to list. The whole experience has been like a dream. And what an amazing weekend, full of the ups and downs of racing. To finish with a win and second in the championship in my first year’s racing is great. I cannot thank Nissan and PlayStation enough for this opportunity. My team-mate Alex Buncombe and RJN Motorsport have been fantastic as well, and it is great that we won the team title. There is no doubt that GT Academy has changed my life.”
Nissan’s Darren Cox and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Mark Bowles championed the GT Academy concept together. Today’s result is vindication for their faith. “It has been a very challenging weekend, so it was great to finish on a high,” explained Cox. “The professionalism of the team and both drivers has to be applauded. They picked themselves up after the disappointment of race one and drove superbly. Lucas has shown that maturity and speed all season and his performance has absolutely exceeded our expectations. He has been a pleasure to work with and has been totally dedicated to his racing and not distracted by this change in his life. We both congratulate and thank him and the whole team that worked on GT Academy for demonstrating that we could unearth a real driving talent from the world of gaming.”
Bowles added: “What a great way for Lucas’s season to finish. A fantastic result not only for him and the team, but for all of our Gran Turismo fans around the world. Kazunori Yamauchi, the game’s designer, has continued to create GT games with an incredible level of realism and he was confident that this experiment would work. “GT for PSP will be released in October and a release date for an all new Gran Turismo 5 game for PlayStation 3 is also due soon. This is likely to create even more GT gamers and hopefully we and Nissan will be able to discover even more real racing talent from among them.”
