Six of the 28 participants who competed in the National Final of the Nissan GT Academy India edition in Jaipur from June 29 to 30 were declared here today after evaluation that included driving on a racing simulator, a driving challenge in a Nissan Micra on a nearby polo ground, fitness test and even a media interaction evaluation.
Abhinav Bhatt, Abhinaya Bikani, Prakash Nair, Akshay Gupta, Glen Ivan and Carl Patel were the six participants that will now head to the Formula 1 facility of Silverstone in the United Kingdom to participate in the week long Nissan GT Academy driver camp where their competence as international level racing drivers will be evaluated.
The head of Nissan's global motorsport program Darren Cox as well as the president of Nissan India operations Kenichiro Yamura were present along with other executives from the Japanese manufacturer's India operations along with Jonathan Cox, a driver coach and evaluator for the Nissan GT Academy.
The driver training camp that will be held at Silverstone is scheduled to be held from August 8 to 14 this year where aside from getting a chance to participate in driving challenges behind the wheel of a 552 bhp Nissan GTR, a lot more focus will be put on driver fitness along with off-track preparations according to Cox.
The Nissan GT Academy was first held in 2008 before branching out from the UK and Europe to other parts of the world; including a separate edition for Germany, India, Thailand and with Japan set to join the fray this year.
Previous winners and participants of the Nissan GT Academy include Spaniard Lucas Ordonez who has participated in endurance sportscar racing at the GT level and who also piloted Nissan's 'Garage 56' entry at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ZEOD RC. The 2011 winner, Jann Mardenborough, has previously competed in Formula 3 and is now racing in the GP3 Series with help from the Red Bull Racing F1 team and drove for Nissan in the LMP2 category at Le Mans this year.
With the intention of the Nissan GT Academy reportedly being to find new racing talent, the amount of racing experience for the drivers participating was restricted to no more than two full seasons at the national or international level in a chosen pre-existing racing series or championship in India.
A lot of the 28 finalists had little or no previous racing experience with the only requirements for participation in the Nissan GT Academy being holding a drivers' license and being at least 18 years old.
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