Lucas Ordonez, the GT Academy winner who stood at the pinnacle of 25000 Gran Turismo players from 10 European countries, finished GT Academy's final Dubai 24 hour race event in January with flying colors.

On May 3rd, 2009, he secured himself a place on the podium in a third place finish, in the second round of the GT4 European Cup held on the Silverstone circuit of the UK.

Ordonez participated in the GT4 European cup with team mate Alex Buncombe (UK). In the first race of the two this day, he raised his position from 11th on the grid to 6th where the checker flag was waved. In the second race, starting from fourth position on the grid, Buncombe temporarily takes pole position on the opening lap, but then falls behind due to an interruption by the safety car and a pit stop. Ordonez taking over in the latter half, he fiercely went after ranks, going head to head in a heated fight until the final lap where he finally overtook a BMW for a third place, podium finish.

Lucas Ordonez:
"I was really pushing hard in the last corners, trying to overtake the BMW. I could tell that he was losing grip on his rear tires, they'd worn out quite a bit, and I managed to overtake him in the last corner. I'm really happy to have got third and the podium in my first race in GT4, it's great for me. We'll try to get first in Adria in Italy, like Alex managed to get a the start of the race."

The attempt of GT Academy, to create a real racing driver from a Gran Turismo player has not stopped with just one race event, but has gone forward another step to carve its name on the racing scene. Stay tuned to more exciting trials by Ordonez!

Comment from Bob Neville, Team manager:
"Last year the Nissan Z and Alex Buncombe won more races in European GT4 than anyone else, but the podium today feels like more of an achievement. We have seen Lucas grow in such a short space to deliver this exciting drive today."

Comment from Darren Cox, Nissan Europe:
"I set Lucas, Alex and the team a objective of a top six result, they have overachieved against strong opposition from Aston Martin and BMW. Lucas must not let this result go to his head and focus on consistent results over the next five race weekends across Europe."