Gaetan Paletou has become the latest gamer to win Nissan’s GT Academy

France’s Gaetan Paletou has become the latest gamer to win Nissan’s GT Academy and embark on a life changing journey from PlayStation to endurance racer.

The 22-year-old fought off hundreds of thousands of competitors around Europe, eventually emerging victorious after a gruelling week-long Race Camp at Silverstone.

41 gamers from 12 countries arrived at the Northamptonshire venue where they received expert tuition and mentoring from the judges which included seven-time grand prix winner Rene Arnoux, former HRT test driver Dani Clos, current IndyCar driver Luca Filippi and Sky’s own Johnny Herbert.

Over eight days they were put through their paces on and off track in a number of challenges that included an assault course to test fitness, Nissan Micra Stock Car racing, a pit stop challenge with a Nissan Juke Nismo, head-to-head Gymkhana, traffic challenge, dogfight and Rage Buggy Racing. 

The traffic challenge in particular was interesting as the competitors had to battle past professional racing drivers on the Stowe circuit to test the gamers ability to pick an overtaking opportunity and if they knew when to be aggressive and when not to.

Eventually the gamers were whittled down to five with France, the UK, Italy, Belgium and Portugal all represented on the grid for an eight-lap race of the Silverstone International Circuit in Nissan 370Z race cars. 

There was drama immediately though as the Italian competitor turned into Abby despite having the cars from Belgium and Portugal inside and the resulting contact eliminated both he and his Iberian counterpart.

That accident allowed Paletou to take the lead of the race and he was never challenged after Britain’s Karl Chard pitted midway through citing technical issues which allowed Belgian Cedric Wauters to finish second.

Winning the race didn’t guarantee Paletou victory overall, however, as the final prize would be decided by the judges on who they felt had shown over the week had the potential to follow in the footsteps of GT star Lucas Ordonez and GP3 race winner Jann Mardenborough.

But after an hour of deliberation, Head Judge Herbert took to the Silverstone podium to reveal the Frenchman as the 2014 winner.

“It’s incredible.” said an elated Gaetan. “I was so happy that I won the race, but I didn’t know that I would win GT Academy. 

“It is very special for me and my friends who have supported me. This has been a very good experience – a long, hard week and very tight competition so I am so happy to win. Now I have to keep pushing to the next step.”  

Nissan's Director of Global Motorsport Darren Cox was one of the key people behind GT Academy’s inception and is confident the Japanese-marque have found another top driver.

“I have enjoyed the experience of every Race Camp since we started and it is just getting bigger and better each year,” he said. 

“GT Academy has proved again and again that it can deliver fantastic racing drivers who are recording impressive results for us all over the world. Its success is backed up by the huge amount of interest in GT Academy among the motor sport community and the public alike. 

“Gaetan can draw inspiration from some impressive previous winners, and with the fantastic training and opportunities that he will receive over the next four months, I have every confidence that we will have unearthed yet another racer than can make their mark in motor sport.”