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Matthew Simmons wins 2015 GT Academy

Matthew Simmons, 2015 GT Academy winner

Matthew Simmons is Australia’s latest high-achiever in the international motorsport arena. The 26-year-old has just topped a field of 30 finalists to win the 2015 GT Academy, which will land him a race seat with Nissan in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January next year.

Simmons’ started the final race of the International Camp from pole position and was fighting for the lead until his 370Z suffered mechanical problems and he dropped off the pace. He was still in the running for the overall win, however and was over the moon when he named the winner.

“I genuinely can’t believe it. I’m on top of the world,” Simmons said. “Unfortunately a mechanical problem took the race out of my hands, but that’s motorsport and you can’t hide that, and I think in the early stages of the race I really showed the potential of what I can do.

“The wait on the podium was killing me, but when Rob said my name I had to do a double take. I can’t believe he said it, and I’m now a racing driver!

“My journey has been massive in the last 18 months to here. I’ve had so many people supporting my dream, and they’ve given me so much confidence and made me believe I could achieve what I’ve wanted for so long—to become a racing car driver.

“The GT Academy program is amazing. You can really tell the driver development program trains you to become an athlete, and they teach you all the aspects, so by the time you reach that pinnacle and you’re at Dubai 24 Hours, you’re ready to take on the world.”

All the best to Matt, we look forward to following his career. He has some lofty shoes to fill, with Nismo’s GT Academy team winning the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour and former GT Academy alumni Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordonez mixing with the world’s best in LMP1 at Le Mans.

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Nissan GTR GT3 wins 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour

Nissan GTR GTR wins 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour

A factory-backed Nissan team stood atop the Bathurst podium for the first time since that pack of arseholes win back in 1992. Katsumasa Chiyo drove the #35 GTR Nismo GT3 to victory with a perfectly timed charge for the lead in a two-lap sprint for the chequered flag.

That final sprint came courtesy of the 20th Safety Car period of the race which, thankfully, was over in time to see the race decided under green flag conditions. At the start of the second last lap the Nissan was in third place, by Hell Corner Chiyo had moved into P2 and by Griffins Bend he had the lead. Never challenged he crossed the line with a relatively comfortable gap back to the chaos going on behind him.

You can read more detailed coverage of the race elsewhere, all we’ll add to our thoughts on the race is that we would have loved to have seen the #15 Phoenix Audi R8 win. In the opening hour or so Markus Winkelhock was a class above the rest of the field. It was beautiful to watch as the gap back to second visibly widened with each lap.

At the end, in that dramatic run from Forrest Elbow to the flag, the #15 car went from almost taking second place, to being relegated to fourth to crossing the line in P2 in a move that we’re still yet to see on video (Channel 7 we’ll get to you later).

Overall, though, the Bathurst 12 Hour is a truly great race. Why would you watch six hours of supertaxis when you can watch 12 hours of bona fide supercars! Watching the GT cars fly across the top of the mountain is perhaps one of the finest motor racing spectator experiences on offer in Australia. And seven different brands in the top seven says all you need to know about GT racing and is part of what makes it so enjoyable to watch.

Each brand has its own unique sound. Those Marc Racing V8s are a pretty cool concept, but they sound like every other V8 Supercar in that god forsaken series. In the GT category there’s V12s, V10, V8s, V6s and flat-sixes. The Bentleys and Mercedes have a gutteral growl, the Audis shriek, the 458s shriek a bit more. Each has its own character as the drivers work through the gears. The Nissan less clinical than you might think. The Porsche is just different to everything else out there.

It’s believeable. Seeing racecars genuinely based on their roadgoing counterparts respects the paying punter much more than the direction V8SC has taken. I don’t like being treated like a fool, thankfully with GT racing that is not the case.

Slowly, but surely, the crowds are catching on too. It was a record crowd for the 12 Hour this year and while still a long way off the crowds for the 1000km race the gap is closing. Of course, the VB and Winnie blue factor is a bit lower as well.

If you love motorsport and haven’t yet made it to the Bathurst 12 Hour, give yourself a kick up the arse and start planning for 2016!

2015 Bathurst 12 Hour top 7

  1. #35 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 – 269 laps
  2. #15 Audi R8 LMS Ultra – 269 laps
  3. #97 Aston Martin V12 Vantage – 269 laps
  4. #10 Bentley Continental GT3 – 269 laps
  5. #36 Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3 – 269 laps
  6. #49 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 – 268 laps
  7. #32 Lamboghini Gallardo GT3 – 268 laps

[Pic: Instagram]

UPDATE: Nissan’s video wrap and press release have been added below.

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