Mighty Mardenborough takes first GP3 podium of season

• Jann Mardenborough opens his GP3 scorecard with third place in Barcelona
• Sir Chris Hoy in European Le Mans Series action in Italy this weekend
• Nissan GT Academy Team RJN heads to Germany for Nürburgring 24 Hours

LONDON – Nissan's Jann Mardenborough had a successful start to his GP3 season last weekend with a podium finish at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, ahead of Sunday's Formula One race. The young British racer headed straight to Spain after returning from Nissan's LM P1 Test in the U.S. last week and immediately made good on his promise to be a regular podium finisher in 2015.

Mardenborough had his work cut out for him in race one on Saturday as he had only managed to take 15th place on the grid due to a red flag, but an incredible drive saw him work his way through the field, all the way up to fourth by the checkered flag. He produced another spirited drive in race two, offering a great example of professional race craft before taking third place and his first podium of the new GP3 season.

"I managed to get past a few cars at the start but then got mugged into turn one," said Mardenborough. "I decided to sit tight and bide my time, which worked out well as I was able to then fight for the last podium place. Who knows what the result would have been if I had got through turn one without any dramas? I have worked hard over the winter on my driving style, and now everything I learned last year has helped me this weekend. I can't wait for the next race now to see what I can do with a good qualifying position."

Mardenborough wasn't the only Nissan LM P1 driver in single-seater action last weekend. Lucas Ordonez was on track at Motegi in Japan in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship – where he finished in the top six in all three races – and Max Chilton was in Indianapolis, racing in the Indy Lights series where he bagged points and a podium.

Sir Chris Hoy Looking to Follow Up on Silverstone Win at IMOLA

After their brilliant debut in the new LM P3 class at Silverstone, Sir Chris Hoy and his Ginetta-Nissan teammate Charlie Robertson will be going all out this coming weekend for win No. 2 of 2015. They face stiff competition from the other side of their own garage in the shape of 2014 GT Academy Europe winner, Gaetan Paletou and Mike Simpson, who will be out to grab the top step of the podium this time out.

Recently announced Nissan LM P1 racer Mark Shulzhitskiy will jump into the Lanan Racing Ginetta-Nissan for this event, hoping to get as much track time as possible as he prepares for his LM P1 debut at Le Mans.

The four-hour race gets underway this Sunday at 14:00 CET.

Nürburgring 24 Hours is This Weekend

One of the hardest challenges for GT teams and drivers is the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Nissan's participation is particularly poignant this year after the events of VLN 1 in March.

The line-up on the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN GT-R consists of three of Nissan's LM P1 squad – Alex Buncombe (GB), Michael Krumm (GER) and Lucas Ordonez (ESP) – along with Michael and Lucas' fellow Super GT star, Kazuki Hoshino (JAP). The eponymous Schulze Motorsport team will also run a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and the Schulze brothers will be joined by GT Academy winners Florian Strauss and Jordan Tresson.

"This will be my third Nürburgring 24 Hours and I am as excited as ever to race on the Nordschleife," said Ordonez. "Last year I got the flu, and by the time we got to race day I could barely get out of bed so I couldn't race, which was very frustrating. I'm really looking forward to this year's race. We have a strong line up, a strong car and a strong team. The competition is very tough but we will fight as hard as we can. We need to stay steady, stay focused and enjoy it. We have some great tires from Michelin which I am excited about, especially when you consider that the GT-R that won at Bathurst was on Michelins!"

The Nürburgring 24 Hours starts at 16:00 CET this Saturday.

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