Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

professional racing driver, who most recently competed in

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

, and is currently signed to

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

as a test driver. He was a notable

kart Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

racer, with two national titles, and was the 2006

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award The Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989 to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK. As its names suggest, the award is backed by Aston Martin, motorsport magazine Autosport, and the British Racing Drivers' Cl ...

winner. His career has been supported by the

Racing Steps Foundation The Racing Steps Foundation, abbreviated as RSF, was an organisation founded by Graham Sharp running from 2008 to 2017 with former Formula One driver, the late John Surtees as the ambassador for the organization. RSF aided young British racing driv ...

Career history

Karting

Like many aspiring junior racing drivers, Penrith-born Turvey began his

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

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 In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

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 A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. In 2004, he sidestepped into

Formula BMW UK In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

with Team SWR and achieved one race win. At the end of the season, he made a one-off

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

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 (each with two race starts) in the ten-round championship. Budgetary restrictions prevented him from entering more than seven rounds in 2006, but points scores in every race (including five wins) 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 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

, behind teammate

Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...

. Turvey competed in the

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

for

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, 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 The 2010 GP2 Series season was the forty-fourth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also sixth season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season began on 8 May at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain and ended o ...

for the

iSport International iSport International was a British motor racing team that competed in the GP2 Series. The team was founded by Paul Jackson, Gavin Bickerton-Jones and Richard Selwin, former members of the Petrobras Junior Team in 2004, ahead of the inaugural ...

team. On 16 November 2010 he took part in the

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, ...

young drivers test in Abu Dhabi driving for

. Turvey set the second fastest time, 1.1 seconds slower than the quickest time set by Red Bull's

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HRT ...

. With his

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 Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin ( rus, Михаи́л Петро́вич Алёшин, p=mʲɪxɐˈil pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲɵʂɨn, born 22 May 1987 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional racing driver and the 2010 champion of the For ...

for the third round of the championship in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

; 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 Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portuguese professional racing driver. Career Early career After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, ...

, 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 Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...

. Aside from his GP2 drives, Turvey also competed in selected rounds of the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season for

CRS Racing CRS Racing is a British auto racing team founded by British driver Andrew Kirkaldy and Canadian-Greek driver and entrepreneur Chris Niarchos. The team was founded in 2007, but is based on the former team of Kirkaldy known as Team AKA which comp ...

, competing alongside Andrew Kirkaldy and Alvaro Parente in a

McLaren MP4-12C The McLaren MP4-12C, later known simply as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car that was designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It was the first ever production car wholly designed and built by McLaren, and their first production road ...

GT3. Turvey joined

Gary Paffett Gary Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British racing driver. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, afte ...

as a test driver for

for the

2012 Formula One season The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internatio ...

. In 2013 Turvey stepped up from GTs to Sports Prototypes by signing a deal with Jota Sport to race their

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

Zytek Z11SN Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, ...

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

in the 2013 European Le Mans Series season and selected rounds of the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

, including the

2013 24 Hours of Le Mans The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...

. 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 Fabien Giroix (born 17 September 1960) is a French racing driver from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris. Racing career Formula cars Giroix began his career in French Formula Renault in 1984, finishing 4th. In 1985 he drove in the French Formula Thr ...

and John Martin in an LMP2

Oreca 03 The Oreca 03 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Oreca in 2011. It is built within the revised 2011 ACO regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car made its début at the 12 Hours of Sebring run by Signatech Nissan and set to race at the 2011 ...

run by

Delta Motorsport Delta Motorsport is an engineering consultancy. They are based near the Silverstone Circuit at Silverstone Park. They are best known for designing and building the cars that competed in the Grand Prix Masters series. Delta Motorsport provide ...

and Millennium Racing for an assault on the

2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season The 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the third season of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series, co-organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). Th ...

. However the team's plans received a setback when they withdrew from the season-opening

6 Hours of Silverstone The 4 Hours of Silverstone (formerly the 1000 km of Silverstone and 6 Hours of Silverstone) is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. First run in 1976 a ...

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 Marc Gené i Guerrero (born 29 March 1974) is a Spanish professional racing driver. He is best known as a tester for Williams and Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory driver for Peugeot's Le Mans team, with which ...

replaced Audi driver

Loïc Duval Loïc Duval (; born 12 June 1982) is a French professional racing driver racing for Audi Sport as a factory driver in DTM and driving for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He won the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen driv ...

when the latter was injured in a practice crash. Turvey subsequently shared the LMP2 class win alongside his teammates.

Awards

Dec. 2006 –

2008 – Sports Personality of the Year award at the 2008 Cumbria Sports Awards
2008 –

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Best British Driver in F3 Award
2008 – Awarded the Dunhill Future Champion Award at

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...

2008 –

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Extraordinary Full Blue for Motorsport (the first ever for the sport).
2008 –

British Racing Drivers' Club The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is an exclusive invitation-only members club for racecar drivers who are judged to have achieved success in the upper levels of motor sport for a number of seasons. Except under exceptional circumstances, me ...

National Racing Driver of the Year

Education

Turvey attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District, Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers River Petteril, Petteril and River Ea ...

in England and

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

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.''

Autosport ''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship. Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...

, 14 August 2008 p. 43.'' Retrieved on 18 August 2008. His

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

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

^† As Turvey was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(

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