The interview with hakkiJunior about GT Academy

GT Academy is finished (has ended). Erik “hakkiJunior” Leštach came from England back home to Slovakia so we could prepare this interview with him. How was his week on the famous Silverstone racing circuit? What did he go through and what awaits him in e-sport? You will learn this and more inside!

Hi, hakki! You are finally back home, so what are your first feelings after returning from GT Academy in England?
My first feelings when I returned home were mostly positive. It was a great experience for me. I learned many things about cars, driving cars and a lot about myself as well.

Would you like to go to a similar event in the future again? What did you think about it since the beginning? We didn’t have much information so what is your opinion?
Sure I would like to go. You can’t buy experience like that – to live for a week right on a circuit, to drive everyday with instructors who help you to get better and better, to drive Nissan 370Z Nismo, modified 307Z and GTR. On the other hand it was a lot of hard work mostly with video cameras – I spent one to two hours daily in front of them. We had a high quality food there but small portions and I sometime felt that they are trying to put us under pressure so they could see how we would behave. Overall I don’t think there was anything I could criticize. Though I felt that it is a lot about marketing at the end, but what isn’t these days, right?

You are right. So what did you do besides racing? What did you go through?
We really didn’t do much besides racing. We had a few lectures, a bit of fitness and a lot of work with cameras. But one lecture in particular caught my attention. They talked about how our psychical and physical parts are bound together and influence each other. It gave me a lot and I think everyone should hear it. Right after this lecture was the worst discipline ever – boot camp. I don’t think there is a need to say anything more about it, the video says it all. And the cameras – well, each region had their own film crew and before each challenge I had to tell them my feelings and opinions on the challenge and who could win it. We did about 10 video shots a day and if something went wrong we had to remake it – 3 or 4 times give or take. The most common were “acted interviews” where we players talked in front of the cameras about the disciplines or just about anything. All of this was really exhausting, but I tried to get through it and don’t think about it much.

You mentioned boot camp. How was it? Were you totally exhausted?
I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. They divided us into pairs – I was running with Petr from the Czech Republic. I thought I would throw up by the second round. But in the end our mentors complimented me on my team work. Running with Petr was great; he was faster than me so he pulled me forward.

Who were the mentors? Were there some famous people among them?
Our mentors were Alex Buncombe and Jozef Král. Alex drives GT3 series for Nismo team and the winner of GT Academy will be his co-driver next year. Jozef was driving GP2 last year and wants to go to F1. It was great that I could talk to him in my native language, so we could talk in details. Sometimes even they didn’t know what was waiting for us in the disciplines, so they couldn’t tell us what to prepare for but it wasn’t their fault. I got to know both of them and they are really nice guys. We made a good team and talked about lots of things not only about driving.

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Which racing discipline did you like the most and in which one did you do best? How would you rate your achievements compared to other drivers?
I greatly enjoyed all the disciplines but if I have to choose just one it was Gymkhana without any doubt. It was on an airport between hangars. We drove 370Z which drifted all by itself. We had to know how to drift, make donuts and be insanely fast. We were quickly changing from wet to dry grounds and that made it even more complicated. All the drivers in our region were surprisingly on the same level. I always tried to perform such I would finish at least second or third. Over the week I improved noticeably and drove much faster. It was proved in the last discipline which I won.

So how far did you get overall?
I got to top21 of 750.000 players who participated in this competition. My goal was to get into top7 which would be the first place in our region. I am not really satisfied with my final score but I am happy that I gained new experience and got faster and better in driving. So I got a lot of experience and made sure that this is what I want to do in my life.

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So what happened or what were the reasons for the organizers to tell you that you are finished? Were you sad or angry?
The mentors of each region took care of firing. We were the last region where we didn’t know who is going to the finale. The morning before the finale they knocked on the door of my hotel room and started to evaluate my accomplishments of the week. They said that my performance was up and down that I got really better and faster at the end of the week. The only discipline I could do much better was “traffic challenge” – we had to run around GTRs and I didn’t show enough motivation and hunger for winning but otherwise was everything OK.I almost started to believe that it was me who would go to the finale but then Alex said the word “unfortunately” and I knew I was out. To tell the truth I was a bit surprised by their reasons. They said I had a bad attitude toward the competition that I didn’t had the look “I want to win this thing”. I don’t really think this is a relevant argument, but it’s ok. If I was sad? I was sad because of their reasons. If I was arrogant or unfriendly I would understand it but I think I was friendly and talked to the instructors like to any other people. I did everything to be the best and I am satisfied with my accomplishments. But you can be always faster, right?

You raced on the famous Silverstone racing circuit – how did it feel to be on a track where so many motorsport legends went and F1 races happened?
I used to race on this track only in games and then suddenly I am standing in 370Z Nismo pitch boxes, empty race track in front of me and an instructor next to me telling me to ”hit it as hard as possible”. So when I was doing what he told me I didn’t even realize that I was on this particular track.

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You brought a certificate from England, didn’t you? Would you tell us what is it?
Sure, we had an opportunity to get MSA license. It is a racing license but for UK only. So if I ever move to UK and decide to race there in national series I can.

Do you plan to expend you license? Are real races the way you want to take?
Right now I don’t have any reason to get another license at all. Maybe later. You can be sure about it! I love real racing more than anything else. I have known that I want to race since I was a kid but it is not easy to get to do it. GT Academy just made it sure for me that I will try to get to it closer and closer.

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Are you planning to go to any similar event or are you now focusing on gaming? What about ESWC qualification?
There is LAN in Brno waiting for me now where it will be decided if I go to MCR or not. Yes and ESWC qualification as well. So these two events I have to prepare and concentrate for. It won’t be easy because I didn’t have much time because of GT Academy. But everything is possible so we will see what will happen.

Well then I wish you good luck! Do you want to say anything to your fans?
I would like to say that I tried not to make fool of myself there and that I prepared as well as I could. I stopped drinking and taking drugs and after six years of playing Trackmania I went out of my cave so I would get used to the sunshine. And it really helped. Just kidding. Seriously I would like to say to everyone who supported me, thank you a lot. GT Academy was one big experience and I learned a lot. Mostly never to give up.

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