Jean-Karl "J. K." Vernay (born 31 October 1987) is a French professional racing driver. He was 2010

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

and 2017

TCR International Series The TCR International Series was an international Touring car racing, touring car championship. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marcello Lotti. It was ma ...

champion. He has won races at the

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...

, where he finished fifth in 2018 and won the WTCR Trophy in 2020.

Career history

Karting

*2000: 3rd in France Cadet Championship *2001: 5th in Speedy Junior World Cup at the

Masters Karting Paris Bercy The Masters of Paris-Bercy, officially known as the Elf Aquitaine, Elf Masters for sponsorship reasons, was an Kart circuit#Indoor, indoor all-star game, all-star kart racing competition organised by the Fédération Française du Sport Automob ...

*2002: 2nd in

Junior Monaco Kart Cup The CIK-FIA Monaco Kart Cup was a kart racing competition organised by the Automobile Club de Monaco, ACM and sanctioned by the CIK-FIA, taking place at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. Founded in 1995, the event was contested until 2010 by ...

*2004: 2nd in Belgium Championship, Formula A and 21st in world championship, Formula A

Formula

In 2005,

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France ...

-born Vernay drove in the French Formula Campus series and finished 1st with 6 wins and 12 podiums on 14 races. The following year, he finished runner-up and best rookies in the French Formula Renault Championship with 7 podiums. He drove two rounds as race driver in the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season and the last round as practice session driver. In 2007, Jean-Karl was selected to be part of the

Red Bull Junior Team The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development programme operated by Austrian conglomerate company Red Bull GmbH to identify and develop talent in open-wheel racing. Members of the Junior Team are financed and sponsored by Red Bull in kart ...

program that offers funding and support for promising young drivers. With

Tom Dillmann Tom Aston Dillmann (born 6 April 1989 in Mulhouse) is a French racing driver who competes for Inter Europol Competition in the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2025 European Le Mans Series and in the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship. He has won the 2025 ...

, they were the first French drivers to take part in the programme. Vernay is still a part of the team, along with fellow Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne. The same year, he raced in the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

with Signature-Plus team finishing 10th. A second place was his best result, with another finish of 3rd in the non-championship Ultimate Masters of Formula 3 at

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...

behind

Nico Hülkenberg Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German racing driver who competes in Formula One for Sauber. In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Hülkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2015 with Por ...

and team-mate

Yann Clairay Yann Dominique André Clairay (born 2 December 1983 in Laval, Mayenne) is a French racing driver. He has competed in such series as Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Formula Three Euroseries. Clairay won the GT1 class of the 2009 Le Mans Serie ...

. Vernay continued in the series in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, continuing with Signature-Plus. He ended up eighth in the championship, with 3 podiums coming at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

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 ...

and

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

. He also started his Brands Hatch podium race from pole position, thanks to the series' reverse grid system. Vernay competed in a third season in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

for Signature, with team-mates

Mika Mäki Mika Mäki (born February 27, 1988) is a Finnish former racing driver. Career Mika started in karting, and competed for five years before heading to Germany and its Formula BMW ADAC series in 2005, finishing fourth in the Rookie Cup, and too ...

and Tiago Geronimi. Vernay finally took his first win in the Euroseries, at the 42nd attempt, winning the sprint race at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

. He added a second win in the final race of the season, again at Hockenheim, passing Christopher Zanella on the final lap. At the season-ending Macau Grand Prix, Vernay set an outright lap record en route to a victory in the qualifying race, giving him pole position for the main event. However, he lost out to

Edoardo Mortara Edoardo Alberto Gérard "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver currently competing in Formula E for Mahindra Racing and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Automobili Lamborghini Squadra ...

in the main race, after fluffing a gear shift. Vernay has moved to the United States to race in the

Firestone Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Road ...

series in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

for

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

. He won in his series debut on the Streets of St. Petersburg in a wet race. He followed this up with another win at

Barber Motorsports Park Barber Motorsports Park is an racing facility in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alabama since 2010 IndyCar Ser ...

and a third-place finish at

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, leaving him 28 points clear at the top of the standings after 3 rounds. Vernay went on to win four races that season and clinched the championship over

James Hinchcliffe James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship driving the No. 9 Lamborghini for Pfaff Motorsports. He is also a commentator for Fox Sports, FOX Sp ...

with one race to go, having to just start the final round. Vernay is the first Indy Lights champion since 1996's David Empringham to not go on to compete in

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

Sports cars and touring cars

In 2011 Vernay was the test and reserve driver for Peugeot Sport, testing the

Peugeot 908 The Peugeot 908 is an auto racing car developed by Peugeot Sport in 2011 for the Le Mans Prototype category of racing. Powered by a diesel engine, it is the successor to the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP which competed since 2007. The newer 908 features ...

on several occasions. In 2012, Vernay won the

Porsche Carrera Cup France Porsche Carrera Cup France is a Spec racing, one make motor racing championship held in France. The cars are Porsche 911 GT3#Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991.2) with 4.0 liters, Flat-six engine, flat-6 naturally aspirated engines that pr ...

driving for

Sébastien Loeb Racing Sébastien Loeb Racing is a French racing team, founded by rally and racing driver Sébastien Loeb. It currently competes in the World Rallycross Championship, World Touring Car Cup, Porsche Carrera Cup France, and 208 Rally Cup. The team us ...

. Vernay won the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

LMGTE Am class in 2013 while competing for IMSA Performance Matmut, driving a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR. He also contested in the full

2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season The 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the second 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). T ...

. In 2014, Vernay will drive for Weider Modulo Dome Racing in

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of ...

GT500 class. In 2016, Vernay will drive a

W Racing Team W Racing Team (known as Team WRT) is a Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Between 2010 and 2022 the team campaig ...

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplate ...

at the

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Vernay was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ^‡ Team standings.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Vernay was a guest driver he was ineligible for points