The Nissan GTA International Finals results
MANILA, Philippines – The 2016 Nissan-Playstation GT Academy International Championship finally concluded last Wednesday, October 26, with 22-year-old Johnny Guindi Hamui from Mexico emerging as this year’s big winner. This triumph has secured the promising, young gamer-turned-driver a slot in the much-coveted Nissan Driver Development Program (NDDP). He earned himself a seat in the 2017 Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai endurance race, competing as part of Nissan’s team alongside the very successful 2011 Nissan-Playstation GT Academy winner, Jann Mardenborough from the UK.
Hamui was named this year’s international champion after his exceptional and consistent performance in the 8-day Nissan GT Academy International Race Camp that was held in Silverstone, UK last month. He was one of 36 finalists from six different countries (Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, North Africa, the Philippines and Thailand) who were flown to the UK after emerging as the Top 6 participants in the National Finals from their respective countries.
The Nissan-Playstation Gran Turismo Academy is the actualization of an avid video gamer’s dream: the transformation and grooming of an exceptional Gran Turismo gamer – who has never driven a real race before – into a real-life, race-car driver! This one, lucky winner would have his chance of a lifetime as he would be sponsored by Nissan to train in the NDDP to pursue his dream of becoming an international racecar driver.
And as living proof that there is indeed substance in the argument that top-performing gamers have great potential to develop into competitive, real-life racers, here are some examples of top-performing NISMO athletes who were once also Nissan-Playstation GT Academy winners: 2008 winner Lucas Ordonez from Spain; 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough from the UK; and 2014 Ricardo Sanchez from Mexico.
To participate in each country’s National Finals, the top 20 finalists were selected by straight-ranking the top-20 fastest lap times recorded within that country’s Live Events (gaming sessions) that were held in different locations nationwide. These Live Events were free for the public to participate in, and featured pods that had the latest Gran Turismo game – which is yet to be publicly released by Playstation in 2017.
From these highest-scoring 20, the Top 6 country finalists were then chosen during the National Finals, based on a points system that combined each participant’s ‘simulator score’ with his/her ‘fitness score’, ‘media/personality score’ and ‘on-track driving potential score’.
In the Philippines, our Top 6 hopeful finalists who were sent to Silverstone were Jan Millard Lacuna, Richard Dean Jose, Mervin John Mallen, Kim Jiger Chong, Francisco Adriano IV, and the first-ever female to compete in the Nissan GTA international finals, Elysse Menorca.
Of the Philippines’ Top 6, the participant who bagged the 2016 country champion title was the very determined Richard Dean Jose – a repeat-competitor from last year’s Nissan GTA Live Events who made it to the Philippines’ Top 20, but not the Top 6. This year, after hard work and impressive physical conditioning (he lost somewhere between 30-40 pounds from cycling and jogging, just to make sure he did well this time in the physical challenges), he made it all the way to Silverstone – testament to the fact that one can truly achieve great things if he really puts his heart and mind to it!
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