Nissan conducted the finals of the GT Academy at Chennai over the past two days. Six winners from India will now go to Silverstone, UK for the race camp in August.
Motorsports is one thing which never got the facilities and attention it needed in India since forever. However, things have changed in the past decade with a world class track coming up at Noida and the other tracks around India gaining popularity too. Enthusiasts who wanted to get into the racing scene now have a few options within India and this has boosted India’s presence in the global scene. Nissan is one company which is doing its bit to provide budding racing drivers a chance to get into the scene without worrying about sponsorship and many other things associated with logistics.
In association with Sony PlayStation, the 2015 GT Academy was held in twenty-four countries. Participants in India could either compete online through Sony Entertainment Network or come down to the live qualifying rounds held in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. All they needed was a zeal to race and the skills to play Gran Turismo 6 which is the game used to narrow down the number of participants from over 10,000 to just twenty. These twenty then moved on to the national finals which were held over the past two days in Chennai held at the MMSC Racetrack.
Since racing requires not just driving skills, there was a series of rigorous fitness rounds through which the participants had to go through in order to qualify for the race camp at Silverstone. Three rounds on the simulator were followed by a test of driving skills on the track in a Nissan Micra. The test course was designed by Karun Chandhok. Post the driving test, four fitness tests which tested the participants on different strengths were conducted. After the rigorous procedure, six participants made it through and will be trained by Karun Chandhok, mentor for Team India, for a day before they set off to the UK for the race camp to be held in August. We hope that an Indian wins this year in the global finals and takes the Indian flag higher.
