Oliver Turvey
Oliver Jonathan Turvey is a British professional racing driver. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner. His career has been supported by the Racing Steps Foundation. He is currently signed to McLaren as a test driver.
Career history
Karting
Like many aspiring junior racing drivers, Penrith-born Turvey began his karting career at eight years old. After three seasons, he progressed to the British Cadet Championship in 1999, in which he was placed fifth overall, and was selected as a member of the English National team, which won that year's Inter-nation Championship. In 2000, Turvey graduated to the Junior Yamaha National Championship and won the title. After a season in Junior TKM, he moved on to the Junior Rotax class in 2002 and added that title to his collection.Car racing
Turvey made his formula single seater debut in the 2003 British Formula Renault Winter Series and spent the remainder of the season competing in Zip Formula, in which he was the highest-placed rookie. In 2004, he sidestepped into Formula BMW UK with Team SWR and achieved one race win. At the end of the season, he made a one-off Formula Three debut in the Promotion class of the Asian F3 Championship.In the following season, Turvey stayed with Team SWR in Formula BMW, making eight appearances in the ten-round championship. Budgetary restrictions prevented him from entering more than seven rounds in 2006, but points scores in every race secured second place overall. At the Formula BMW World Final in Valencia, he was the highest-placed British finisher in sixth position. Turvey ended the year by beating five other finalists to win the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
Although Turvey was expected to graduate to the British F3 Championship in 2007, he has instead opted for the opportunity of competing in continental Europe. He spent the season dovetailing a dual program in Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup with the experienced Jenzer Motorsport organisation. In 2008, he was runner-up in the British Formula 3 Championship, behind teammate Jaime Alguersuari.
Turvey competed in the World Series by Renault for 2009, where he was once again paired with Alguersuari at Carlin. He won a single race and finished the championship as top rookie, in fourth position. He competed in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season and took part in the 2010 GP2 Series season for the iSport International team.
On 16 November 2010 he took part in the Formula One young drivers test in Abu Dhabi driving for McLaren. Turvey set the second fastest time, 1.1 seconds slower than the quickest time set by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
With his Racing Steps Foundation backing having expired at the end of 2010, Turvey was unable to raise a budget for another GP2 season in 2011. However, he was drafted by Carlin—the team now competing in its first year of GP2—to replace Mikhail Aleshin for the third round of the championship in Monaco; Aleshin also struggling to find enough money for a full season. He finished in the points in his comeback race, but was subsequently penalised due to jumping the start. He was replaced for the following round by Álvaro Parente, and finished 25th in the championship. Prior to the start of the 2011 GP2 Series Turvey drove in the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season for Ocean Racing Technology.
Aside from his GP2 drives, Turvey also competed in selected rounds of the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season for CRS Racing, competing alongside Andrew Kirkaldy and Alvaro Parente in a McLaren MP4-12C GT3.
Turvey joined Gary Paffett as a test driver for McLaren for the 2012 Formula One season.
In 2013 Turvey stepped up from GTs to Sports Prototypes by signing a deal with Jota Sport to race their LMP2 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the 2013 European Le Mans Series season and selected rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. Turvey qualified on pole position and won his first start in the car, at the opening rain-shortened ELMS round at Silverstone.
In February 2014 it was announced that Turvey would partner Fabien Giroix and John Martin in an LMP2 Oreca 03-Nissan run by Delta Motorsport and Millennium Racing for an assault on the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season. However the team's plans received a setback when they withdrew from the season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone due to delays in receiving funding. They subsequently missed the second round of the WEC and the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans due to their financial problems. However Turvey received a call up from the Jota squad to race at Le Mans when Jota and Audi reserve driver Marc Gené replaced Audi driver Loïc Duval when the latter was injured in a practice crash. Turvey subsequently shared the LMP2 class win alongside his teammates.
Awards
Dec. 2006 – McLaren Autosport BRDC Award2008 – Sports Personality of the Year award at the 2008 Cumbria Sports Awards
2008 – Daily Mirror Best British Driver in F3 Award
2008 – Awarded the Dunhill Future Champion Award at Goodwood Festival of Speed
2008 – University of Cambridge Extraordinary Full Blue for Motorsport.
2008 – British Racing Drivers' Club National Racing Driver of the Year
Education
Turvey attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, Cumbria in England and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge as an undergraduate, where he studied engineering. In late 2007, he applied to become a Cambridge Full Blue, the highest honour that can be awarded to a sportsman at the university. He completed his bachelor's degree in 2008 and was awarded the Full Blue by the university; the first ever racing driver to be awarded the accolade. His Master's will include a dissertation on F1 aerodynamics. He has a sister, called Lucie, who also attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Oliver currently lives in London.Racing career
Career summary
* Season still in progress.Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pos | Pts |
| 2009 | Carlin Motorsport | CAT SPR 4 | CAT FEA 11 | SPA SPR 6 | SPA FEA 14 | MON FEA 1 | HUN SPR 8 | HUN FEA Ret | SIL SPR 3 | SIL FEA 3 | BUG SPR 3 | BUG FEA 10 | ALG SPR Ret | ALG FEA 6 | NÜR SPR 4 | NÜR FEA Ret | ALC SPR 2 | ALC FEA 5 | 4th | 93 |
Complete GP2 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points |
| 2010 | iSport International | CAT FEA 5 | CAT SPR 5 | MON FEA 15 | MON SPR 15 | IST FEA 14 | IST SPR 18 | VAL FEA Ret | VAL SPR 12 | SIL FEA 8 | SIL SPR 2 | HOC FEA 8 | HOC SPR 2 | HUN FEA 4 | HUN SPR 5 | SPA FEA 6 | SPA SPR 5 | MNZ FEA 3 | MNZ SPR 6 | YMC FEA 2 | YMC SPR 17 | 6th | 47 |
| 2011 | Carlin | IST FEA | IST SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA 14 | MON SPR 8 | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 25th | 0 |
Complete GP2 Asia Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
| 2009–10 | iSport International | YMC1 FEA 8 | YMC1 SPR 4 | YMC2 FEA 1 | YMC2 SPR 5 | BHR1 FEA 9 | BHR1 SPR 6 | BHR2 FEA 9 | BHR2 SPR 11 | 6th | 17 |
| 2011 | Ocean Racing Technology | YMC FEA 18 | YMC SPR 19 | IMO FEA 15 | IMO SPR 8 | 16th | 0 |
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete European Le Mans Series results
| Year | Team | Class | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Rank | Points |
| 2013 | Jota Sport | LMP2 | Zytek Z11SN | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | SIL 1 | IMO Ret | RBR 4 | HUN 3 | LEC 3 | 3rd | 71 |
Complete Super GT results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
| 2015 | Drago Modulo Honda Racing | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 6 | FUJ 8 | CHA 10 | FUJ 6 | SUZ 12 | SUG 7 | AUT 7 | MOT 7 | 12th | 26 |
| 2016 | Drago Modulo Honda Racing | Honda NSX-GT | GT500 | OKA 12 | FUJ 13 | SUG 7 | FUJ Ret | SUZ Ret | CHA | MOT | MOT | 19th | 5 |
Complete Formula E results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Powertrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Points |
| 2014–15 | NEXTEV TCR | Spark SRT01-e | SRT01-e | BEI | PUT | PDE | BUE | MIA | LBH | MCO | BER | MSC | LON 9 | LON 9 | 22nd | 4 | ||
| 2015–16 | NEXTEV TCR | Spark SRT01-e | NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 001 | BEI 6 | PUT Ret | PDE 12 | BUE 9 | MEX 11 | LBH 12 | PAR 13 | BER 12 | LON 15† | LON 10 | 14th | 11 | |||
| 2016–17 | NEXTEV NIO | Spark SRT01-e | NEXTEV FormulaE 002 | HKG 8 | MRK 7 | BUE 9 | MEX Ret | MCO 13† | PAR 11 | BER 10 | BER 9 | NYC 6 | NYC 14 | MTL 15 | MTL 17 | 12th | 26 | |
| 2017–18 | NIO Formula E Team | Spark SRT01-e | NextEV NIO Sport 003 | HKG 16 | HKG 6 | MRK Ret | SCL 14 | MEX 2 | PDE 7 | RME 12 | PAR 9 | BER 5 | ZUR 9 | NYC DNS | NYC WD | 10th | 46 | |
| 2018–19 | NIO Formula E Team | Spark SRT05e | NIO Sport 004 | ADR 13 | MRK 16 | SCL 8 | MEX 12 | HKG 9 | SYX 12 | RME 13 | PAR 14 | MCO Ret | BER 18 | BRN 16 | NYC 10 | NYC 13 | 20th | 7 |
| 2019–20 | NIO 333 FE Team | Spark SRT05e | NIO FE-005 | DIR 15 | DIR DSQ | SCL 11 | MEX 13 | MRK 21 | BER | BER | BER | BER | BER | BER | 21st* | 0* |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
| 2018–19 | CEFC TRSM Racing | LMP1 | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | Mecachrome V634P1 3.4 L Turbo V6 | SPA WD | LMS Ret | SIL | FUJ | SHA | SEB | SPA | LMS | NC | 0 |