Pepe Oriola

Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race at the age of 16, he is also the youngest to be on the podium and to have won a race. Feats he achieved in Brazil in 2011 and Morocco in 2013 respectively. His record of being the youngest driver ever to compete, score championship points and win a race in the prestigious WTCC remains to this day. In 2018, he competed in the World Touring Car Cup and finish sixth in a close title fight till the last rounds in Macau. In 2019, he switched from factory driver of CUPRA to Hyundai Motorsport. Oriola also won the first 24h race of only TCR Cars in Spa Francorchamps in 2019 with the team Red Camel-Jordans. He is part of the team Changan Ford in China Touring Car Championship CTCC where in 2019 won three races.

Career

Early years Born in Barcelona, Oriola began his career in karting in 2004 at the age of nine. He switched to touring cars at the end of 2009 at the age of 15 when he competed in the final round of the SEAT León Supercopa Spain, finishing on the podium. In 2010, he competed in full seasons of both the Spanish Supercopa and SEAT León Eurocup with the Monlau Competition team. He took his first victory at the second Eurocup race at Brands Hatch, which was shortened due to a heavy accident involving Francisco Carvalho. He then took a double victory at the season finale at Valencia to move up to fourth in the final Eurocup standings. He also finished fourth in the Supercopa standings.

World Touring Car Championship In 2011, Oriola raced a SEAT León in the World Touring Car Championship for Sunred Engineering. He became the youngest ever driver in the series when he made his debut, aged 16 years, 8 months and 11 days at the 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil. He scored his first points in the second race of the season at Curitiba.

Oriola driving for Tuenti Racing Team at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan. Oriola would continue in the WTCC in 2012, staying with Sunred but now racing under the Tuenti Racing Team banner. He left the first round in Italy in a three way tie for first place in the Yokohama Trophy with Stefano D'Aste and Alex MacDowall, having started from the class pole position in race one. He took his first overall podium finish in race two of the Race of Portugal. Oriola spent much of the season at the top of the Yokohama Trophy but dropped behind Norbert Michelisz in the standings after the Race of Brazil. He took his second podium finish of the season in race two of the Race of Japan with second place behind Stefano D'Aste having started from that position on the reversed grid.

Oriola stayed in the WTCC for the 2013 season driving for the Tuenti Racing Team. He would not be eligible for the Yokohama Trophy as the team was now run by SEAT Sport. At the season opening Race of Italy he qualified fourth as the best placed SEAT driver on the grid. He retired from race one with a puncture having been running fifth and finished sixth in race two. On 7 April 2013 at the Race of Morocco, Oriola became the youngest person to win a WTCC race when he claimed victory in race two. After the Race of Russia, Oriola confirmed he would be switching to a Chevrolet Cruze car for the following round in Portugal.

Racing record

Career summary † As Oriola was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. ‡ Team standings

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 75% of the race distance.

Complete TCR International Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2015 Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil SEAT León Cup Racer SEP1 SEP2 SHA1 SHA2 VAL1 VAL2 ALG1 ALG2 MNZ1 MNZ2 SAL1 SAL2 SOC1 SOC2 RBR1 RBR2 MRN1 MRN2 CHA1 CHA2 MAC1 MAC2 2nd 312 2016 Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil SEAT León TCR BHR1 BHR2 EST1 EST2 SPA1 SPA2 IMO1 IMO2 SAL1 SAL2 OSC1 OSC2 SOC1 SOC2 CHA1 CHA2 MRN1 MRN2 SEP1 SEP2 MAC1 MAC2 4th 241.5 2017 Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT León TCR RIM1 RIM2 BHR1 BHR2 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 SAL1 SAL2 HUN1 HUN2 OSC1 OSC2 CHA1 CHA2 ZHE1 ZHE2 DUB1 DUB2 4th 164 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Touring Car Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2018 Team Oscaro by Campos Racing Cupra León TCR MAR1 MAR2 MAR3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 GER1 GER2 GER3 NED1 NED2 NED3 POR1 POR2 POR3 SVK1 SVK2 SVK3 CHN1 CHN2 CHN3 WUH1 WUH2 WUH3 JPN1 JPN2 JPN3 MAC1 MAC2 MAC3 6th 245 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

TCR Spa 500 results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2019 Red Camel-Jordans.nl Ivo Breukers Rik Breukers Tom Coronel CUPRA León TCR P 454 1st 1st

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2020 Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) LEC1 LEC2 ZOL1 ZOL2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 SPA1 SPA2 JAR1 JAR2 13th 153 2022 Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) ALG1 ALG2 LEC1 LEC2 SPA1 SPA2 11th 185 Aggressive Italia Hyundai Elantra N TCR NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 2023 RC2 Racing Team Audi RS 3 LMS TCR ALG1 ALG2 PAU1 PAU2 SPA1 SPA2 HUN1 HUN2 LEC1 LEC2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 19th 39

Complete TCR World Tour results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2025 GOAT Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) AHR1 AHR2 AHR3 CRT1 CRT2 CRT3 MNZ1 MNZ2 CVR1 CVR2 BEN1 BEN2 BEN3 INJ1 INJ2 INJ3 ZHZ1 ZHZ2 ZHZ3 MAC1 MAC2 32nd 6