Nissan GB

NISSAN AT THE 2012 CHOLMONDELEY PAGEANT OF POWER

• Three places in the GT Academy UK final to be won
• Last year's GT Academy winner, Jann Mardenborough, to drive GT-R Track Pack

Nissan has created an action packed programme of events for this year's Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (15-17 June), in Cheshire. Visitors to the show will be able to enter the highly acclaimed virtual to reality Nissan PlayStation® GT Academy competition, meet the 2011 GT Academy Champion Jann Mardenborough and take a close look at a range of Nissan's latest performance machinery, including the stunning new GT-R Track Pack.

One of the highlights of the show will be a GT Academy Wild Card contest. Over 100,000 UK gamers have already entered this year's sofa to professional racing driver competition.  At this year's Pageant of Power three lucky winners will claim an automatic place in the GT Academy National Final, by-passing the PlayStation online Gran Turismo® qualifying rounds that run until 24 June. The overall prize for GT Academy 2012? An intensive training programme before racing a Nissan 370Z GT4 car in the prestigious 2013 Dubai 24 Hour International race.

In 2011, Jann Mardenborough became the first British winner of GT Academy.  He has since gone on to compete against some of the world's top drivers and became part of the first ever all-gamer team that took a podium finish at this year's Dubai 24 Hours. Jann has now been rewarded with a drive in the powerful Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. The 20-year-old recently recorded a magnificent pole position and podium finish in the British GT race at the Nürburgring.

Jann will be attending this year's Pageant of Power, taking part in the high-octane programme of events. The 20-year-old Brit will be driving a Nissan GT-R during a series of time trial runs around the 1.2 mile circuit, set against the stunning backdrop of Cholmondeley Castle.

Jann Mardenborough said: "Back in June of last year, I had not even sat in a racing car before. When I entered GT Academy, it never crossed my mind that I would go onto win the competition. I am now racing at world famous circuits such as Monza and Nürburgring, it's amazing! I'm really looking forward to meeting people at the Pageant of Power that fancy entering the GT Academy Wild Card contest. I will do my best to pass on some useful tips."

For Pageant of Power racing fans who think they have what it takes to follow in Jann's footsteps, they can enter this year's GT Academy competition by visiting the Nissan area located in the ‘Car Marquees Zone', where there will be a range of Nissan cars on show including the GT-R Track Pack, 370Z GT Edition, and Juke Shiro.

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Note: GT Academy entrants must be aged 18 years or over, be resident in the UK or Ireland and hold a full driving licence. Other eligibility criteria apply. For further information about GT Academy visit www.facebook.com/gtacademy

About Nissan in the UK

• Nissan Sunderland Plant manufactures the Nissan Qashqai, the Nissan Note and the Nissan Juke and will manufacture the 100% electric Nissan LEAF from 2013
• Production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles begins this year
• Total plant volume since 1986 stands at more than 6.4 million units with 80 per cent of production exported to 97 markets worldwide
• Total investment made and announced since then is £3.3 billion
• 480,485 units were produced at Sunderland plant in 2011
• Sunderland Plant currently employs 5,400 people
• Nissan's European Design Centre is located in Paddington, London and employs around 50 people
• Nissan's European Technical Centre is based in Cranfield, Bedfordshire and employs around 500 people