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GT Academy Graduates Outperform in the European Le Mans and All Japan F3

On the 18th of October (Local time), the final round of the European Le Mans series (ELMS) was held at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal, and the 2014 European GT Academy Champion Gaëtan Paletou achieved his first victory in the LMP3 class.

Gaëtan has driven the Team LNT Ginetta Nissan #2 car this year together with driver Mike Simpson. Outperforming expectations for a rookie, he gained points in the first round at Silverstone and in the 3rd round at the Red Bull Ring. At Estoril, Mike received a penalty during qualifying and Gaëtan started at the back of the grid in 30th place. However, he showed incredible performance as he scrambled up the ranks very quickly in bad weather, to reach 8th place overall in just the 1st hour. He then handed the steering wheel to Mike who went on to secure their first victory in the ELMS.

With this victory, Gaëtan raised his position in the general leaderboard, achieving a 2nd place in the team rankings and a 3rd place in the drivers rankings. In the series point rankings of the ELMS this year, both Team LNT car #3 in LMP3 Class and Greaves Motorsports car #41 in top LMP2 Class were machines powered by Nissan engines.

Meanwhile on the same weekend, the final rounds of the All-Japan F3 Championships 16 and 17 were held at the Sugo Circuit of the Miyagi prefecture in Japan, and the 2008 European GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez won a 2nd place podium finish in both races.

Lucas showed great performance from the outset in qualifying, and started in the front row grid in both races. His momentum continued into the finals and he gained the best results of this season. Lucas had just had his wedding on the island of Majorca at the beginning of October and managed to raise fantastic results on his first race of his married life!