Photo : Christophe JOUNIAUX - VSA

 

Though most Nissan GT Academy winners end up on the world's circuits, few have ever known a meteoric rise like Jann Mardenborough. It only took him three years to fufill the admission criteria for the BRDC (see article about the BRDC). Three years during which the Japanese manufacturer took him under its wing to train him in endurance, and also in single-seaters. After F3 this year he competed in the GP3 championship, one of the paths to F1. One month ago, he won his first victory at the Hockenheim circuit, to the detriment of drivers who came up in karting.

Previous winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans - Derek Warwick, victorious in 1992 and BRDC President, and Johnny Herbert, winner with Mazda in 1991 - did not drop the ball and quickly realized Mardenborough's raw talent.

Derek Warwick: "I have watched Jann from the very start of his racing career, because I was curious and at first very skeptical. However, it was obvious right from the start that Jann was much more than a PR stunt, he was quick and has become a real racing driver. Jann has that steel in his eyes that tells you that he has the will to succeed. Sure he made a few mistakes at the start but he learnt very fast and has now become one of Britain’s brightest stars and with this has surprised a lot of people and has now earned the respect of his fellow drivers. We at the BRDC saw this, that is why we made him a BRDC Rising Star almost straightaway and he has now become a Full Member in his own right. We are very proud to have Jann as a Member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club."

Johnny Herbert: "To be a racing driver and be accepted into the BRDC gives you a lot of prestige,” explained Herbert. “It’s an acceptance that you've done a very good job in your racing career – for Jann it’s a very short racing career so that makes it even more special. It took me about five years to get there but Jann has done it in three! To be accepted into the BRDC is something that doesn’t happen every day. I think the race win (in GP3) rattled a couple of cages. They’ve seen that a driver who came from the gaming world is able to beat them in a proper international race. Yes, he was a gamer but he’s not anymore. He’s a racing driver."

Last year for his first participation at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mardenborough reached the third step on the podium in the LM P2 class with Greaves Motorsports' Zytek-Nissan which often gives confidence to young hopefuls.

In June at Le Mans, the young Brit shared the wheel of Oak Racing's Ligier-Nissan with Alex Brundle and Mark Shulzhitskiy, winner of the Russian Nissan GT Academy, and finished in fifth place in the LM P2 class, clocking the best race lap, finally going to Nelson Panciatici, four times!

This weekend, Jann Mardenborough will support another legend, Sir Chris Hoy, the winningest British athlete in the Olympic Games (bicycling), in British GT...

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt (quotations from Nissan press release)

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY JUNE 11 2014, PRACTICE. Jann Mardenborough joins the BRDC.