Gamer-to-Racer Conquers Suzuka with Successful Test

Suzuka Circuit, July 19-20: Spanish sensation and original GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez visited the holy grail of circuits for Gran Turismo users, Suzuka Circuit on July 19-20. Having practised the track's lines for years in the virtual world, the young gun got his first taste of the challenging circuit in the real world in the joint SUPER GT test held over two days in mid-July in preparation for the 1,000km event at the track in August where Ordonez will share the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with regular drivers Kazuki Hoshino and Daiki Sasaki.

Despite it being his first visit to Suzuka, Lucas was quickly up to speed and set the fifth-quickest time in his class on the second afternoon. His exuberance was matched only by his speed, as the following comments illustrate: "This test has been an amazing opportunity for me. To come from Europe to compete in Japan as a driver is an incredible chance. The learning and experience you get here with all the team and the engineers is unbelievable. I'm learning a lot and I feel really proud to be here thanks to Nissan and to Nismo."