After 7 months, 400,000 competitors, and a six-week television series that captured every challenge and human drama of an intense week of racing boot camp, Steven Doherty of Plainfield, Ill has emerged out of the top 16 to win the coveted title of the 2012 GT Academy US Champion.

The 29-year old mechanic actually competed in the first US GT Academy online qualification in 2011, but he ended up finishing 9th in his region and lost the top spot by scarcely six tenths of a second. So in 2012, Steve came back with a vengeance and worked incredibly hard to train mentally and physically to be a top contender at Silverstone. In the end, Steve came away victorious in the final "Winner Take All" race and was also successful in setting an all time track record amongst all previous GT Academy contestants.
 
Currently in the UK for his intensive racing training for an international license, Steve and three other 2012 GT Academy Champions from Europe will team up in two race prepared 370Z at the Dubai 24 Hour race in the Middle East on January 10th. We look forward to seeing Steve and the rest of 2012 GT Academy Champions follow the same racing success of Lucas, Jordan, Jann, and Bryan.

Be sure to check back often on Steve's racing career and also visit Nissan GT Academy pages for more info