Did Jann Mardenborough really win Le Mans?

No. As of 2025, Jann Mardenborough has not won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His best result at the race is a third place in the LMP2 class (ninth overall) on his debut in 2013. Public confusion often stems from the dramatized portrayal in the 2023 film “Gran Turismo,” which blends timelines and emphasizes a Le Mans podium without constituting a win.

What actually happened at Le Mans

Mardenborough, a British driver who rose to prominence via the Nissan GT Academy, made his Le Mans debut in 2013 with Greaves Motorsport in LMP2. Alongside teammates Michael Krumm and Lucas Ordoñez, he finished third in class—a significant achievement for a rookie—and ninth overall. He returned in 2015 with Nissan’s experimental LMP1 GT-R LM Nismo program, but the effort was plagued by reliability and performance issues, and the cars did not finish. He has not recorded an overall or class victory at Le Mans.

Why the confusion

The 2023 feature film “Gran Turismo,” inspired by Mardenborough’s story, compresses events and heightens drama around Le Mans. While it showcases a podium moment to illustrate his rapid ascent from sim racing to elite motorsport, it does not reflect an actual Le Mans win. It also blurs the distinction between an overall victory and a class result—at Le Mans, both are celebrated, but only overall winners are considered to have “won Le Mans” in the conventional sense.

Le Mans record at a glance

The following snapshot outlines Mardenborough’s known participations and outcomes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, highlighting the difference between overall and class results.

• 2013: Greaves Motorsport (LMP2, Zytek-Nissan) — 3rd in LMP2; 9th overall.
• 2015: Nissan GT-R LM Nismo (LMP1) — Team entries failed to finish; no classification.

Taken together, these attempts underscore a noteworthy debut-class podium but confirm no overall or class win at the event to date.

Career highlights beyond Le Mans

Mardenborough’s trajectory remains notable: from winning the GT Academy in 2011 to building a professional career across Europe and Japan in categories including GP3, Formula 3, the European Le Mans Series, Super GT, and Super Formula. He has earned competitive results and podiums in these series, particularly in Japan’s highly regarded racing ladder, reinforcing his status as one of the most prominent sim-to-pro success stories.

Understanding what “winning Le Mans” means

Le Mans crowns both overall and class winners across multiple categories (e.g., Hypercar, LMP2, and GT). Casual references to “winning Le Mans” usually mean the overall victory; however, class winners are also officially recognized. Mardenborough has neither an overall nor a class win at Le Mans, though he does have a class podium.

Summary

Jann Mardenborough has not won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His top result is a third-place class finish in LMP2 in 2013, with a subsequent non-finish in LMP1 in 2015. The misconception largely comes from the dramatized depiction in “Gran Turismo,” which emphasizes a podium moment but not an actual Le Mans victory.

Did Jann Mardenborough get a podium in Le Mans?

Jann Mardenborough went from racing laps on Gran Turismo to standing on the Le Mans podium after a breakthrough win in GT Academy.

Did Jann Mardenborough really set a lap record at Le Mans?

No, Jann Mardenborough did not set a lap record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While the movie Gran Turismo depicted him breaking the Le Mans lap record, this was a fictional embellishment for dramatic effect. In reality, he achieved a race lap record at the Hockenheimring in 2014, the year after his first Le Mans race.
 
This video shows a lap record in Gran Turismo’s movie representation of the race: 44sClipYouTube · Feb 4, 2025

• The Movie’s Departure from Fact: The film Gran Turismo altered the timeline of events to create a satisfying storyline where Mardenborough breaks the Le Mans record, which aligns with his ongoing struggle to prove his abilities as a sim racer. 
• Mardenborough’s Actual Achievements: The real-life Mardenborough did, however, achieve a podium finish (third in class and ninth overall) at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and later set the best race lap in the GP3 single-seater series at Hockenheim in 2014. 

Does Jann Mardenborough win Le Mans in the movie?

But to make the movie more dramatic, the writers made the three Le Mans winners consist of Mardenborough and two of the fictional runners-up.

How much of the Gran Turismo film is true?

The Gran Turismo movie is based on a true story, depicting the rise of real-life racing driver Jann Mardenborough, but it takes significant creative liberties for dramatic effect. While the core premise of a gamer becoming a pro racer is accurate, the film changes the timeline of key events, creates fictional characters (like the mentor, Jack Salter), and dramatizes aspects of Mardenborough’s life, such as his relationship with his father and the context of the Nürburgring crash. Some inaccuracies also exist regarding the details of the GT Academy competition itself. 
What’s Accurate

• Real-life inspiration: The film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a gamer who used the Gran Turismo video game to enter and win the GT Academy competition, leading to a career in professional motorsports. 
• GT Academy: The concept of the GT Academy, a program by Nissan and Sony to find and train racing drivers from the Gran Turismo game, is real and was a successful initiative. 
• Practical racing: The movie uses real-world racing footage, real cars, and real drivers to create an authentic and visceral experience, rather than relying solely on CGI. 
• Early career: Mardenborough did achieve a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the film accurately depicts his early success after winning the GT Academy. 

What’s Fictionalized or Changed

• Jann’s motivation: The film portrays a lifelong dream of racing, but in reality, Mardenborough was initially motivated by the opportunity the GT Academy presented rather than a lifelong dream of becoming a racer. 
• Timeline: The film condenses and alters the timeline of events, such as the Nürburgring crash, which occurred nearly two years after his Le Mans debut in the movie’s timeline. 
• Fictional characters: Mardenborough’s relationship with his father was dramatized, and the mentor character, Jack Salter, is an amalgamation of real individuals and not a single person. 
• GT Academy details: The film incorrectly implies the GT Academy was a new program at the time of Mardenborough’s win, when it had actually been running for several years already. 
• Lap record: Mardenborough set a lap record at the Hockenheimring, not at Le Mans as shown in the film, according to this IMDb news piece.