Sean Johnston, GT Academy Finalist

It’s not often that a young driver gets the opportunity of a lifetime to compete for the coveted title of professional racing driver.  Sean Johnston, a friend of AR Auto Service has just this opportunity.  “This competition has a chance to completely change the trajectory of my life in the direction of my dreams.” says Sean.  The competition he’s talking about is the GT Academy created by Sony and Nissan.  The two companies have been working together on these competitions for three years and have devised a race driver talent search with great results.  Although 2011 is the first year the competition has been held in North America, it’s been held twice in Europe with a 3rd competition underway.  It’s easy to gauge the success of the program.  Lucas Ordoñez, the winner of the inaugural GT Academy in 2008 will be racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in a Nissan backed LMP2 team.

Here’s how the competition works.  Anybody with a Sony Playstation 3 and a copy of Gran Turismo 5 can enter.  Over the course of a series of online elimination rounds, the fastest 32 virtual racers in the country are flown to a national final for a two-day Grand Turismo 5 competition that narrows the field to 16.  The final 16 virtual racers are flown to the legendary Silverstone Circuit.  in the United Kingdom to be put through their paces in real Nissan sports cars, run through an intense series of physically demanding endurance tests, and analyzed with respect to their media awareness during an array of press conferences and interviews.  At the end of the “bootcamp” as it’s been called in Silverstone, one grand prize winner is selected by the panel of judges.  For six months the winner trains and races in the UK, earns their International Racing License, and competes in a professional 24 hour endurance racing event.  In a progression from virtual to reality, Nissan and Sony are making professional racing drivers out of the fastest virtual racers in Gran Turismo.  Sean says of the GT Academy, “The coolest thing about the program that Nissan and Sony have set up is that it’s based purely on potential.  It makes no difference who you know, or how much money you have; if you can be one of the fastest racers in Gran Turismo, the GT Academy gives you a real opportunity to begin a successful racing career in professional motorsports.”

 

At the end of the U.S. national finals held in Orlando, Florida in March, Sean was ranked 15th out of the nearly 54,000 competitors who registered for the initial round back in December.  He’s been training hard ever since, really focusing on his mental preparation, physical fitness, and driving technique.  To help Sean in his efforts to prepare for the GT Academy Finals, Eddie Nakato of AR Auto Service lent him both his personal car and shop “chump car” to use in a couple of track days at the end of April.  “I’m ready to go and absolutely can’t wait to start competing,” says Sean.  “I know I can win this competition, it’s just a matter of showing up and performing in all the events at the level I know I’m capable of.”  AR Auto Service wishes him the best of luck as he competes at Silverstone from May 29th to June 5th.  Check out the websites below and follow him on Twitter as well!

http://www.nissanusa.com/gtacademy/
http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/academy/2011/
http://www.facebook.com/GTAcademyNA

http://www.seanjohnstonracing.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/seanjracing