FOUR years ago, 23 year old Brit Jann Mardenborough had never raced a car in his life. This weekend though, he will be taking the seat behind a GP2 car, often the last step before a driver makes their way into Formula 1.
Jann’s story is one of the craziest stories in the history of the sporting world, where he has turned from a gamer into potentially being the next big F1 star.
In 2011, he entered the Nissan GT Academy, a program run by Nissan and PlayStation that helps find the next big racing driver through the driving simulator game Gran Turismo.
He has been the posterboy for the program in recent years, where he initially raced in GT3 and GT4 cars for Nissan.
After winning races and reaching the podium at famous tracks like Spa, Nissan’ Darren Cox, global motorsport director, realised he had tapped into the talent of a potentially great race driver.
It wasn’t long before Jann secured a drive in the FIA European Formula Three championship with the Carlin team, often the first step drivers take outside out karting and Formula Ford to progress into Formula 1. That same Carlin team previously had Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo driving their cars.
His first ever open-wheel racing season didn’t result in any race wins or podiums, but the experience earned him a test drive with Arden International in the European GP3 series, one of the feeder series for Formula 1. Daniel Ricciardo’s 21-year-old Red Bull teammate Daniil Kvyat went straight from GP3 to his seat with Red Bull.
Jann got his first GP3 win in Germany last year. Source: Supplied
After successfully testing, he was not only offered a full-time driving position that year but also attracted the attention of the Red Bull racing team, who offered him a position in their driver development program. This involved access to their F1 simulator, often regarded as the best in the world, and mentoring from the team.
Jann ended up finishing the series in 9th, winning one race and reaching the podium in another.
He changed teams in 2015, back to Carlin, but still in the GP3 championship. He was also offered the opportunity to race at LeMans for Nissan Motorsport in their LMP1 car, the pinnacle of sports car motorsport, where he went head-to-head with factory racing teams from Audi and Porsche, against drivers such as Mark Webber and Niko Hulkenberg.
Leaked reports suggest Renault is set to buy a majority share of the Lotus F1 team, and with that, would be looking to replace driver Pastor Maldonado, who is racing at the team primarily because of financial backers.
For someone like Jann, this opens huge doors.
Renault and Nissan have had an alliance, both with their road cars and motorsport for several years. In fact, thanks to this partnership Jann tested a Formula Renault 3.5 car at the end of last year.
Sources also informed news.com.au that Jann would be driving a GP2 car at this weekend’s round in Monza, Italy. It’s the last step needed before making the leap to Formula 1.
Everything is lining up for the young Brit for the ultimate motor racing fairy tale story.
Australia’s Matthew Simmons was a postie last month, now he’s a pro racer. Source: Supplied
While Jann is prepping himself for a potential Formula 1 seat, Australia’s former postie-now-racer Matthew Simmons, who won this year’s International GT Academy set flight for his new home in the UK earlier this week, where he will be spending the next three months being transformed from a gamer into a racer.
The GT Academy has been a huge success for Nissan, with drivers winning racers all over the world against some of the best drivers on the planet. Two former graduates, Florian Strauss and Wolfgang Reip even won this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour.
The brain child of Darren Cox, the GT Academy is an international competition that gives Gran Turismo players the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a real-life professional drivers.
Any player who can prove their driving skills in the virtual world can compete on a real track in a real car.
Gamers try their best to punch the fastest times they can on the game before the top drivers are put against each other in the real world, in real cars to find the next champion.
The competition is fierce, gruelling and the most challenging thing most ever experience in their life, before racing for real, of course. So it’s no surprise that Nissan’s program has taken the motorsport world by storm, and is potentially developing the next great F1 talent.
Could Jann Mardenborough be the next Lewis Hamilton? Source: Supplied.
