On the road to London: Oliver Turvey

NEXTEV’s problems weren’t immediately apparent whilst watching Turvey in Beijing. The Brit qualified fifteenth, and remained around there for the majority of the first stint. After pitting under the full course yellows, though, Turvey managed to get up to seventh. Prost’s retirement promoted him to sixth.

Putrajaya was a little more difficult for Turvey. After two difficult free practice sessions, he qualified seventeenth. Turvey’s race was cut short, though, when his throttle became stuck open and he was forced to retire.

Whilst better than Putrajaya, the third round was still disappointing for the Brit. Turvey qualified tenth, but fell back to eleventh off the grid. From there, he was running strongly until handed a drive through penalty because his midrace pit stop was under the minimum time. The penalty ruled him out of a points finish and he crossed the line in twelfth.

It was another good qualifying session for Turvey, who started eleventh for the Argentinian race. The Brit was immediately on attack mode during the race, having moved up to eighth in the opening three laps. Again, it was the pit stop that ruined Turvey’s race. This time it was too slow and he fell back. The Brit finished ninth.

After a strong outing in the free practice sessions, qualifying was disappointing for Turvey. He started fifteenth. It was a slow race for the Brit and, though he managed to make up places during the pit stop, he could only finish thirteenth.

Turvey was hoping for a positive race in Long Beach, saying the car was more suited to the American track, but it was only more of the same.

After starting thirteenth, a safety car neutralised the race just as Turvey switched to attack and he could only finish twelfth.

It looked like things might finally be changing for NEXTEV. Qualifying saw Turvey start the highest he had all season, with disqualifications higher up putting him seventh on the grid.

During the race, things started off well for the Brit, who managed to get up to sixth, before he fell back to thirteenth due to a slow pit stop.

Again, the Berlin weekend started well for Turvey, who finished second in FP1 and first in FP2. The seventh place start may have been disappointing for the Brit, but it was the highest place he’d started all season.

Turvey’s race was ruined when he was forced to pit on the eleventh lap due to damage to the nose of his car. He emerged sixteenth, and managed to climb his way back up to twelfth by the end of the race.