For two years, the Nissan GT Academy has democratized the professional racecar driving scene for racing gamers in the Philippines. Last season, we saw Joward Policarpio make the Philippines proud by being hailed the champion in Asia. Along with five other finalists from the country, Policarpio fulfilled his dream of being a professional racecar driver in Silverstone, UK. Now on its second season, Nissan has narrowed down its hopefuls once again to six worthy finalists who will head to Silverstone in the coming weeks.
For the last few weeks, Nissan held its live events all around the country to find the best gamers who can drive the fastest in their sponsored PS4 game, Gran Turismo Sport. Nissan eventually narrowed down the thousands who came and raced to twenty hopefuls. Now, out of the twenty finalists who participated in the Nissan GT Academy Season 2 National Finals held last September 6 and 7 at the Megatent in Pasig and at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati, the six participants heading to the UK are: Jan Millard Lacuna, Elysse T. Menorca, Richard Dean D. Jose, Mervin John Mallen, Kim Jiger A. Chong, and Francisco F. Adriano IV.
This year, the National Finals consisted of a much more rigorous testing process spread into two days of competition. On day one, each of the contestants went through vigorous physical challenges like the sergeant jump, planking, push-ups, and the bleep test. What racing competition wouldn’t be complete without a driving challenge? After physical tests, the contestants took a challenge supervised and mentored by the official GT Academy driving instructor, George Ramirez. On the second day, the contestants once again went under the racing pod to test their best lap times, consistency, and super pole times. Finally, they were interviewed by motoring journalists as part of the communication and personality screening. Each of the player’s scores from all legs determined the six qualifiers.
This year’s crop of finalists is a testament to the competition’s diversity and openness to the public. Elysse T. Menorca is the competition’s first Filipina to represent the country in Silverstone. This season is also the first time a couple will enter the driving circuit together as Menorca’s significant other, Francisco F. Adriano IV, has also been selected for UK.
“This season saw a more diverse batch of contenders, with a female finalist joining the top six. Nissan is looking forward to celebrating another Filipino Nissan GT Academy Champion soon,” Ramesh Narasimhan, NPI President and Managing Director comments on this year’s finalists.
The top six will then compete against each other and against other finalists from Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, North Africa, and Thailand at the Race Camp Week in Silverstone.
The eventual Nissan GT Academy champion will then undergo the Nissan Driver Development Program (NDDP), where he or she will be fully trained to finally become an international race car driver to professionally run under Nissan’s banner.
