Gran Turismo teen is turning professional wheelman

Admittedly this Gran Turismo-to-race car driver story in the Mirror seemed a bit farcical. But we were surprised to learn that 19-year-old Jann Mardenborough, who won a contest over 90,000 over players, is actually in the pipeline to be a real professional driver.

In the final challenge Jann took the chequered flag in a four-way, 20-minute race on Silverstone’s national circuit.

After starting from pole position in the Nissan 370Z he finished ahead of Thibault Lacombe (FRA), Carlos Murillo (ESP) and Danilo Bordino (ITA) to win the race and the competition overall.

This contest is no gimmick – Jann will now begin an intensive driver development programme and compete in a number of UK national races to enable him to qualify for an International race licence, before taking part in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January next year.