B'lorean placed third in int'l race camp

Bangalorean Abhinay Bikkani has won a spot on the podium in the final race at Nissan’s GT Academy International’s 2014 Race Camp in Silverstone. 

Abhinay, 24, an aspiring race driver, won the third place in the Nissan and PlayStation GTA finals after John Muggleton of Australia and the overall winner Ricardo Sanchez of Mexico. The event that took place on August 14 saw the participation of 27 more participants from across the world. 

Abhinay, to begin with, won his place at Race Camp from the hundreds of Gran Turismo gamers who entered the competition across Australia, India, Mexico, the Middle East and Thailand. Having won the India National Finals, he made it to Silverstone as one of six to represent India. 

Kenichiro Yomura, president, Nissan India Operations, said, “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 programme. This indicates a great motor sports career for him in future.”

Over the course of six days, the competitors were put through their paces both on and off track.

Gradual eliminations led to the penultimate day of Buggy and Dogfight challenges and the finale, which formed the decision from each judge on which of their two best drivers would take the wheel of the 370Z race cars for an eight-lap race of Silverstone’s National circuit.

Now, Bikkani has been given an opportunity to participate in a four-month event, the most advanced and successful driver development programme in the world before racing for the Nissan NISMO race team in the international Dubai 24-hour race in January 2015.