Yelmer Buurman

Yelmer Buurman
Yelmer Buurman
	Buurman at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans
Nationality	Dutch
Born	19 February 1987 (age 35); Ubbergen (Netherlands)
GT3 career
Debut season	2008
Current team	A.C. Milan
Car number	3
Former teams	PSV Eindhoven; R.S.C. Anderlecht
Starts	23
Wins	2
Poles	0
Fastest laps	4
Best finish	1st in 2008
Previous series
2008–2009–10; 2008; 2007; 2006–07; 2005–06; 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

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]

Career[]

Formula König[]

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

Formula Renault[]

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[]

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[]

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[]

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[]

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[]

Career summary[]

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
2002	Formula König		14	0	0	53	20th
2003	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		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	AR Motorsport	?	?	?	174	3rd
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK	Fortec Motorsport	2	0	0	8	37th
	Formula Renault 2000 UK Winter Championship	Fortec Motorsport	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	Trust Team Arden	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
2010	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[]

(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[]

(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[]

(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[]

2008-2009[]

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

2009 Super Final Results[]

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[]

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
2010	A.C. Milan	Atech	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	5th	631
2011	Azerti Motorsport	Netherlands – PSV Eindhoven	HOL			BEL																																	4th	130
2011	Azerti Motorsport	Netherlands – PSV Eindhoven	1	10	3	6	6	7																															4th	130

Complete GT1 World Championship results[]

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	1	1	10	7	4	4	9	9			3rd	144

* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans Results[]

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[]

Career statistics from driverdb.com. Retrieved on April 9, 2008.

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

External links[]

Official website

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mirko Bortolotti Andrea Caldarelli Christian Engelhart	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Champion 2018 With: Maro Engel & Luca Stolz	Succeeded by Andrea Caldarelli Marco Mapelli
Preceded by Jonny Cocker Sam De Haan	British GT Championship Pro-Am Champion 2020-2021 With: Ian Loggie	Succeeded by Incumbent

[1] "Filippi replaces Buurman at Arden". autosport.com. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-17.

[buurman-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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t PSV Eindhoven in Superleague Formula
Seasons competed	2008 2009 2010
Drivers	Yelmer Buurman (2008) Dominick Muermans (2009) Carlo van Dam (2009) Narain Karthikeyan (2010)
Operating teams	Azerti Motorsport (2008, 2009) Racing for Holland (2010) Atech GP/Reid Motorsport (2010)

v t R.S.C. Anderlecht in Superleague Formula
Seasons competed	2008 2009 2010
Drivers	Craig Dolby (2008) Yelmer Buurman (2009) Davide Rigon (2010)
Operating teams	Team Astromega (2008) Zakspeed (2009) Azerti Motorsport (2010)

v t A.C. Milan in Superleague Formula
Seasons competed	2008 2009 2010
Drivers	Robert Doornbos (2008) Giorgio Pantano (2009) Yelmer Buurman (2010)
Operating teams	Scuderia Playteam (2008) Azerti Motorsport (2009) Atech Grand Prix/Reid (2010)