Olivier Pla
Olivier Pla is a professional racing driver from France.
Career
French Formula Campus & Formula Three
Born in Toulouse, Pla started his career in 2000 in French Formula Campus before moving on to French Formula Three Championship in 2001 with the Saulnier Racing team. He finished eighth in the series standings, taking nine points-scoring positions in eleven races, including a podium in the penultimate race of the season at Magny-Cours.In 2002, Pla stayed in the series but switched to the ASM team. He finished third, behind Renaud Derlot and Tristan Gommendy, taking nine podium places from fourteen races, including wins at Croix-en-Ternois and Bugatti Circuit.
In 2003, Pla joined the Formula 3 Euro Series with ASM. He finished third, behind Christian Klien and Ryan Briscoe, taking nine podium places from twenty races.
World Series by Nissan
2004 saw Pla leave the Euroseries, joining the World Series by Nissan. He contested two rounds with RC Motorsport before joining Carlin Motorsport to replace Michael Keohane. He finished ninth, taking thirteen points-scoring positions in eighteen races, including a win at Estoril.GP2 Series
In 2005 he raced in the inaugural GP2 Series season for David Price Racing. In the early part of the season he stalled on the grid several times — some blamed the GP2 cars for the high number of stallings, while others noticed that the same drivers seemed to be affected regularly. In another race his team mate selected reverse instead of first gear and went backwards into Olivier's car. However, he took advantage of the reverse grid system to finish eighth in Race One and thus take pole for Race Two twice, winning both those races to finish 11th in the championship. He remained with DPR for 2006, but was dropped mid-season after running out of sponsorship, after a difficult period which saw him score no points and injure his hand in Monaco.In 2007, he competed in the German Porsche Carrera Cup. However, he was recalled to DPR in the latter stages of the GP2 season to replace the injured Christian Bakkerud. In 2008, he moved to sports car racing, driving a Lola Le Mans Prototype in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Racing record
Career summary
Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
2000 | Formula Renault Campus France | Formula Campus | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 391 | 3rd |
2001 | French Formula Three Championship | Saulnier Racing | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 74 | 8th |
2002 | French Formula Three Championship | ASM | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 159 | 3rd |
2002 | FIA European Formula Three Cup | ASM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 7th |
2002 | Korea Super Prix | ASM | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1st |
2002 | Masters of Formula 3 | ASM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2nd |
2002 | Macau Grand Prix | ASM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC |
2003 | Formula 3 Euro Series | ASM | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 74 | 3rd |
2004 | World Series by Nissan | RC Motorsport | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 9th |
2004 | World Series by Nissan | Carlin Motorsport | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 9th |
2005 | GP2 Series | David Price Racing | 22 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 13th |
2006 | GP2 Series | DPR Direxiv | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27th |
2007 | Porsche Carrera Cup Germany | MRS-Team | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 15th |
2007 | GP2 Series | David Price Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35th |
2008 | Le Mans Series — LMP2 | Quifel ASM Team | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 8th |
2008 | 24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2 | Quifel ASM Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 4th |
2008 | American Le Mans Series | Team LNT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 14th |
2009 | Le Mans Series — LMP2 | Quifel ASM Team | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 1st |
2009 | 24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2 | Quifel ASM Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC |
2013 | World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | OAK Racing | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 132.5 | 2nd |
2013 | 24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2 | OAK Racing | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 2nd |
Complete GP2 Series results
Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | DC | Points |
2005 | David Price Racing | IMO FEA 9 | IMO SPR 5 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA 9 | NÜR FEA Ret | NÜR SPR 8 | MAG FEA Ret | MAG SPR 9 | SIL FEA 8 | SIL SPR 1 | HOC FEA 8 | HOC SPR 1 | HUN FEA 7 | HUN SPR Ret | IST FEA 9 | IST SPR 17 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR Ret | SPA FEA 11 | SPA SPR 10 | BHR FEA Ret | BHR SPR DNS | 13th | 20 |
2006 | DPR Direxiv | VAL FEA 10 | VAL SPR 15 | IMO FEA Ret | IMO SPR Ret | NÜR FEA 15 | NÜR SPR Ret | CAT FEA DSQ | CAT SPR 20 | MON FEA Ret | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | MAG FEA 16 | MAG SPR 9 | HOC FEA | HOC SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | IST FEA | IST SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 27th | 0 | ||
2007 | David Price Racing | BHR FEA | BHR SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MAG FEA | MAG SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | IST FEA | IST SPR | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 13 | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | 35th | 0 |