Egyptian driver Tarek Khedr is one of the eight finalists of the Nissan GT Academy Middle East regional final 2013 in Mirdif City Centre Mall in Dubai which was held from 9-12 January. This year was the first-time ever for the competition to open for Middle East racers. Khedr will now travel to Silverstone Racing Circuit in March for the chance to become a real Nissan professional driver. Khedr is the only Egyptian among the world's top 50 karting drivers. Three-time Egypt's national karting champion (Rotax Max Challenge) in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Khedr is also the Middle East's No 1 in EasyKart. The regional final was held over two days. On day one, 32 qualifiers played four gaming sessions on play station under the supervision of local racing professionals. The first session was five minutes of training. The second was three laps taking the best timing lap. Khedr came in 16th place. The third was a four-lap session taking the total time in order to measure the constancy of the driver on the track. Khedr finished 7th. The last session was one flying lap to measure how fast you are on the track. Khedr came in 11th place. At the end of the day the top 16 players were chosen out of 32. The top players also, entered a media test, an interview conducted by 13 journalists with the players. On day two, it was three gaming tests again but on a different track. The first one was a training session. Khedr finished in 9th place in four laps session. He came in13th place in one flying lap test. The competitors then moved to autocross track for auto driving tests using the Nissan 370Z. The last session was dedicated to fitness. “I was not too fast on the gaming. I always finished between 9th and 11th place but I was good at the fitness test and media skill assessments,” Khedr told Al-Ahram Weekly. GT Academy is an international virtual-to-reality competition. It gives a chance for gamers of PlayStation's Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) to compete for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a real-life professional race car driver. GT5 is the fifth edition of the Gran Turismo sim racing video game series. Any player who proves his or her skill in the virtual world has a chance to go wheel-to-wheel in a real race car on a real circuit to win the grand prize — a spot on the Nissan racing team, and all the training and licensing needed to race in international events. GT Academy was created in 2008 by Sony Computer Entertainment and Polyphony Digital Inc in collaboration with Nissan Europe. It became hugely popular the world over with the launch of the US GT Academy in 2011. GT Academy now has dedicated competitions in Russia, the US and Germany as well as Europe. The Middle East competition will be open to residents of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab of Emirates and Lebanon. “Unfortunately, Egypt was not among the list of participating countries in the competition,” Khedr said. I took the risk and entered in the series racing online. I finished in 13th place. Afterwards, they said they had chosen me among the competitors that will participate in the Middle East regional final. I was so happy. I didn't expect it.” The journey from Virtual to Pro starts with a download of the contest via the PlayStation Store. The top Gran Turismo gamers are identified in a series of online time trials using pre-selected Nissan vehicles. Only the top 32 players are selected to participate in a National Final Event where they battle in special racing sleds during a series of live Gran Turismo 5 elimination rounds. The top 16 finishers of the National Final are then invited to take part in the final selection round. It is an intense six days Race Camp competition held at the world-famous Silverstone Racing track in England. Silverstone circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northampton shire villages of Silverstone and Whittle Bury. It is best known as home of the British Grand Prix, which first hosted in 1948 and which has been held on the circuit every year since 1987. It also hosted the first race of the Formula One world championship in 1950. Competitors jumps from the virtual cars of the PS3 game to actual Nissan sports cars. They are tested on their strength, fitness, stamina, mental agility, driving skills, reaction speeds and performance under pressure. Judges look for pure talent, drive, passion and dedication to determine who really has what it takes to become a professional racecar driver. “Only one winner will train with Nissan team for five months to compete in the Le Mans 24-hour race,” Khedr said. “It is an endurance car race. If the driver's performance is good, Nissan can sign a private contract with him to be the driver in the Nissan team, as was the case with the winner of the GT Academy in 2008 Lucas Ordonez.” Khedr's sponsor is Snefro Al-Ghazawi, owner of Noos International Karting track and OZO Limousine. On how Khedr will prepare for the Silverstone race in England, Al-Ghazawi who is a driver on the Noos team, said, “Khedr travels twice a month to Sharm El-Sheikh to train on the Noos International Karting Circuit. It improves his physical and mental form in addition to driving skills. He also, tries to find a professional trainer for fitness exercises.”
