This past weekend, the Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race was held at Mt. Panorama Circuit, ultimately resulting in Katsumasa Chiyo powering Nissan’s GT-R Nismo GT to the first place spot. Phoenix Racing’s Audi R8 LMS Ultra took the runner-up spot and Craft Bamboo Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage rounded out the podium.

There are a few awesome things about this race that you may have not even realized. First is the fact that the number 35 GT-R was crashed during qualifying the day before the race. The team pulled through the night and put the car back together. Second, this marks the first time a GT-R has won at Mt. Panorama since the original R32 GT-R won back-to-back in 1991 and 1992.

The third reason why this win for Nissan is so awesome is because two out of three of their drivers graduated from the GT Academy, Nissan and Sony’s international virtual-to-reality contest that allows the best Gran Turismo players to compete for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a real-life professional racecar driver. Florian Strauss, one of the three drivers of Nissan’s GT-R Nismo GT, has only been a professional driver for a year and a half. We can only imagine the dramatic turn his life took after winning the GT Academy.

This race was also the first that Bentley took part in at Bathurst. They brought two Continental GT3s to the party. The number 10 Continental GT3 was in the lead until the last lap where it was passed up in the final turn and crossed the line in 4th place. Not too shabby on Bentley’s part.

With the awesome driving and sportsmanship shown this weekend by the NISMO Athlete Global Team, we can’t wait to see how the team does this season.