Oliver Oakes

Early life

He was educated at The King's School, Ely.

Early career

Kart racing, after training from age 4 in his family's back yard and driving anything he could get his hands Oli was obsessed with anything that he could get his hands on to drive.

1995 Shell Oils paid for Oakes to race in the Australian Championship at the age of 7 Midget Class Australia, 100cc Yamaha Engine

1996 Cadet Class England Qualified for Super 1 Championship on novice plates. Finished 20th overall

1997 Many club wins including P.F. International, Wigan & Kimbolton 14th British Super 1 1st Qualifying round of Super 1

1998 5th Super 1 Series British Open Champion

1999 Won Dutch Championship races Won the Gold Cup in Amsterdam; 5th in TVKC Kart Masters; British Open Champion again (only person to win it twice in a row)

2000 Formula TKM, 5th overall in British Super 1 Championship Winner TVKC Kart Masters from 21st

2001 Junior ICA 4th European Championship; Many Italian & Belgium championship round wins

2002 Tony Kart racing team driver 4th European Championship; Champion of Western Europe

2003 Tony Kart Racing Team Formula ICA; Winner of 8th Winter Cup (ICA); Winner of Margutti Cup (ICA); Runner Up Italian Open Masters 1995

2004 Swiss Hutless International Official driver

2005 PDB Racing Team 4th European Championship; 4th Italian Open Championship; CIK-FIA World Champion

Post-karting career

After winning the Karting World Championships at just 17yrs of age, Oakes moved over to Formula BMW racing, with the backing of Red Bull Racing. In his first race at Brands Hatch on 9 April 2006, Oakes won the race after getting pole in qualifying. Oakes finished 6th overall in the Formula BMW UK Championship after missing several rounds due to European commitments with Red Bull racing in the European Championship and took a 5th in Le Mans and 7th in Barcelona respectively.

This made Oliver the title favourite after he signed to Join Motopark for the 2007 season. However after topping the pre-season tests the team struggled to adjust to the new aero kit and although he had some podiums during the year it was much below expectation.

During the winter Oliver tested World Series by Renault cars for Comtec and Tech 1, putting up some impressive times. However after feeling World Series in 2008 was not the right step, he decided to sign for Eurotek Motorsport to compete in the ultra competitive and highly regarded British Formula 3 Championship. Although it is a new team and they were on the back feet after missing the pre-season testing and many races Oliver is confident with the personnel from all aspects of motorsport behind him they will be fighting for podiums towards the end of the year. This never materialised as Oakes finished nineteenth in the championship after they only entered the final 3 rounds. He did take an impressive pole position at the final round at Donington.

He moved to Carlin Motorsport for his 2009 campaign, but after a dispute with the team, decided to part company with the team before the Rockingham rounds of the series.

After being on the sidelines for most of 2009 Oakes undertook some testing commitments for manufacturers and made a last minute appearance in GP3 during 2010 to assist new Team Atech CRS.

Complete GP3 Series results

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