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There are no comparable competitions and no comparable talent program. Nissan's GT Academy is second to none. And she is looking for real talent. In 2011, the GT Academy brought a real gold coin to light. The talented and young Jann Mardenborough
Interview with a winner - Jann Mardenborough
At the beginning of the year, Jann was still a student at the time and was between school and university that year and didn't really know what to do with his life. Then he heard about the GT Academy. Jann knew about his skills on the PS3, but would his skills in the virtual world also be transferable to a real racetrack?
Since winning the third season of the GT Academy in June 2011, Jann has demonstrated impressively that he is not only a professional racing driver across the board, but one of the most exciting young racing talent of recent years.
The 22-year-old is driving for Arden International Motorsport in the GP3 series this year. Jann had a hard time at his home Grand Prix in Silverstone, England, two weeks ago. After struggling with tire problems in both races, he had to change something for Hockenheim.
The exam at Silverstone
"At Silverstone, I learned how important it is to use the tires properly," said Jann. “The team has worked very hard with me since the race, not only in the workshop, but also in the Red Bull Simulator. In the first race at Hockenheim I started from 13th place and took good care of my tires, while some of my competitors had to deal with significant tire problems before me. The high heat clearly played a role on Saturday and I was very happy that the team explained the importance of the tire situation over and over again so that I could still finish in a good eighth place. ”
The success in Hockenheim
Eighth place in race number 1 meant pole position for the second race on Sunday. Jann is known for keeping a clear head under pressure, and he had impressively demonstrated that on Sunday. He controlled the race from the start, drove an impressive start / finish win and won his first GP3 race.
"It had already been seen in the GP2 race and due to the high temperatures above 35 ° that both races in Hockenheim would be extremely tiresome," said Julian Rouse, Sporting Director at Arden International Motorsport Ltd. “Our focus was on using our tires as best we could. Jann and the team had a good strategy to get him into the top 8 so that he had a good starting position for the race on Sunday. In the second race, Jann cleared the way and triumphed excellently. Our goal was actually that he got used to the new situation, starting from pole and simply making the best of it. After all, Jann is still in his rookie year and he still has a lot to learn. But the fact that he then drives the race home just shows his class! ”
We took the chance and spoke to Jann in Hockenheim last weekend about his new life as a racing driver and his experiences since he won the GT Academy. You notice pretty quickly that you are not facing a virtual gamer, but a true professional racing driver who knows what he can - and wants.
“Every now and then I have to pinch myself”
Jann, you gambled on the Play Station a few years ago, now you are a real racing driver and compete against the best young talents in the GP3 series. Does it still feel like a dream?
"It's still a strange feeling. I've been following Formula 1 for as long as I can remember and have always hoped to get close to the pit lane. Now I drive in the GP3 and I am so close to Formula 1 and drive to the same racetracks as the premier class. I still have to pinch myself every now and then to understand that I am not dreaming.
You won the GT Academy in 2011, less than two years later you were on the podium in the 24h race in Le Mans, you had the chance to win the race this year, now you won your first GP3 race on Sunday - which event means the most to you today?
“Le Mans 2013 and 2014 were definitely the best moments of my young career. Driving in Le Mans is simply gigantic. We were very competitive in both years and I had a lot of fun. The same actually applies to the GP3 series. Here I got the opportunity to work closely with Arden on the development of the car, and that was clearly a highlight for me. ”
You did a lot of karting when you were young, why did you stop doing it?
“I started in-door karting when I was eight and it was a lot of fun, but when I was 11 the kart track was closed and there was no other way around, so I stopped karting on. I only started again when I won the GT Academy. ”
When you had to stop karting, were your dreams of a racing career buried?
"Yes, in a way, yes. I understood early on that if you don't have the necessary change, you won't find a chance to gain a foothold in motorsport. I should have won the lottery. But instead of dreaming about life as a racing driver, I preferred to concentrate on my school and my studies. ”
How did you get to Play Station?
“In the beginning it was just fun for me and a hobby. But I soon found this European competition very exciting because you drove online against the best virtual drivers from so many countries. So I started taking the whole thing a little more seriously, took part in the GT Academy and found myself in the grand finale. I worked so hard for it, I just couldn't miss this great opportunity from Nissan. ”
What can you learn from the Play Station that you can also transfer to the real race track?
"You mainly learn the racetracks and the routes, I use gaming and the simulator as a learning tool for new routes."
Do you still play a lot in your free time? Play Station?
“I played a lot before Le Mans to get to know the track very well. But I still play from time to time at home because I just have so much fun. "
You are a juror for the GT Academy European Race Camp this year, what do you need to bring to win the competition?
"You just have to be extremely committed and be your own worst critic, that helps you on the way to self-improvement. You also have to be determined and tackle each challenge with the idea that you want to win. You have to learn to understand where you can and must improve in order to always be able to do your best. ”
When you won the GT Academy back then and then gradually drove only in real racing cars, what was the most surprising thing for you?
“The speed was definitely surprising. If you were 19 in one Nissan GT-R Driving at 150mph (240 km / h) in Silverstone, that's just huge, because you don't have the words. It gives you such an adrenaline rush that you want more and more of it. The sheer speed was not only the most surprising, but also the greatest addiction I have ever experienced. ”
Have you ever really thought of the dangers or do they not play a role in your head?
“When you are so young, you don't start thinking about the dangers and consequences. You process so many other impressions that you actually suppress the other. But we all know that motorsport is dangerous and you do it with proper respect. It is important to understand that, but I don’t worry every day that my job is risky. ”
The motorsport circus has changed a lot over the past 30 years, do you think gaming could be a new area in motorsport?
"Yes, in any case! More and more teams are relying on simulators to test the car, because correct test drives are usually either prohibited or, if they take place, cost a lot of money. The gap between a simulator and real racing has become extremely small and I believe that simulators will be an important part of any racing team in the future. ”
Let's talk about fitness. How strong is the requirement here?
“It is really a very big aspect. It's not like we just sit in the living room and sit at the Play Station with our steering wheel. Fitness plays a huge part, especially in the GP3 vehicle, because you are exposed to very high G-forces. With our GT Academy program, however, we have great coaches and mentors at our side who prepare us well for every race and it definitely pays off. ”
You have now won your first GP3 race, very cool and relaxed from start to finish. How did you stay so calm?
“We were very competitive in the first race on Saturday and of course we learned a lot from Silverstone, where we hadn't exactly covered ourselves with fame. It was great to be competitive again at Hockenheim. The team didn't put any pressure on me for the second race, it was ultimately about dealing with this new situation and simply making the best of it. I had a good start and was able to control the speed as I wanted. If I wanted to push, I did, if I wanted to take it a little easier, I also had the opportunity. I only drink champagne when I win a race, not even when I'm on the podium. I haven't had champagne since February and it tasted even better on Sunday. I call it my "Winners Juice"! "
What are your expectations for the rest of the GP3 season?
“I want to score as many points as possible and of course continue to improve. One or the other podium would be nice and of course another victory would be great. ”
When comparing the LMP2 vehicle with the GP3 car, what are the biggest differences?
“The LMP2 car has a lot more downforce and is also more stable overall, it also has much better brakes. But you can't compare the actual racing style. At Le Mans, for example, attention was paid to fuel consumption and the tires; you definitely don't want a tire blocker or a flat tire. In a GP3 race you give 18 laps full throttle, you drive absolutely to the limit up to the black and white checkered flag. I like both racing series and could not favor either. I like the different challenges. "
And what is your brain doing?
Chris Gooder from Chimp Management has been working closely with the NISMO athletes together. Here he explains what chimp management is and how we can train our brains.
“In general, our job is to make drivers understand how their brains work. Of course it's a very complex process, so let's try to explain it using a simple model so that it makes sense. We simply give certain parts of the brain a name so that we can better deal with them. The part of the brain that is responsible for the primary instincts is called "chimp". The problem with that, however, is that when we tell people about it, it finally says "I have a monkey in my head", which of course is not the case. The other part of the brain that deals with problem solving, that makes plans and thinks rationally, that's the human part, the "human" part. "
“Simply put, the chimpy part will always fight human and both are in constant opposition. Your human part will always tell you how to act logically and rationally, while your chimp will tell you how emotionally you should steer.
“We differentiate between three parts of the brain: the front part is human, the back part is chimp. In between is the computer that stores all the information that we experience over the course of a lifetime. That is the information that you have learned. But it can also be motorized skills, i.e. skills that you do automatically. We always take the first hour of driving as a good example. You are sitting in the car for the first time and there are so many impressions that you think "I can never do it here". But little by little you get used to it and the processes of driving become routine. These skills are slowly being stored in the computer and you no longer think about what you are doing because you are doing it automatically.
“The key to success is programming your computer to do something automatically over and over again. And once you've done that, it becomes routine.
"The first step we take with a new driver is to show him the model. Taking Florian Strauss as an example, when we first met in the beginning of the year, we explained the model to him and we gave him two weeks to deal with it. He should pay close attention to which hemispheres of the brain showed up and when. He understood the system very quickly and is already using it very successfully. Another good example is the 24hrs race in Spa next weekend. He'll get there, and the emotional part of his brain will first ring a few alarm bells. He'll think that this could be dangerous, hopefully I won't make a mistake, hopefully I won't do anything embarrassing. These thoughts are controlled purely by emotions. But your human brain part gets up and gives you the confidence you need, namely that the last few weeks have been very successful, that you know what you can do and so on. You can see how the two halves of the brain work against each other, and you have to be able to clearly differentiate between them.
“Jann Mardenborough is now so far that we are focusing more and more on his human brain. Just accelerate and push, you won’t win a championship. We take a step back and take a more attentive approach to racing.
"At the end of the day, it's about learning to walk before you run."
Text and interviews by Jasmin Müller - in collaboration with autohub.de