Jann Mardenborough, left, talks to Red Bull Racing’s Andy Damerun.
If Gran Turismo ever needs to defend the use of its “The Real Driving Simulator” tagline, exhibit A will be Jann Mardenborough.
Mardenborough, who learned racing from gaming and broke into the racing world by beating 90,000 other competitors in Nissan and Playstation’s GT Academy in 2011, has entered Red Bull’s driver development program and will race in the GP3 series for Arden.
Mardenborough has been competing in British and European Formula 3, and despite the differences he feels that experience has prepared him for his next challenge.
“I feel ready for GP3,” Mardenborough said in an Arden press release. “I’ve prepared well and I have all the right people around me to help my development so I can fully focus on my racing. Formula 3 has taught me so many things, both in the car and out of the car, both mentally and physically. It was a great stage in my development and I’m sure the skills I’ve learnt there will help me in GP3 and beyond. I’m excited to work with Arden. My initial impressions of them are excellent; they have a lot of experience and great success over the years.
“I haven’t raced the GP3 car yet, but going on initial testing, I prefer the GP3 car to an F3 car. The power is very addictive! This season is my opportunity to impress more people in the sport who make the decisions on who makes it into F1 and who doesn’t and I’m going to give it my best shot.”
Andy Damerun, Red Bull’s Driver Development Manager, said Mardensborough’s success might be the start of a new path for aspiring drivers.
“The traditional route to F1 of karting and single-seaters is a tried-and-tested success, but Nissan and PlayStation have gone down a very different road and started to find some very talented drivers who have been doing all their practising on a games console,” Damerun said.
Images from the GT Academy Facebook Page.
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