Callan O'Keeffe (born 9 June 1996) is a South African former racing driver, driver coach and founder of the School Of Send. He is a former member of both the Red Bull Junior Team and the Lotus F1 Junior Team.

Racing career

Karting

O'Keeffe started karting at the age of 13. In 2010 he finished third in the

KF3 OK-Junior is a kart racing class for top drivers aged 11 to 15 (drivers must reach the age of 12 within the first semester of calendar year). This class used to be called Junior Intercontinental A (JICA or ICA-J) and has changed since January 200 ...

CIK-FIA World Cup. In 2011 O'Keefe won the British Karting Junior Championship in and was the runner-up in the KF3 CIK-FIA World Cup.

Lower formulae

O'Keeffe began his career in single-seater racing cars in 2012 with the Formula BMW Talent Cup. He won 4 races during the regular season. In the Grand Final, he only finished in ninth with 13 points. In 2013 he competed in the

ADAC Formel Masters ADAC Formel Masters was an ADAC sanctioned open wheel racing series based in Germany, held annually from 2008 to 2014. It was replacement of the local Formula BMW championship. The first season was in 2008 and is the main feeder series to the ATS F ...

for

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

. He finished the season in thirteenth.

Formula Renault

For the 2014 season, he signed a contract with the ART Junior Team to start in the

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula 3.5 V8, Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to ...

and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. Later in the season, he switched his team driver for KTR alongside fellow

Lotus F1 Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from until , following the renaming of the former Renault team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire. The Lotus F1 Team was majority owned by Genii Capital. ...

juniors Alex Albon and

Gregor Ramsay Gregor Ramsay (born 30 June 1996) is a British racing driver, born in Glasgow. In 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season, 2014 he competed in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the Lotus F1 Junior Team. Career Karting Ramsay started Kart rac ...

. He took his first Formula Renault race win in the Northern European Cup at TT Circuit Assen. after also scoring his first pole position. At the end of the season he had scored one win and was on the podium three times. He was seventh in the drivers' standings with 187 points. In the Eurocup he collected a total of 28 points and finished sixteenth in the final drivers' standings. In 2015 he joined Fortec Motorsports to compete in both the

and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. In the Northern European Cup he scored 3 podiums and finished the season in seventh. In the Eurocup he only finished in fourteenth after leaving the series ahead of the final two rounds. In 2016 he only competed in one round of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup for

JD Motorsport JD Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Vespolate, Italy that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. History The team was formed in the 1995 by Roberto Cavallari and Alfredo Cappelletti. In 1996 the team started to participate in F ...

. In 2019 he returned to the Formula Renault Eurocup with FA Racing by Drivex. Ahead of the fifth round at

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held ...

he moved to

M2 Competition M2 Competition are a motorsport team based in New Zealand and Belgium. History Founded in 2010, M2 Competition began partaking in the New Zealand-based single-seater championship the Castrol Toyota Racing Series in 2010, with Ivan Lukashevich ta ...

. He finished the season in seventeenth.

BRDC British Formula 3 Championship

In 2016 O'Keeffe competed in the BRDC British Formula 3 Auumn Trophy for Fortec Motorsport, where he finished third. In 2017 he joined Douglas Motorsport for a full season in the

BRDC British Formula 3 Championship The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships or Karting. H ...

. He scored 3 podiums and finished the season in sixth.

British LMP3 Cup

In 2017 O'Keeffe also made his debut in sports car racing by competing in some events of the

2017 British LMP3 Cup The 2017 Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship was the inaugural season for the British LMP3 Cup. The series started at Donington Park on 22–23 April, and finished at the same circuit on 16–17 September. Teams and drivers R ...

together with his team Douglas Motorsport.

U.S. F2000 National Championship

In 2017 O'Keeffe also competed in selected races of the

U.S. F2000 National Championship The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...

Formula One

In 2012 he was signed by the Red Bull Junior Team. He was dropped by Red Bull after the 2013 season. He then joined the Lotus F1 Junior Team in 2014. He parted ways with

prior to the 2015 season.

School Of Send

After retiring from racing in 2019 O'Keeffe founded the

driver development program A driver development program (or driver development team) is a system or structure designed for young kart and race car drivers to learn and perfect their racing skills. These programmes are devised by racing teams, external companies and funded ...

School Of Send. The program offers simulator training, in-car tuition, online coaching and trackside support for its drivers. The programs current drivers include Matthew Rees, Hunter Yeany, Dilano van 't Hoff, Rui Andrade, Max Cuthbert and Sonny Smith. In 2021 Matthew Rees became the

F4 British Championship F4 British Championship (full name ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA, formerly known as F4 British Championship certified by FIA — powered by Ford (2016–21), MSA Formula (2015)) is a single-seater motorsport series based in ...

champion with O'Keeffe as head coach.

Personal life

As of 2019, O'Keeffe resides near

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, England.

Racing record

Racing career summary

† O'Keeffe was ineligible to score points.

References

External links

* * https://www.schoolofsend.co.uk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:OKeeffe, Callan Living people 1996 births South African racing drivers British racing drivers Karting World Championship drivers Formula BMW drivers ADAC Formel Masters drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Motopark Academy drivers R-ace GP drivers ART Grand Prix drivers KTR drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers JD Motorsport drivers FA Racing drivers Drivex drivers M2 Competition drivers Sportspeople from Johannesburg South African expatriate sportspeople in England