SA’s top 25 head to GT Academy finals at Kyalami

After two months of online racing and live qualifiers, South Africa’s best digital motorsport competitors have been announced to go head-to-head this weekend at the national finals, to be held at Kyalami in Midrand.

The finalists come from four main regions in the Republic, with 13 hailing from Gauteng, nine from the Western Cape, two from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape. After competing against one another in the virtual world through Gran Turismo 5 and PlayStation 3, the finalists will meet in a series of challenges at the home of South African motorsport which will include more console racing, driving exercises, a physical fitness test, and a media session.

After the initial exercises, judges will determine a further top 16, and that group in turn will be whittled down to “the best of the best”, a top eight – who will set off for race camp at the Silverstone circuit in England in their quest to become a professional racing driver with the Nissan motorsport programme.

“We have seen some amazing feats since October last year and with an extremely high level of affection for motorsport we are confident that the eventual top eight finalists will all be strong competitors and will do us proud in the UK,” says Gavin Rheeder, senior manager of product communications and marketing at Nissan South Africa.

The qualifiers are:

Gauteng

Jacobus Volschenk

Conrad Volschenk

Steven Pelser

David Peetham

Jonathan Mogotsi

Leon Misselhorn

Werner Misselhorn

Robert Prytz

Gerhard Rautenbach

Francis Aldrich

Driaan Nel

Jonathan Bentz

Hercules Du Preez

Western Cape

Teuns Erasmus

Ashley Oldfield

Jade Dafel

Fergus van Rooi

Nazeem Edwards

Andrew James

Mohammed Nasif Dalvie

Michael Bredenhand

Robin Van Merch

KZN

Jagedesen (Deon) Reddy

Wesley Robb

Eastern Cape

Louis Aylward