Ahh well, Indian motorsports has something more to be proud of. Abhinay Bikkani managed to grab the third position in the last race of Nissan’s GT Academy International’s 2014 Race Camp in Silverstone, behind John Muggleton from Australia and Ricardo Sanchez from Mexico.
Abhinay got the chance to race among the best in the world when he won the India National Finals and was one of the 6 representatives from India.
Competing against thousands of participants from Australia, India, Mexico, Middle East and Thailand, he won the last podium finish among the 27 racers in total, a feat not to be taken lightly.
His mentor, Karun Chandhok was also mighty impressed with Abhinay. As per Chandhok, Abhinay has a lot of potential and is really good in practicing and qualifying and had his luck continued, he could have won. This is a great achievement for India as this is the first time our country has been a part of this and a podium right in the first year is a very commendable achievement.
Nissan’s attempt to democratize motorsports, so that it does not remain just for the rich but also for the talented, is a very interesting concept, which should be implemented by more and more manufacturers in the future.
Over the course of six days, the competitors were put through their paces both on and off track. They enjoyed some of the best racing instruction and mentoring in the world in a range of Nissan cars, including the mighty GT-R, the 370Z Nismo and 370Z race cars.
The competitors were judged on a series of challenges that included the Mud Mayhem assault course, Nissan Micra Stock Car racing, the Traffic Challenge in the Nissan GT-R, the Dirt Track Time Trial in the Nissan Juke, the head-to-head Gymkhana, Buggy Racing, and a head-to-head Dogfight pursuit race in Nissan 370Zs.
Each challenge was accompanied and assessed by their judges that included ex-F1 racer Karun Chandhok, ex-F1 test driver Dani Clos, V8 Supercar legend Rick Kelly, Rally Driver and Drift King Abdo Feghali and renowned Thai Formula racer Tor Graves.
The overall winner, the 24 year old Ricardo Sanchez, will now enjoy four months in one of the most advanced and successful driver development programmes in the world and then participate as a part of the Nissan NISMO race team in the international Dubai 24 Hour race in January 2015.
