Racing dream is one ‘drive’ away for Rustington man

Avid console gamer Jack O’Neill, of Manor Gardens, has been selected to take part in a prestigious racing camp after he proved his skills on the PlayStation were top notch.

The 20-year-old trainee accountant had been taking part in the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy National Finals, which saw more than 161,000 entries from across the UK vying for the top spot.

Jack, who is already an accomplished go-kart driver, qualified as one of the UK’s six fastest entries, after he showed his racing flair on computer console game Gran Turismo 5 (GT5), during the national finals, held at British Racing Drivers’ Club clubhouse at Silverstone racing circuit, home of the British Grand Prix.

He will now have a chance to become a professional driver, speeding around the track in a Nissan 370Z, at one of the motoring world’s most testing events – the Dubai 24 Hour Race, next year.

An emotional Jack said: “It’s fantastic to have been a part of this whole experience.

“I went there not really expecting a result and didn’t know how I would get on against the other competitors who had all trained a lot more than me, so I have huge respect for them.

“I’m still in shock that I’m now going to race camp to battle against winners from all over Europe.

“I got through to the national final after playing the GT5 game on the Nissan stand at Goodwood with my dad, so to come this far is unbelievable!”

Jack can now look forward to returning with the other five national finalists to Silverstone, later this month.

He will go head-to-head in a battle of survival at the boot camp for aspiring racing drivers, that will see only one of the six national representatives progressing to the final two days to race against the champions from eight other European countries.

Last year saw Britain’s Jann Mardenborough win the virtual-to-real competition.

Jann has had a whirlwind few months since he took the title.

Jann is now a professional driver, racing the speedy Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and has achieved a podium finish in this year’s Dubai 24-hour as well as notable results in the British GT Championships.