Nissan have announced that they will field four graduates from their GT Academy driver development programme in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.GT Academy, which takes Playstation gamers and develops them into full time racing drivers has been hugely successful since it started in 2008.
Lucas Ordonez, the winner of the inaugural competition, will pilot the Japanese manufacturer's experimental Zeod RC alongside 2012 GT Academy Europe winner Wolfgang Reip and Japanese driver Satoshi Motoyama.
Ordonez and Motoyama's 2014 campaign has seen them race in the Japanese Super GT championship so far whilst Reip has been testing the Zeod RC.
The two other GT Academy graduates that will be lining up at La Sarthe next month are 2011 GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough and 2012 GT Academy Russia victor Mark Shulzhitsky - who will be making his Le Mans debut.Mardenborough started the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year after an impressive debut campaign in the British GT championship in 2012, finishing sixth. He has since gone on to compete in Formula One feeder series GP3.
Both Mardenborough and Shulzhitsky will share the No. 35 OAK Ligier Nissan LMP2 car with Alex Brundle.The son of former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle is no stranger to the Nissan fold having competed in Nissan powered LMP2 cars at Le Mans in 2012 and 2013. He also finished second in the P2 WEC standings last year for OAK Racing in the Morgan-Nissan.
All images © Nissan Motorsport
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