Jason Tahincioğlu

Jason Tahincioglu
Nationality	Turkish
Born	October 29, 1983 Bristol (United Kingdom)
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2006
Current team	FMS International
Starts	40
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	30th in 2006
Previous series
2003-2005	British Formula Renault

Jason Tahincioğlu pronounced [tahindʒioːɫu]; also called Jason Tahinci; born 29 October 1983 in Bristol, United Kingdom) is a Turkish auto racing driver born into a car racing family.

Career

Tahincioğlu started driving mini kart at the age of six. In 1990, he debuted in kart racing. From 1991 on, he became champion in mini kart racing for four successive years. Tahincioğlu moved up then in 1995 to Promo kart series and became second after his elder sister Raina Tahincioğlu. The next year, he went to the Netherlands to participate at the championships there and became 5th among 24 drivers. Returned to Turkey, Tahincioğlu became champion in Promo series in the years 1997 and 1998. During this time, he participated also at the European Junior championships. He moved to Super kart category and became champion in 1999 and 2000. Tahincioğlu ended his kart racing career with 8 Turkish champion titles.^[1]

Tahincioğlu experienced the taste of driving a Formula Three racing car first time on his birthday in 1998 as a gift from his father Mümtaz Tahincioğlu, long-time president of Turkish Motorsports Federation (TOSFED) and FIA Council Member.^[2] In 2000, he debuted in the Turkish Formula Three Championship and finished in second place. In 2001, he did not race in order to finish high school. Since 2002, he competed in the British Formula Renault^[1][3] championship finishing 20th in 2005. In August 2005, Jason Tahincioğlu became the first ever Turkish racer to drive a Formula One car when he completed test runs for Jordan Grand Prix on a Toyota TF105 at the Silverstone Circuit.^[2]

In 2006, Tahincioğlu became team-mate of Italian Luca Filippi in the GP2 team FMS International,^[4] which was formed in 2005 by the Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella, and is being sponsored by the Turkish gasoline company Petrol Ofisi.^[5] Despite scoring no points, he was retained for 2007.

In 2006 he also raced in the Turkish leg of the World Series by Renault. He competed in both races in the 3.5 class.

For the 2008 season, he competed for the BCN Competicion team in the GP2 Asia Series.^[6] In the same year, he was also a test driver for the Galatasaray team in the inaugural Superleague Formula season, having revealed he was a lifelong fan of Galatasaray.^[7]

Tahincioğlu was educated in automotive engineering at the University of Bath in England.^[1][8]

Racing record

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	21	DC	Points
2006	FMS International	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	SMR FEA Ret	SMR SPR Ret	EUR FEA DNS	EUR SPR 18	ESP FEA 15	ESP SPR 19	MON FEA Ret	GBR FEA 13	GBR SPR 16	FRA FEA Ret	FRA SPR 17	GER FEA 17	GER SPR 17	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 14	TUR FEA 17	TUR SPR 17	ITA FEA 11	ITA SPR 13	30th	0
2007	FMS International	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR 13	ESP FEA DNS	ESP SPR Ret	MON FEA Ret	FRA FEA 15	FRA SPR 18	GBR FEA 19	GBR SPR 16	EUR FEA 17	EUR SPR 19	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 11	TUR FEA 14	TUR SPR Ret	ITA FEA 11	ITA SPR 20	BEL FEA 14	BEL SPR 20	VAL FEA 13	VAL SPR Ret	33rd	0

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	DC	Points
2008	BCN Competicion	UAE FEA 19	UAE SPR 16	IND FEA Ret	IND SPR 17	MAL FEA 12	MAL SPR Ret	BHR FEA 17	BHR SPR 13	UAE FEA 9	UAE SPR 8	22nd	0

References

1. Soykan, Timur (2003-08-19). "Doğuştan 'Formula'cı". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 2013-09-19.
2. Zabcı, Faruk (2005-08-10). "F1’in ilk Türk test pilotu". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2013-09-19.
3. "İşte bizim Schumi". Sabah (in Turkish). 2002-11-22. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
4. "Jason arabanın hakkını veremedi". Sabah (in Turkish). 2006-04-09. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
5. "Jason Tahincioğlu'nun şanssızlığı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
6. "Jason Tahincioğlu, Competicion'la anlaştı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
7. "Yarış Arabamızın Testleri Başladı!" (in Turkish). Galatasaray Spor Kulübü. 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
8. "Press Release-17 August 2005 Student on work placement to become first Turkish Formula One racing car driver". University of Bath. Retrieved 2010-09-21.

External links

• Jason Tahinci at GP2 in Eurosport
• Jason Tahinci at GP2 Series