Podium Finish for Abhinay Bikkani at the Nissan Playstation GT Academy International Race Camp

Proud moment for Indians as the Abhinay Bikkani from Bengaluru, Karnataka won a spot on the podium in the final race at Nissan’s GT Academy International’s 2014 Race Camp in Silverstone. Abhinay finished third after John Muggleton of Australia and the overall winner Ricardo Sanchez of Mexico. While Middle East’s Ahmed Bin-Khanen finished fourth and Thailand’s Thanaroj Thanasitnitiket finished at fifth place. Nissan’s GT Academy is actually an initiative by Nissan Motors to search for young enthusiastic drivers.

Abhinay, got the opportunity after he won his place at Race Camp from Gran Turismo® and entered the competition across Australia, India, Mexico, the Middle East and Thailand. Abhinay won the National Finals and arrived at Silverstone as one of 6 to represent India, along with the 27 International competitors overall, representing 6 countries split into five territory groups.

Mr. Kenichiro Yomura, President – Nissan India Operations said, “I congratulate Abhinay on behalf of Nissan India for his admirable performance in the GT Academy International 2014 Race Camp. His achievement is even more special as India won a spot on the podium in the final race despite having participated for the first time ever in our coveted driver discovery and development program. This indicates a great motorsports career for him in the future. With GT Academy, we at Nissan are delighted to be able to show a meaningful direction to those who aspire to take motorsports as a career but are ready to work hard for it.”

Karun Chandhok, India Judge and Mentor said, “Abhinay did a good job, perhaps a seven out of 10 for the race. He has a lot more potential; in practice and qualifying he was really fast, I really thought he could have won but unfortunately it didn’t work out for him. But he has a lot to be proud of; he beat all his fellow countrymen and got on the podium. He should go home happy. However, I hope to see a stronger and more prolific India in motor racing in the future!”

Darren Cox, Global head of Brand, Marketing and Sales, NISMO said, “I am proud of the continued globalisation of this important brand asset for Nissan and It’s great to see countries with little Motorsport heritage competing as we seek to democratise the sport”. “We now begin the task of developing our new international winner but alongside that we will be reviewing the winners from each of the International territories to see if we can get them more involved in motorsport in the future, as well as looking forward to welcoming even more countries to the programme next year”.