Jann Mardenborough
Updated: Wikipedia source
Jann Alexander Mardenborough ( YAHN men-buh-ruh; born 9 September 1991) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for HRT Ford Performance. In 2011, he became the third and youngest winner of the GT Academy competition, beating 90,000 entrants to earn a professional racing contract with Nissan. He had no previous motorsport experience, having played sim racing video games instead. During his career, he has finished on the podium in his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, won races and contended for titles in GT3 and junior formula cars, and competed at the highest level in Super GT, Super Formula and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Following his GT Academy win, Mardenborough was rewarded with a drive for Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hour race in 2012, finishing third in class. Subsequently, he competed full-time in the British GT Championship, scoring a race victory and challenging for the title. In 2013, he competed in the European and British Formula 3 championships, before moving to the GP3 Series for 2014 and 2015. He was a race winner in GP3, and also finished second overall in the Toyota Racing Series in 2014. He also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing third in the LMP2 class on his debut in 2013 and helping his team lead the category for 14 hours the following year. He competed for Nissan Motorsports in the top LMP1 class of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, but the team withdrew from the series after one race because of a very uncompetitive car. In 2016, Mardenborough made the move to race in Japan, where he would compete in the top-level Super GT and Super Formula championships. In the 2016 season, he won a race and was a title contender in the lower GT300 class of Super GT, while also finishing runner-up in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. In 2017, he moved up to the top GT500 class, where he would race until the end of 2020, scoring a single podium finish and contending for wins on multiple occasions. 2017 was his only season in Super Formula, where he took a pole position. In 2015, Mardenborough was named as one of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world by Sports Pro Media. The 2023 film Gran Turismo is loosely based on his actual career.