After competing in his first full season in LMP2 with DKR Engineering last year, Turkish driver Cem Bolukbasi has signed with Nielsen Racing for the 2025 European Le Mans Series, partnering former ELMS and WEC LMP2 champions Filipe Albuquerque and Ferdinand Habsburg in the no24 Oreca-Gibson.
The 27-year-old from Istanbul made his ELMS debut in 2021, racing for Eurointernational in LMP3 in a one-off race at the Red Bul Ring, finishing second alongside teammates Andrea Dromedari and Joey Alders. He then competed in the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship and the 2023 Super Formula before returning to the ELMS in 2024.
We caught up with Cem Bolukbasi ahead of the season opener in Barcelona next month to discuss the challenge he faces in the ultra-competitive LMP2 category this year.
Q: Welcome back to the ELMS. You raced in the LMP2 Pro/Am category last year with DKR and now you’re stepping up to the LMP2 class with Nielsen Racing.Does the experience gained last season put you in a good position for the challenge ahead this season?
Cem Bolukbasi: “One hundred percent! This is my second season in an LMP2 car. I haven’t been in the racing scene for very long and this will be the first I will be racing the same car in the same class for two years in a row. I know all the circuits that we will race on this year. We finished every race last year and completed every lap, so, yes, the experience from last year will help one hundred percent.”
Q: You are teamed with FIA WEC and ELMS LMP2 Champions Ferdinand Habsburg and Filipe Albuquerque. How well do you know them?
CB: “I know Ferdy really well; he’s a good friend of mine and a good guy. I rate him very highly as a driver. His CV and accomplishments speak for themselves, so I am happy and proud to be his teammate. I don’t know Filipe personally, but he has won almost everything in endurance racing and I have a lot of respect for him as well. I have a lot to learn from both of them this season, but the line-up is really strong, and it feels good to share the same car as them.”
Q: Turkey has a strong motorsport tradition with lots of fans following every form of racing. Salih Yoluc raised the profile of Endurance Racing in your home country, will you be hoping for the same level of support from your followers in Turkey?
“I hope I can win some races and the championship in the future at some point. My goal is to win the ELMS and become a European Champion. I come from Istanbul, which is an amazing city. There has been an F1 race in the past, and hopefully we’ll have more in the future, which helped race the profile of motorsport in Turkey. Also having Turkish drivers racing internationally helps grow the sport at home and I hope I can bring more success.”
Q: Of the six tracks the ELMS will be visiting in 2025, which are you looking forward to the most and why?
“I’ve raced on five of the tracks in the ELMS last year and I have raced in F2 at Silverstone, so I know that track as well.Silverstone could be my favourite track on the ELMS calendar. I really like fast flowing corners, so Silverstone and Spa would be my favourite tracks. When you look at the calendar, we go to Formula One tracks, but not just any Formula One tracks, we go to the most known F1 tracks, so I am really happy that the UK and Silverstone is back on the calendar.”
Q: What is the main difference between single seaters and endurance for you?
“I think the biggest difference is not having the perfect car but to having a car that suits all the drivers. I’m only doing thirty to forty percent of the race, so if I am doing one and half hours behind the wheel there is still two and a half hours left in the race. The car could be fast for me but if the remaining drivers don’t like the set up then we’ll lose two and a half hours performance. You have to be lot less selfish in endurance than in single seaters and more of a team player to find a balanced set up that suits us all. That for me is the biggest difference.”
