LEICESTERSHIRE, UK - As the Donington 6 Hours approaches this weekend, Nissan's first GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez has added another 24-hour race to his schedule, as it was announced today that he would join the GT Academy Team RJN squad in the Spa 24 Hours at the end of the month.
Ordonez has already competed in three 24-hour races this year: Dubai, Nürburgring and Le Mans, so he was the obvious choice when Nissan needed an extra driver to race the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 at Spa. Lucas will bolster the already strong line-up of Jann Mardenborough, Alex Buncombe and Chris Ward when he competes in Nissan's GT3 challenger in one of the most grueling 24-hour races of the season.
Before then though Lucas is fully focused on Donington Park where he will race in the second of the four 2012 European Le Mans Series races this weekend. Tom Kimber-Smith returns to the No.1 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan where he will race alongside Alex Brundle and of course, Lucas.
"I've never been to Donington before but I've heard it is a great track with some fast corners, which is good for our car," explained Ordonez. "The weather forecast looks pretty wet at the moment but I think we showed at Le Mans that we can be competitive in wet conditions so that won't be a problem for us.
"Our target is the same as ever; to go out there and win," he continued. "I have two fast team mates, there is a good feeling in the team and we are all hungry for victory. Alex, Tom and the team are playing at home so I'm sure we are on for a good result."
Donington may be new territory for Lucas but for most British drivers corners like Redgate and the Craner Curves are very familiar ground, as Alex Brundle explains.
"This will actually be the first time I've driven an LMP2 car on a circuit that I already know so it'll be interesting to see how the car feels at Donington," said Brundle. "I've got a good record there and I like the track a lot, especially through the Craner Curves and into the Old Hairpin. Those are areas that Lucas will have to learn quickly but I think the most critical part for all of us will be the Melbourne loop as we need to make sure we can pass traffic quickly.
"The track has the potential to be very slippery in the wet," he continued. "But that should play to our advantage. It's good to have Tom (Kimber-Smith) back in the car as he is the benchmark in LMP2 and both Lucas and I can learn from him."
The track action gets underway this Friday when the cars head out for the first practice session at 1120hrs.
Catch the Action
Qualifying takes place this Saturday at 1345hrs local time with the main race getting underway on Sunday at 1155hrs.
Race updates will be available on twitter via @nissan_ontrack
Live timing and live streaming is available at www.europeanlemansseries.com
Live updates from the track throughout the weekend at www.dailysportscar.com
And all the action will be live as always on www.radiolemans.com
# # #