| Olivier Pla | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Driver Details | ||
| Nationality |  French
| |
| P.o.B. | Toulouse, Occitanie, France
| |
| D.o.B. | 22 October 1981 | |
| Début |  2005 Imola Feature Race
| |
| Last Race |  2007 Monza Sprint Race
| |
| Best Finish | 13th (2005) | |
| GP2 Series Career | ||
| Entries | 36 (35 Starts) | |
| No. | 11, 20 | |
| Wins | Points | Poles |
| 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 | |
| First Win |  2005 Silverstone Sprint Race
| |
| Last Win |  2005 Hockenheimring Sprint Race
| |
| Teams | David Price Racing
| |
Olivier Pla(born 22 October 1981 in Toulouse, Occitanie, France) is a French racing driver, who competed in the FIA GP2 Series between 2005 and 2007.[1] A future class winner in the Le Mans Series after his time in GP2, Pla would claim two victories in GP2, racing exclusively for David Price Racing.[2]
DPR signed Pla ahead of the inaugural 2005 season, partnering Ryan Sharp after moving across from the World Series by Nissan.[3] The Frenchman would go on to claim two wins, both in Sprint Races, although an otherwise quiet season saw Pla only claim thirteenth in the championship hunt.[4]
Pla was retained by DPR for the 2006 season, with Clivio Piccione selected as the Frenchman's teammate for the season.[5] However, after breaking his wrist in an accident at the 2006 Monaco Feature Race, Pla would sit-out the second half of the season, leaving him down in 27th in the championship.[6]
The 2007 season saw Pla move away from GP2, instead opting to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany for the campaign.[1] However, the Frenchman would get one final drive in the GP2 Series when DPR called him up to race at the Monza round, although Pla failed to threaten the points standing in for Christian Bakkerud.[1]
After 2007 Pla would end his single-seater career, switching to endurance racing and the Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class.[2] The Frenchman would go on to win the LMP2 championship in the Le Mans Series in 2009, prior to joining the World Endurance Series in 2012 in the same LMP2 class.[2] Two second places in the LMP2 class in the WEC led to Pla ultimately becoming a factory Ford driver in the WEC in 2016, with the Frenchman claiming two wins before that programme came to an end in 2019.[2]
Background[]
Pla would begin his career in karting in 1996, following in the steps of his father Jean-Pierre Pla who had been a semi-successful GT driver in his native France.[2] In 2000 Pla moved into the Formula Renault Campus France series for his maiden season in single-seaters, finishing third behind Stéphane Morat and Alexandre Prémat.[2] For 2001 the Frenchman would switch to the national French Formula 3 Championship, finishing third.[2]
Alternate Ladder: 2002 - 2004[]
Remaining in French F3 for 2002, Pla would go on to finish third in the championship behind Tristan Gommendy, claiming two wins.[2] Pla would, however, win the non-Championship Korea Super Prix, as well as claim second in the Masters of Formula 3 race, prompting ASM to retain his services as the French F3 series merged with German F3 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2003.[2] Pla's third season in F3 saw him claim third in the inaugural Euro Series, before moving on to race in the World Series by Nissan for 2004.[2]
A quiet 2004 campaign saw Pla secure one win in the World Series, although that was enough for the Frenchman to secure the attention of teams entering a new single-seater championship in 2005.[2]
GP2 Series History[]
Pla was picked by David Price Racing to lead their new FIA GP2 Series team ahead of the inaugural 2005 season, with the Frenchman partnering Ryan Sharp for the campaign.[3]
Post GP2 Series Career[]
After calling time on his single-seater career at the end of 2007, Pla switched to endurance racing for 2008 after securing a seat in the Le Mans Series with Quifel ASM Team.[2] After season spent getting used to LMP2 equipment, Pla would go on to claim the LMP2 class title in the Le Mans Series in 2009, although he was unable to defend his crown in 2010.[2] In 2011 Quifel and Pla stepped up to the LMP1 class in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, securing one podium, with Pla also making his debut in GT racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series and French GT Championship.[2]
Prototypes and Factories: 2012 - 2020[]
2012 saw Pla move to OAK racing for a twin campaign in the European Le Mans Series as well as the new World Endurance Championship.[2] Second in ELMS would result, a result which he would match in 2013, while the Frenchman would also claim second in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[2] In 2014 Pla would move to G-Drive in the WEC, finishing second in the Endurance Trophy for LMP2, prompting Nissan to sign him as one of their factory drivers for their maiden venture into the WEC and LMP1 in 2015.[2]
Unfortunately for both Pla and Nissan their WEC venture would be a miserable failure, with the car retiring early on in its one appearance of the season at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[2] Yet, Pla would be able to keep racing in both the ELMS and USCC in LMP2, before Ford signed the Frenchman to their new factory GT programme in the WEC for 2016.[2] Pla went on to become a mainstay of the Ford GT programme throughout its four year lifespan, claiming one win in class as well as de jure win in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in terms of points for the WEC in 2016.[2]
After the factory Ford programme came to an end Pla secured a partial season seat with Mazda in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for 2019, a deal which would be renewed for 2020.[2]
Full GP2 Series Record[]
Shown below are a series of tables outlining Olivier Pla's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.
GP2 Series Entries[]
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Olivier Pla during their GP2 career:
| Olivier Pla's Overall GP2 Series Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Pos. | Pts. | Livery |
| 2005 | David Price Racing[3]
|
11 | Dallara GP2/05 | 13th | 20 | File:PLA 05 Livery.png |
| 2006 | DPR Direxiv[5]
|
20 | Dallara GP2/05 | 27th | 0 | File:PLA 06 Livery.png |
| 2007 | Carlin DPR[1]
|
20 | Dallara GP2/05 | 35th | 0 | File:PLA 07 Livery.png |
Career Results[]
Below is a table showing Olivier Pla's full GP2 Series record.
| FIA GP2 Series Record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rounds | Pos. | Pts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||
| 2005 | 
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13th | 20 | |||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | |||
| 9th | 5th | Ret | Ret | 9th | Ret | 8th | Ret | 9th | 8th | 1st | 8th | 1st | 7th | Ret | 9th | 17th | Ret | Ret | 11th | 10th | Ret | DNS | |||
| 2006 |
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27th | 0 | ||||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | |||||
| 10th | 15th | Ret | 20th | 15th | Ret | DSQ | 20th | Ret | 16th | 9th | |||||||||||||||
| 2007 |
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35th | 0 | ||||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | |||||
| Ret | 13th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ollie Barstow, 'Pla returns to DPR.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 06/09/2007), https://www.crash.net/gp2/news/68167/1/pla-returns-to-dpr, (Accessed 05/01/2007)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 'Oliver Pla', driverdb.com, (Driver Database, 2021), https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/olivier-pla/, (Accessed 30/01/2021)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedOPla05A - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBhr05SR - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedOPla06A - ↑ 'Conway in for injured Pla.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 05/06/2006), https://www.crash.net/gp2/news/67259/1/conway-in-for-injured-pla, (Accessed 17/10/2020)