In this year's Le Mans 24 Hour race, the winner of the first GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez, helped his team achieve an incredible 2nd place finish in the LMP2 Class, in just his third year since his racing debut. Lucas stood on the podium with his teammates holding a large Japanese flag, and watching with great admiration was a group of 12 European GT Academy finalists hoping to one day follow in his footsteps.

The racing driver development project, "GT Academy", held in North America for the first this year, is in its third year in Europe. The European academy opened on March 4th, starting with a time trial on an original course created by Gran Turismo producer Kazunori Yamauchi himself. Over 90,000 participants from 10 European countries took part in this time trial.

The 12 men at the Sarthe circuit above were the finalists that had fought their way through incredibly tough competition of the national finals, overcoming 90,000 other competitors to rise to the top. This year's GT academy finals started at Le Mans, where the finalists got to witness a former GT Academy winner making his dream a reality.

But there was no time for reveling in the festivities. The twelve finalists from across Europe immediately flew to the UK as soon as the race was over, and faced four straight days of grueling challenges at the Silverstone circuit.

The final selection round was a thorough check of the participants' potential as racing drivers. There were tests of driving senses using Karts and Formula Machines, mock races in Nissan 370Zs and GT-Rs, a lesson in pit work, and an on-track dogfight with their teachers to test whether they could overcome extreme pressure. And the tests continued even off the track, through a bootcamp style training session and a lesson on interacting with the media.

June 16: Four straight days of extreme trials were finally over. Reigning on top of 90,000 other players, was Jann Mardenborough (19) from Cardiff, UK. In this afternoon, he won the 20 minute race against his competitors in the Nissan 370Z, and gained his ticket to making his dream a reality.

Hereafter, Jann will undergo an intensive training program to handle real cars. After experiencing several races in the UK, he will attempt to acquire an international racing license. If he can successfully overcome these trials, he will participate in the Dubai 24 Hour Race in January 2012, in a race prepped Nissan 370Z.
We hope you'll keep an eye on the rare talent discovered from a player of Gran Turismo.

Comment from the winner, Jann Mardenborough
"I am really buzzing, ecstatic," said Jann. "This competition is going to change my life massively. I can't imagine, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure about the next Lewis Hamilton, but being the next Lucas Ordonez would be a pretty good start.
This whole experience has been amazing and I would like to thank everyone involved, especially, PlayStation and Nissan. "

Comment from head judge and former F1 Driver, Eddy Irvine
"I have been surprised by this experience. When I arrived, I saw there was some work to do, but the six that made it through to the final day did so because they reacted positively and showed some real grit and determination.
Jann did a great job throughout and the final decision turned out to be fairly straight forward. He has been given an amazing opportunity by PlayStation and Nissan, but the hard work has only just begun for him. Even with this head start, making a career in racing is tough and he'll have to have talent, determination and luck in pretty much equal measure if he is to make it. I'll keep an eye on him and hope he doesn't let me down."