Turvey Drafted into Jota Sport to Fill Gene’s Seat

Photo: Jota Sport

A series of events has put Oliver Turvey back in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third time in less than two months.

The 27-year-old Englishman was originally due to contest the race — and the entire FIA World Endurance Championship season — with Millennium Racing, but the UK-based outfit was forced to withdraw its LMP2 entry for the second time late last week.

With the former Jota Sport driver without a ride and Audi reserve driver and Jota pilot Marc Gene having been drafted into the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro to replace Loic Duval — who has not been cleared to race following a heavy practice accident — Turvey will take the reigns of the British team’s Zytek Z11SN Nissan.

“Obviously, it’s terrible to see a big accident and I hope Loic Duval is okay,” Turvey said. “It’s going to be a little tricky going straight into Le Mans qualifying at this late stage, however I know Jota and the Zytek car from last year. It’s a great team with knowledgeable people so I hope to do the best job I can for the team.”

Turvey, who files to Le Mans in a Jota Aviation aircraft this morning, will join Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell in the LMP2 contender, which is fresh off victory in last month’s European Le Mans Series Four Hours of Imola.

The former GP2 star is no stranger to success with the Sam Hignett-led operation, either.

“I’ve not sat in the Zytek since the last race at Paul Ricard nine months ago but I set pole-position in four of the five ELMS races last year, winning on my debut and finishing third twice along with Simon, so it’s a good package,” Turvey said.

“I made my Le Mans debut last year with Jota, qualifying the car in third and finishing seventh in class. With Simon and Harry, who I’ve never raced with or against but know his caliber, I believe we have a driver line-up that should allow us to fight for a least a rostrum finish.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John