Jonathan Cocker (born 24 August 1986) is a British racing driver. In 2012 he won the ELMS GTE Pro Championship. He competed in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

(ALMS) for

Drayson Racing Drayson Racing (known as Drayson Racing Technology) is a British motor racing team founded by Paul Drayson to compete in the British GT Championship. Since then the team has run in the American Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and the 2 ...

, a team run by

Paul Drayson Paul Rudd Drayson, Baron Drayson (born 5 March 1960), is a British businessman, amateur racing driver and Labour politician. He was Minister of Science in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills until May 2010, where he replaced Ia ...

Career

Cocker, who was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, began his racing career in

T Cars T Cars was a saloon car-based motor racing series based in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western co ...

in 2001, aged 14. In 2003, he progressed to the

Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain The Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain is a multi-event one-make motor racing series that takes place in the United Kingdom for the Porsche 911 GT3. Being the fastest and most successful single marque GT championship in the UK, the Carrera Cup ...

, finishing fourth in the standings. He also competed in a

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international One-Design, one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One, Formula One World Championshi ...

event at Silverstone Circuit in support of the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...

. In 2004 he became the youngest driver to win the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports ...

, aged 18. In 2005 he won the

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Porsche Carrera Cup (sometimes abbreviated PCC) is a number of one-make racing by Porsche premier series competed with, initially Porsche 911 Carrera Cup, then later Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The cars are specifically built by Porsche for one- ...

. In 2006, Cocker began racing an

Aston Martin DBRS9 The Aston Martin DBRS9 was a racing car built by Aston Martin Racing to be a cheaper alternative to the Aston Martin DBR9, both of which are based on the Aston Martin DB9. The DBRS9 was introduced in 2005 and has since been replaced with the ...

for

Barwell Motorsport Barwell is a civil parish and large village in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents, Increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census, the name literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from a boar tha ...

in the

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

and British GT Championship. In 2007, he shared the bio-ethanol powered car in British GT with United Kingdom Minister

, the pair finishing second. In 2008, Cocker graduated with Drayson-Barwell Racing to the

(ALMS) racing an

Aston Martin Vantage GT2 The Aston Martin Vantage GT2 is the most powerful racing variant of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage family. The Vantage GT2 is based on the V8 engined Aston Martin Vantage road car but is designed to run on both standard race fuel or E85 bio-ethanol. ...

. In 2009, Cocker and Drayson made their debuts at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

in the Vantage GT2, sharing with

Marino Franchitti Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti (born 7 July 1978) is a British racing driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He has spent the majority of his career racing in sports cars and grand tourers, with a career highlight of winning ...

. Cocker and Drayson also drove the car in the

2009 Le Mans Series season The 2009 Le Mans Series was the sixth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It was contested over five events between 5 April and 13 September 2009. Aston Martin Racing trio Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished e ...

. At the end of the season, the team switched to an

LMP1 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 ...

Lola B09/60- Judd, racing the car at two rounds of the ALMS and in the

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. T ...

. Cocker achieved Pole and fastest lap in both races. In 2010 Cocker and Drayson competed the season in ALMS in the Lola Judd B12/60 LMP1 bioethanol race car with Cocker (after taking pole) and Drayson achieved their first victory in ALMS during

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Ch ...

when Cocker went from fourth to first in the last four laps of the race. Cocker came 3rd in the ALMS LPM1 championship with Drayson Racing who came 3rd in the LMP1 Teams Championship. In 2012 Cocker competed with JMW Motorsport returning to the Le Mans Endurance Series in the GTE Pro Class in a Ferrari 458 Italia. Cocker won the first race at Paul Ricard followed by pole and a second win at Donington Park which led to him being crowned ELMS GTE Pro Champion, the 3rd title of his career. Cocker competed for the 3rd time at the infamous Le Mans 24hr with James Walker and Roger Wills in the JMW Motorsport 458 Ferrari Italia. During 2012 Cocker competed with Dempsey Racing in the ALMS Laguna Seca race in their newly acquired Lola Coupe LMP2 race car. During 2013 Jonny Cocker is currently the Drayson Racing development driver and clocked up 205.941 mph beating the flying kilometre record by more than 35 mph faster than the previous record. "It was fantastic, a really great experience. You dont look at the speedo, you concentrate on doing the best job you can because you go any faster than flat out. We were confident because of all the work we've put in. Also, we had a few days testing a week or so ago when we went over 200mph, but its doing it on the day that counts". The record breaking car was a special low drag version of the Drayson B12 69/EV Electric Le Mans prototype car. Normally the car as two motors per wheel, a 30k Wh battery which produces 850 bhp and weighs 1,095 kg. In its world record guise it had special bodywork, a lightweight 20k Wh high powered battery and crucially it weighed less than 1,000 kg ensuring it met the one-tonne electric land speed record car rules. Jonny Cocker secured a podium spot at the Goodwood Festival of Speed weekend in July 2013 with a third-place finish for the all-electric B12 69/EV. It was the electric hypercar's first high-profile run since it broke the FIA World Electric Land Speed Record for sub-1000 kg cars with Lord Drayson at the wheel. Back in its high downforce circuit specification, the B12 69/EV, which was driven by Jonny Cocker for the weekend and recorded a best time of 47.34 seconds in Sunday's final shootout, just 0.02 secs behind the second placed Peugeot 20 T16 that won at Pikes Peak earlier in the year. This represents a new electric record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, over 6 seconds faster than the time set when the car made its Goodwood hill debut last year. That underlines the rapid progress being made by Drayson Racing in developing its electric powertrain technology.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, Jonny 1986 births Living people People from Cheshire English racing drivers British GT Championship drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Porsche Supercup drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Sportspeople from Cheshire Asian Le Mans Series drivers Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers Ecurie Ecosse drivers