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

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Racing career

Formula cars

Nurminen began his racing career racing

Formula Vee Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi ...

cars in his native Finland. In 1983, he finished 3rd in the Finnish Formula Three Championship and competed in four

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 ...

races. 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 to ...

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 hosts ...

. He also did some tests for the Arrows

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

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 s ...

. He returned to the series in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and drove a full season for Colt Racing. 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 British Touring Car ...

, 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 that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

in the World Sports-Prototype Championship, 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. It was won by teammates Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, and Tom Kristensen, driving a Porsche WSC-95. The race was the first of a rec ...

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 The Chrysler Viper GTS-R (also known as the Dodge Viper GTS-R when raced in North America) was a successful race car, racing variant of the Dodge Viper developed in conjunction with Chrysler of North America, Oreca of France and Reynard Motorsp ...

, which finished sixth in class and 15th overall in an attrition-filled race. From 2002 to 2005, Nurminen drove in several 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, initially catering to owners of the 348 Challenge who wanted to race their cars. The first European season took place in 1993, ...

series, winning the title in 2007. In 2009, he brought his

Ferrari F430 Challenge The Ferrari F430 Challenge is a production-based race car built by Ferrari. The car is directly based on the standard F430 and uses the same 4.3L V8 engine. It was introduced at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show to succeed the Ferrari 360 Challeng ...

to the Finnish GT3 Championship, finishing fifth in points in 2009 and fourth in 2010. For 2011, he moved to the Swedish Camaro Cup series, where he remained in 2012. He continued in the Finnish and Swedish V8 Thundercars series until his retirement after the 2017 season.

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 Racing drivers from Helsinki Living people 24 Hours of Spa drivers {{sportscar-autoracing-stub