Jason Tahincioğlu

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.

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.

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. In 2000, he debuted in the Turkish Formula Three Championship and finished in second place. In 2001, he did not race to finish high school. Since 2002, he competed in the British Formula Renault 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.

In 2006, Tahincioğlu became team-mate of Italian Luca Filippi in the GP2 team FMS International, which was formed in 2005 by the Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella, and is being sponsored by the Turkish gasoline company Petrol Ofisi. 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. 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.

Tahincioğlu was educated in automotive engineering at the University of Bath in England.

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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