The Young Drivers: No.10 - Oliver Turvey

Where were they then?

Turvey was 19 when he won the Award and had just finished runner-up in Formula BMW. This is what Autosport Magazine wrote about him at the time...

Oliver Turvey would have doubted you if you'd told him he would be racing full-time this year. He wouldn't have believed you if you suggested that he'd finish second in the Formula BMW UK Championship after missing the first six races. And he would have dismissed you as mad if you let slip that, this week, he would be the 18th McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner and in line to test a McLaren Mercedes Formula One car.

For Turvey, the Award is gratification for the hard work it has taken to get to this point in his career. He's been racing cars for four years now but has always struggled to raise the necessary budgets, and is still yet to complete a full season in any series.

He may have missed the beginning of this year's FBMW season but once a deal with Team Loctite was in place, he hit the ground running. He started with victory in his first race back and went on to finish in the points in every race, recording four more wins to finish second in the championship.

Given that Turvey has never been able to race for the most established teams with the highest reputations, or even complete a full season of racing, the Award evaluation was the perfect opportunity to prove just how good he really is.

Six of the finest young racing drivers in Britain went head-to-head in equal machinery at Snetterton last month. Their performances in the World Series by Renault (run by Comtec Racing), DTM Mercedes C-Class (Persson Motorsport) and Porsche Carrera Cup (Porsche GB & Team Parker Racing) cars were evaluated by an expert judging panel.

Oliver Turvey wins a British F3 race at Silverstone for Carlin © LAT

The finalists then went to the McLaren Technology Centre to be interviewed by the panel, which comprised 1996 world champion and BRDC president Damon Hill; ITV commentator, driver manager, and former F1 driver Martin Brundle; ex-F1 driver and MotorSport Vision boss Jonathan Palmer; McLaren head of test and race engineering Steve Hallam; team boss Trevor Carlin; 1997 Award winner Andrew Kirkaldy; veteran commentator Ian Titchmarsh; and Autosport national editor-at-large Marcus Pye.

Turvey believes his determination played a big part in his success: "It's purely down to hard work," he said. "I've just taken all the opportunities I've been given and done the best I could with them. You just have to hope that's good enough and thankfully the judges thought it was."

As well as the profile boost and prestige that comes with the Award, the delight in being crowned in front of some of the biggest names in motorsport (including Ron Dennis, Jenson Button, Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Stirling Moss, and Damon Hill) and the pride in having his name added to the illustrious roll of honour, Turvey receives a cheque for £50,000, the James Hunt Trophy, and a test drive in a McLaren-Mercedes F1 car.

With his sights already set on British Formula 3 in 2007, Turvey is hoping the Award will give him the chance to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner Oliver Jarvis and fight at the very front in his debut F3 season.

"This just makes me want to work even harder and focus more," he added. "It's given me the confidence to go on to greater things and believe that I can achieve my ambitions. Oliver Jarvis showed this year what is possible in F3 and I believe I can do the same."

Where are they now?

Turvey had to wait a year longer than he wanted to get into Formula 3. But it was worth the wait when he got there. He won the opening race of the British championship and then dug deep to produce a dominant streak in the latter part of the season to pull clear in the title race. It isn't won yet, though he is 12 points ahead going into the final round at Donington Park next weekend.

Unable to raise a budget to compete in F3 in 2007, Turvey highlight's just how crucial the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award can be to a driver's future prospects.

A quiet season in the Formula Renault Eurocup followed his success and it's easy to slip off the radar at home when you have a quiet patch abroad. But Turvey knew how competitive a championship he was in and he got his head down and learned all he could.

Desperate to make the graduation to F3 this year, he applied for backing from the Racing Steps Foundation - a new organisation looking to fully fund one driver for an F3 campaign. The prestige and profile boost of being picked out as the most promising young British driver by the likes of McLaren, Autosport, and the British Racing Drivers' Club a year earlier played no small part in his selection for a ride with top team Carlin Motorsport this year.

Oliver Turvey testing a GP2 car at Paul Ricard for iSport © LAT

"The Award helped to raise my profile enormously in motorsport," says Turvey. "Even though I didn't get the results I wanted the following season, it was still useful in attracting backing.

"It makes you. To be selected as the top British driver of the year was the biggest turning point in my career. The previous winners have gone on to have successful careers and this year I got the drive I wanted - I won on my debut and I'm leading the championship."

As one of the more recent Award winners, Turvey is still chasing the dream hard. But his attention has already turned to next year and he had his first GP2 test last week at Paul Ricard. He made a sound impression immediately, driving for top teams ART Grand Prix and iSport International and is hoping to secure a drive with one of the top teams in the series next year.

He's also still got the small matter of a McLaren Formula One test to come (part of the prize for every Award winner), so it's looking pretty good so far.