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Ricardo Sanchez is Your GT Academy International Champ

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Ricardo SanchezRicardo Sanchez of Mexico has won the title of Nissan PlayStation GT Academy International Champion and will now go on to four months in Nissan’s driver development program before inevitably making his professional debut for the Nissan NISMO race team in the January 2015 running of the Dubai 24 Hour race.

Sanchez came out of six-day Race Camp as the top dog out of 28 competitors from six different countries. He just barely managed to topple Aussie Josh Muggleton, winning the final race by 6/10 of a second. The finish was so close that it required deliberation among the judges, who included: ex-F1 test driver Dani Clos, V8 Supercar legend Rick Kelly, ex-F1 racer Karun Chandhok, Rally Driver and Drift King Abdo Feghali, Thai Formula racer Tor Graves, and head judge Rob Barff.

“I’m very proud of all the guys. They’ve put in a massive amount of effort and come an enormously long way, said Barff. “The journey might be over for most, but for Ricardo the journey has just begun. He now starts the hard part – the driver development program – and I look forward to seeing him at Dubai.”

Ricardo SanchezRichardo Sanchez told Nissan that his goal is to win at Le Mans and Nürburgring, which certainly shows some moxie. Sanchez will look to follow in the successful footsteps of GT Academy winners like Lucas Ordoñez and Jann Mardenborough.

What will it take for Sanchez to do so? According to Barff, it’s simple: “Listen to the coaching. Drive fast. Don’t crash!”