DSC caught up with Nick Yelloly just before he was announced as the full season partner to Simon Dolan in both the full ELMS and in defence of Jota’s Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 win in 2014.
Yelloly follows in the not inconsiderable footsteps of Harry Tincknell, the now Nissan factory driver becoming the latest chapter in a sportscar racing story with plenty of page turning chapters of late.
And he comes from a not dissimilar single seater background to his Jota predecessor with race success in GP3 and WSR 3.5 belying his current Silver rated status.
And the career track of Messrs Tincknell, and Hartley etc were not lost on the young Englishman, “Of course, I have been watching sportscars closely for a couple of years.
“I spoke to Harry a while back and he told me straight, “make the switch, you won’t regret it, the racing’s great and the opportunities are real ones.”
“The reality is that you can’t ignore the fact that whilst the single seater ladder has stalled unless you have access to a mountain of cash.
“The reality is that I have won in everything I have done in racing but it means nothing in single seaters right now.
“I needed to find the right opportunity to progress and thanks to Jota, and to my manager (Richie Williams) I think I’ve found it.
“There’s another reality, the more drivers that do make the switch, get results and progress, the more heads are turned not only to the potential, but to the racing itself – The momentum is building, you can feel it.
“There are a whole lot of people in the sport and beyond that see LMP1 as being more attractive than F1 at present, the audience is growing, and the flow is pretty one way.
“Mark Webber making the move was a massive step, but all of a sudden it doesn’t seem like that big a throw of the dice. And then there’s the likes of Christian Klien, and Karun Chandhok. Really good racers who are choosing to find a way forward in sportscars, and who I’ll likely be racing agains this year and, I hope, beyond!”
So what are you looking forward to the most?
“Apart from a career track!? Well it will be good to be able to drive more flat out than I’ve been able to on Pirellis and the strategic aspect appeals too.
“I really like the car, the team are super professional and the guys from Gibson are top notch too.
“I got about 10 laps in the wet at Estoril and another 20 or so at Motorland (Aragon) and I was well on the pace on old and new tyres.
“The Dunlops are great, they let you push but you can be smart too, again that appeals.”
And your team mates?
“What can you say? They’re top notch. Simon is a super bloke, very committed and very, very quick and then there’s Filipe (Albuquerque).
“He’s world class as a driver and very generous as a team player too.
“And of course he’s a great benchmark for me. There’s a lot more too it but if I can race like him, not just on pace but also in approach then of course that helps with my potential progression.
“Honestly, right now I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else in the sport. There are real possibilities ahead and it’s properly exciting.”
