Jari Nurminen (born 10 November 1961) is a Finnish racing driver from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Racing career

Formula cars

Nurminen began his racing career racing Formula Vee cars in his native Finland. In 1983 he finished 3rd in the

Finnish Formula Three Championship The Finnish Formula Three Championship was a single seater motor racing series based in Finland. The championship used small Formula Three cars, designed to give drivers experience before moving to higher levels of motor racing. The Finnish Formul ...

and competed in four races of the

German Formula Three Championship The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French Formula Three Championship t ...

. In 1984 and 1985 he finished fifth in German F3 in back-to-back years, capturing his first win in 1985. In 1986 he competed in a full season of

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

with the EuroVenturini team but only managed to qualify for one of the eleven races, the season opener at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

and also did some tests for the Arrows

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

team. Despite the disastrous 1986 campaign, Nurminen returned to the team and series in 1987. After failing to qualify for three of the first four races he switched teams to GA Motorsports where he qualified for four of the next six races, scoring a best finish of 15th at

Österreichring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later ...

. He returned to the series in 1988 and drove a full season for

Colt Racing Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: * Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People *Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places * Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United State ...

. He qualified for all but two of the races and finished 7th at the

Birmingham Superprix Birmingham Superprix was a motor racing meeting held on a street circuit in Birmingham city centre, England, from 1986 to 1990. The principal event was a round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship, but support races included BTCC and Thunders ...

, just one spot out of the points.Jari Nurminen - Career Detail
''Driver Database'', Retrieved 2011-01-20

Sports cars

In 1989 he moved to

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing i ...

in the

World Sports-Prototype Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 to 1992 World Sportscar Championship, 1992. The championship evo ...

, making 10 starts in 1989 and 1990. Nurminen was out of racing until 1997 when he competed in three

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

races and the

1997 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 65th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1997. The race saw the first of a record (as of 2022) 9 wins at Le Mans for popular Danish driver Tom Kristensen. Pre-race The Dunlop chicane wa ...

in the

Chamberlain Engineering Chamberlain Engineering was an automotive engine builder turned auto racing team founded by racing driver Hugh Chamberlain in 1972. The team moved through the British national sports car championships before becoming a competitor in the World Sp ...

Chrysler Viper GTS-R which finished sixth in class and 15th overall in an attrition-filled race. From 2002 to 2005 Nurminen drove in a number of low-profile Finnish series such as the Yaris Cup and Legends Trophy. From 2006 to 2008 he competed in the Scandinavian

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a One-Design, single-marque Auto racing, motorsport championship that was created in 1993 for owners of the Ferrari 348, 348 Berlinetta who wanted to become involved in racing. The series was proposed by Ferrari Club N ...

series, winning the title in 2007. In 2009 he brought his Ferrari F430 Challenge to the

Finnish GT3 Championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

where he finished fifth in points in 2009 and fourth in 2010. For 2011 he moved to the Swedish Camaro Cup series, where he remains in 2012.

References

1961 births Finnish racing drivers International Formula 3000 drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA GT Championship drivers Sportspeople from Helsinki Living people 24 Hours of Spa drivers {{sportscar-autoracing-stub