Stephen Jelley

Stephen David Jelley (born 12 May 1982) is a British racing driver currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for XQS Team Parker Racing.

Career

Single-seaters Born in Leicester, Jelley moved up from Formula Ford to the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship for 2004, taking three class wins. In 2006 and 2007 he drove for Räikkönen Robertson Racing in British F3. After a second place in the 2007 opening round, he took two wins and finished 3rd overall. He contested the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season for the ART Grand Prix team.

Touring cars

Jelley switched to touring cars after his GP2 Asia campaign contesting the 2008 British Touring Car Championship with Team RAC as Colin Turkington's team-mate. His last GP2 Asia weekend clashed with the second BTCC meeting of the year at Rockingham meaning a GP2 race in Dubai on the Friday and BTCC qualifying at Rockingham on the Saturday. Early results were not impressive, with only one point in the first four meetings, results gradually improved with points finishes in each of the next three meetings, At Silverstone, he qualified seventh, but after finishing there in round 25, he crashed in round 26, dislocating his shoulder. Despite this injury, he did contest round 27, finishing in the points. At the Brands Hatch season finale, he took pole position, although as he explained to ITV4, the team did not initially believe he had set the fastest time, and attributed seeing P1 on the screen to a timing error. In the race, his gearbox failed, but he fought back to score minor points in the final round. For 2009, he continued with Team RAC and showed he had benefited from a years knowledge by finishing fourth (a then personal best) at the first round at Brands Hatch. Results continued to improve and at the halfway point of the 2009 season, Jelley took two-second-place finishes and a third position in the third race at Croft to clinch his first podium finishes in the sport. This was followed up at Rockingham with two wins one in race 1 from a starting position of fourth and one in race three again from fourth.

Porsche Carrera Cup Jelley switched to the British Porsche Carrera Cup for 2010, driving for Team Parker Racing. He had a consistent season, taking 11 podium finishes (including wins in the final two races), and finished third in the championship, behind Tim Harvey and Michael Caine, but ahead of his team-mates.

Jelley remained in the series with the same team for 2011, this was a late change as he had initially agreed to drive in the 2011 Le Mans Series. Jelley took pole position for the season's first two races at Brands Hatch, leading the first until a mistake (that he attributed to a slightly different braking performance of the new car) dropped him to third. He rectified this in the second event, winning from team mate Euan Hankey. Throughout the season, Jelley fought with the two SAS backed cars of James Sutton and Michael Meadows, they went into the final meeting of the year tied on points. A fuel pick up problem in qualifying resulted in a frustrating seventh and ninth positions, Jelley managed to race to fourth place before slight contact with the rear of Meadows's car resulted in a punctured radiator ending his championship chances. Over the year, Jelley recorded five wins. Jelley's overtaking performances through the year were praised by Autosport Magazine (17 Nov 2011) as he was seen to make more positions than any other driver.

Avon Tyres British GT Championship Jelley driving the Team Parker Racing Ford Focus ST at Knockhill during the 2017 British Touring Car Championship season. As well as the 2011 Carrera Cup GB, Jelley competed in Two British GT Races for Trackspeed Racing at the wheel of a Porsche GT3R partnering David Ashburn. The pair also entered the International GT Open event at Brands Hatch. The highlight of these was Jelley setting Pole position for the British GT Donington 3-hour event, the pair finished fourth in the event. In 2012, Jelley competed in three rounds of the British GT Championship with Motorbase Performance driving a Porsche GT3R alongside businessman Steve Parish (Rockingham, Brands Hatch, and Donington.) He claimed pole position for the Rockingham and Brands Hatch rounds.

Blancpain Endurance Series During 2012, Jelley drove for Von Ryan Racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 alongside brothers Matt and Julien Draper. This included the Spa 24h race.

Return to BTCC (2017–2023) Following two years driving for Team Parker Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Jelley returned to the British Touring Car Championship with the team driving a Ford Focus. The team struggled for pace and finished the season with only two points. Jelley driving the Team Parker Racing BMW 125i at Brands Hatch during the 2019 British Touring Car Championship season. For 2018, the team switched to an ex-WSR BMW 125i. The season was again a disappointment, with Jelley suffering bad luck on several occasions. His best meeting of the year was Knockhill, where he qualified second and was running in that position until getting punted by ex-teammate Colin Turkington.

Jelley remained with Team Parker and BMW for 2019. He immediately picked up his best result since his return to the championship, finishing on the podium in race 3 at Brands Hatch. At round 5, Jelley finished race 3 in second place on the road, but was promoted to first after a 20-second penalty was awarded to original winner Jake Hill.

Following the 2023 season, Jelley confirmed he would be departing West Surrey Racing.

Return to Porsche Carrera Cup

Ahead of the 2024 season, Jelley returned to the British Porsche Carrera Cup with Team Parker Racing.

Return to BTCC (2025–present) Jelley is set to compete in 2025 British Touring Car Championship with One Motorsport, driving a Honda Civic Type-R alongside Josh Cook.

Racing record Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine Class 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 DC Points 2004 Performance Racing Europe Dallara F301 Opel Scholarship DON1 DON2 SIL1 SIL2 CRO1 CRO2 KNO1 KNO2 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 CAS1 CAS2 DON1 DON2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 THR1 THR2 SPA1 SPA2 BRH1 BRH2 2nd 266 2005 Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F305 Opel Championship DON1 DON2 SPA1 SPA2 CRO1 CRO2 KNO1 KNO2 THR1 THR2 CAS1 CAS2 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 NÜR1 NÜR2 MON1 MON2 SIL1 SIL2 12th 30 2006 Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA Championship OUL1 OUL2 DON1 DON2 PAU1 PAU2 MON1 MON2 SNE1 SNE2 SPA1 SPA2 SIL1 SIL2 BRH1 BRH2 MUG1 MUG2 SIL1 SIL2 THR1 THR2 7th 126 2007 Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara F307 Mercedes Championship OUL1 OUL2 DON1 DON2 BUC1 BUC2 SNE1 SNE2 MNZ1 MNZ2 BRH1 BRH2 SPA1 SPA2 SIL1 SIL2 THR1 THR2 CRO1 CRO2 ROC1 ROC2 3rd 183

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2005 Team Midland Euroseries Dallara F305/001 Toyota HOC1 HOC2 PAU1 PAU2 SPA1 SPA2 MON1 MON2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 LAU1 LAU2 HOC3 HOC4 NC 0

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key)

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races)

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 Pos Points 2008 Team RAC BMW 320si BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 15th 14 2009 Team RAC BMW 320si BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 THR1 THR2 THR3 DON1 DON2 DON3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 ROC1 ROC26* ROC3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 6th 137 2017 Team Parker Racingwith Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus ST BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 34th 2 2018 Team Parker Racing BMW 125i M Sport BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 32nd 4 2019 Team Parker Racing BMW 125i M Sport BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 17th 105 2020 Team Parker Racing BMW 125i M Sport DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 16th 72 2021 Team BMW BMW 330i M Sport THR1 THR2 THR3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 12th 174 2022 Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 11th 181 2023 Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 12th 140 2025 One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 24th 7 ROKiT Racing withUn-Limited Motorsport Cupra León CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3