AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR…

Second round of eliminations for Nissan and PlayStation®’s GT Academy 2010 takes place after a punishing day of challenges

After the toughest day of the competition so far, the fate of the eight Gran Turismo® racers left in GT Academy 2010 has been decided. Jordan Tresson from France, Marco Calvo from Spain, Luca Lorenzini from Italy and Daniel Collins from Ireland will all progress to the final two days of the Silverstone ‘boot camp’. The four will keep their hopes alive of being one of two drivers that will undergo an intensive race training programme to qualify for an International C Race licence. One winner will then progress to drive a Nissan 370Z GT car in the European GT4 Cup.

Day three began with a 6.00am wakeup call for participants. They were taken to Silverstone’s off-road experience area to be put through an extreme fitness test. Three ex-marines guided them through an assault course that would be tough at any time. In temperatures of less than two degrees, with driving rain, wind, mud and lots of water it became almost unbearable for some of the competitors. Mental and physical strength were pushed to the limits but all eight hopefuls made it through.

“This was not really a test of fitness, but more one of mental stamina,” explained ex-Royal Marine Commando Ben Mason who ran the assault course. “In that respect, they all did very well. Some of the guys might not have been fit by our standards, but they pushed hard to the end in difficult conditions.”

France’s Jordan Tresson had both the physical and mental aptitude required to take first place. He was followed home by Italy’s Giacomo Cunial and Ireland’s Daniel Collins.

After a much-needed hot shower and breakfast, the competitors met with Nissan athlete Geraldine Fasnacht. The Swiss gave the racing hopefuls an insight into her life as an extreme sportswoman and what it takes to survive at the top.

Former ITV Formula 1 presenter, and ex-Jordan Grand Prix press officer, Louise Goodman then enlightened the participants in the ways of the media. She gave them a brief but impressive media training workshop to prepare them for a possible life as a racing driver.

Back at Silverstone the competitors were back on track, albeit a damp track. They continued to hone their car control with a drifting test in the rear wheel drive manual Nissan 370Z. The contestants enjoyed the pleasure of lapping Silverstone’s National Circuit in the GT-R set-up in race mode. The final, and perhaps most challenging, on-track session of the day took place in Silverstone’s single-seaters on the new Stowe Circuit. The GT Academy instructors assessed all activities to feed back to the judges.

In a packed day, there was no let-up for the competitors on their return to the hotel. They were taken straight to a class room to undertake their ARDS (basic race licence) exam before a mind-coaching session with a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) expert.

A welcome addition to the Academy judging panel today was former Formula One team owner, Eddie Jordan. The BBC F1 presenter, who counts Michael Schumacher as one of his former protégées, was impressed with the competitors: “I’m staggered by the standard,” explained the experienced Irishman. “I didn’t believe that it was possible for people from the virtual world to have that relationship with the car. They are undoubtedly the quickest and best on PlayStation 3, but to come here and display such immediate talent, speed, commitment and understanding is impressive. I underestimated them. They are racing drivers in disguise!

“It’s going to be an interesting couple of days with these four guys. If it is as difficult to get them from four to two as it was to separate this eight, it is going to be very hard for us!”

The GT Academy 2010 continues tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday with the on-track action intensifying. The judges will be scrutinising all four competitors before a final decision on the two winning drivers is taken on Tuesday night.