Yelmer Evert Frans Buurman (born 19 February 1987) is a Dutch professional racing driver. He was 3rd in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2013, and second in the FIA GT1 Championship in 2012. Besides achieving victories in those categories, also won several races in the Superleague Formula, and was second in the 2013 24 Hours of Nürburgring.[1]

Yelmer Buurman
Nationality Dutch
Born (1987-02-19) 19 February 1987 (age 37)
Ubbergen, Netherlands
GT3 career
Debut season2008
Current teamA.C. Milan
Racing licence FIA Platinum
Car number3
Former teamsPSV Eindhoven
R.S.C. Anderlecht
Starts23
Wins2
Poles0
Fastest laps4
Best finish1st in 2008
Previous series
20082009–10
2008
2007
200607
200506
2004–05
2004
2003–05
2003–04
2003–04
2002
2002
GP2 Asia Series
GP2 Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Formula Three Euroseries
British Formula 3
Formula Renault UK
FTR 2000 Winter Series
FR2.0 Netherlands
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
FRUK Winter Series
Formula König
Dutch Winter Endurance

Career

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Formula König

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Born in Ubbergen, Gelderland, Buurman drove in the German-based Formula König championship in 2002, finishing twentieth in the season standings.

Formula Renault

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Buurman driving for Fortec Motorsport in the Donington Park round of the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

Buurman concentrated on various Formula Renault championships from 2003 to 2005, competing in the British, Dutch, European and American series during this period. In the British Winter Series in 2003, he began a four-year association with the Fortec Motorsport team. His most successful FRenault championships were the 2003 British Winter Series and the 2004 Dutch season, finishing third in both.

In 2007, Buurman made a brief appearance for Fortec in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, replacing the injured Richard Philippe for four races. At the second race weekend in which he replaced Philippe, he finished fifth and fourth in the two races.

Formula Three

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Following two races in British Formula Three in 2005, Buurman concentrated on this formula for 2006 and 2007. In 2006, he finished in fourth place in the British championship and drove in four races in the Formula Three Euroseries for Fortec. In 2007, he switched to the Euroseries full-time with the Manor Motorsport team, taking sixth place in the championship. He also competed in the stand-alone Macau Grand Prix and Masters F3 events in both years.

GP2 Series

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Buurman driving for Arden at the 2008 GP2 Series season Silverstone round.

In 2008, Buurman competed in both the GP2 Series and the new GP2 Asia Series for the Arden team, alongside Sébastien Buemi. He was not originally scheduled to race in the Asian championship, but replaced Adam Langley-Khan when the Pakistani driver decided to focus on his A1 Grand Prix and education commitments and left the team after two rounds of the season.

After ten races of the GP2 Series season, Buurman was replaced at Arden by Luca Filippi, who had in turn lost his previous drive with the ART Grand Prix team to Sakon Yamamoto.[1]

Buurman was signed by the newly renamed Ocean Racing Technology team for the remainder of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season.[2] He was replaced for the final round by Karun Chandhok however, but he finished 19th in the championship. He was recalled to the team for the final two rounds of the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season.[3]

Superleague Formula

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Following the loss of his GP2 drive, Buurman moved to the new Superleague Formula series as a driver for the PSV Eindhoven team. He finished in second position in the 2008 championship. For the 2009 season, he drove for the R.S.C. Anderlecht team. For 2010, Buurman will drive for his third different side, moving to the Atech Grand Prix-run A.C. Milan outfit.[4]

Sports car racing

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In 2011, Buurman debuted in the FIA GT1 Championship in the final round at Potrero de los Funes, with a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R of Exim Bank Team China, winning the two races.

Buurman became a full-time driver for Vitaphone in the FIA GT1 Championship in 2012 along with Michael Bartels; posted four wins, two seconds places, two thirds, two fourths and two fifths, so that finished fifth in the championship behind the pairings Marc Basseng / Markus Winkelhock and Stef Dusseldorp / Frédéric Makowiecki. He also contested in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Castellet with a LMP2's car Lola B12/80, where he finished third in the Paul Ricard race.

Marc VDS Racing Team hired a Buurman to drive a BMW Z4 for the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series, more precisely in the Pro Cup class, along with Maxime Martin and Bas Leinders. The trio won a race, so that finished fourth in the series. Furthermore, Buurman finished second in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

Buurman won the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the Pro-Am division of the 2020 British GT Championship.[5]

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Position
2002 Formula König Lohmann Motorsport 14 0 0 53 20th
2003 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Equipe Verschuur 4 0 0 6 22nd
Formula Renault 2000 Netherlands ? ? ? 110 6th
Formula Renault 2000 UK Winter Championship Fortec Motorsport 4 1 1 49 3rd
2004 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 AR Motorsport 15 0 0 4 30th
Formula Renault 2000 Netherlands ? ? ? 174 3rd
Formula Renault 2.0 UK Fortec Motorsport 2 0 0 8 37th
Formula Renault 2000 UK Winter Championship 4 0 0 71 5th
Formula TR 2000 Pro Series Winter Invitational ? 5 0 0 82 6th
2005 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Fortec Motorsport 20 1 3 359 4th
British Formula 3 2 0 0 0 NC
Formula Renault 2.0 Netherlands 2 0 0 11 26th
2006 British Formula 3 Fortec Motorsport 22 0 2 186 4th
Formula Three Euroseries 4 0 0 1 17th
Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 N/A 8th
Masters of Formula Three 1 0 0 N/A 19th
2007 Formula Three Euroseries Manor Motorsport 20 0 0 40 6th
Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 N/A NC
Masters of Formula Three 1 0 0 N/A 7th
Formula Renault 3.5 Series Fortec Motorsport 4 0 0 15 20th
2008 GP2 Series Trust Team Arden 10 0 0 5 20th
GP2 Asia Series 6 0 0 13 9th
Superleague Formula PSV Eindhoven 12 0 1 337 2nd
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series Ocean Racing Technology 6 0 0 4 19th
2009 Superleague Formula R.S.C. Anderlecht 14 0 2 305 4th
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series Ocean Racing Technology 4 0 0 0 21st
2010 Superleague Formula A.C. Milan 31 1 5 631 5th
Formula One Force India F1 Team Test driver
2011 Superleague Formula Netherlands - PSV Eindhoven 6 1 0 130 4th

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points
2007 Fortec Motorsport MNZ
1
MNZ
2
NÜR
1

14
NÜR
2

5
MON
1
HUN
1
HUN
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
DON
1

5
DON
2

4
MAG
1
MAG
2
EST
1
EST
2
CAT
1
CAT
2
20th 15

Complete GP2 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2008 Trust Team Arden CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

10
IST
FEA

14
IST
SPR

Ret
MON
FEA

12
MON
SPR

8
MAG
FEA

12
MAG
SPR

2
SIL
FEA

15
SIL
SPR

10
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
20th 5

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
2008 Trust Team Arden DUB1
FEA
DUB1
SPR
SEN
FEA
SEN
SPR
SEP
FEA

6
SEP
SPR

5
BHR
FEA

9
BHR
SPR

8
DUB2
FEA

3
DUB2
SPR

5
9th 13
2008–09 Ocean Racing Technology SHI
FEA
SHI
SPR
DUB
FEA

Ret
DUB
SPR

C
BHR1
FEA

Ret
BHR1
SPR

13
LSL
FEA

Ret
LSL
SPR

DNS
SEP
FEA

5
SEP
SPR

11
BHR2
FEA
BHR2
SPR
19th 4
2009–10 Ocean Racing Technology YMC1
FEA
YMC1
SPR
YMC2
FEA
YMC2
SPR
BHR1
FEA

12
BHR1
SPR

10
BHR2
FEA

13
BHR2
SPR

7
21st 0

Superleague Formula

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2008-2009

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(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 Position Points
2008 PSV Eindhoven Azerti Motorsport DON NÜR ZOL EST VAL JER 2nd 337
4 8 10 1 7 3 9 8 10 3 8 9
2009 R.S.C. Anderlecht Zakspeed MAG ZOL DON EST MOZ JAR 4th 305
2 5 8 14 16 D 4 4 6 6 1 15

2009 Super Final Results

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  • Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6
2009 R.S.C. Anderlecht
Zakspeed
MAG
4
ZOL
N/A
DON
DNQ
EST
4
MOZ
N/A
JAR
1

2010

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Year Team Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NC 11 Position Points
2010 A.C. Milan Atech SIL
ASS
MAG
JAR
NÜR
ZOL
BRH ADR
POR
ORD
BEI
NAV
5th 631
2 16 X 5 7 3 1 7 1 2 10 3 1 8 3 4 5 5 4 12 4 11 4 X 10 16 X 6 7 4 7 3 C 7 12 X
2011 Azerti Motorsport Netherlands – PSV Eindhoven HOL
BEL
4th 130
1 10 3 6 6 7

Complete GT1 World Championship results

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Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2011 Exim Bank Team China Corvette C6.R ABU
QR
ABU
CR
ZOL
QR
ZOL
CR
ALG
QR
ALG
QR
SAC
QR
SAC
CR
SIL
QR
SIL
CR
NAV
QR
NAV
CR
PRI
QR
PRI
CR
ORD
QR
ORD
CR
BEI
QR
BEI
CR
SAN
QR

1
SAN
CR

1
15th 33
2012 BMW Team Vita4One BMW E89 Z4 GT3 NOG
QR

11
NOG
CR

10
ZOL
QR

1
ZOL
CR

2
NAV
QR

3
NAV
QR

5
SVK
QR

3
SVK
CR

1
ALG
QR

2
ALG
CR

5
SVK
QR

1
SVK
CR

1
MOS
QR

10
MOS
CR

7
NUR
QR

4
NUR
CR

4
DON
QR

9
DON
CR

9
3rd 144

* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans Results

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Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2012   Status Grand Prix   Alexander Sims
  Romain Iannetta
Lola B12/80-Judd LMP2 239 DNF DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Filippi replaces Buurman at Arden". autosport.com. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  2. ^ "Buurman fills Monteiro's first seat". autosport.com. 2008-11-29. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  3. ^ Beer, Matt (2010-02-24). "Ocean recalls Buurman for Bahrain". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  4. ^ Beer, Matt (2010-03-10). "Buurman gets AC Milan drive for 2010". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  5. ^ Newbold, James (30 March 2021). "Have a go hero: How a GT1 cameo launched a professional career". Autosport. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup
Champion

2018
With: Maro Engel & Luca Stolz
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Jonny Cocker
Sam De Haan
British GT Championship
Pro-Am Champion

2020-2021
With: Ian Loggie
Succeeded by
Incumbent