Geoff Donnelly

Geoff Donnelly (born June 3rd, 1968 in Scarborough, England) is a British professional racing driver who competed in Life Grand Prix, Prost Grand Prix, and Formula One. Fondly known as "The Pieman" due to his love for the savoury pastry and meat dish, Donnelly was known for his numerous visits to food outlets whilst at Grand Prix weekends enjoying his favourite meal. Despite at some points being noticeably thicker than any of the other drivers, Donnelly insisted that his size did not impact his driving abilities.

Early Life and Career

Donnelly was born in Scarborough to Michael, a builder, and Betty, a dinnerlady. Brought up on building sites, Donnelly became adept at handling heavy machinery at a young age to the dismay of his mother. He would also build push-karts out of spare building materials, and his father noticed Geoff's growing interest in cars. Taking his son to Oulton Park to see a British Saloon Car Championship race in 1979 proved to be the spark that Geoff needed to start trying to race cars himself. Having some contacts in scrap dealerships, Michael got his hands on some materials and built his son a kart, allowing him to practice around the building sites during lunch breaks.

Impressed by his son's control, Michael entered Geoff into a local kart on his 12th birthday and he immediately impressed, beating some older and more experienced opposition. Winning a few races here and there, Geoff slowly made a name for himself. However, his father did not have the funds to keep funding his son's exploits, and his mother's meagre income could not help matters. Taking part in one final kart race in Northumberland and winning by some considerable margin, Donnelly met a gentleman named Colin Gregg, who pledged to fund the Brit's future racing career with backing from his family's bakery chain.

Life Grand Prix Series

Again, your call.

F1RWRS

Starting to get the taste for the motorsports world again, Donnelly was encouraged by Greggs to make enquiries into securing an F1RWRS seat for the 2017 season. To his surprise, rookie team Fusion Motorsports offered Donnelly a seat at their nascent outfit alongside Miko Fäkkinen as long as he could earn a superlicense in time. Purchasing a few tests with the Equipe Gauthier team, Donnelly managed to secure his seat with Fusion.

Fusion, developing a highly-experimental chassis, had decided to pour their season's budget into development and had opted for the free Great Wall engines based on the unsuccessful Prospec PRS01 design. Unsurprisingly, the car was underpowered and in the hands of Fäkkinen and Donnelly could not pass pre-qualifying more than twice. Fäkkinen managed to get the car onto the grid on both occasions, in Bathurst and Monaco, whilst Donnelly did not qualify for either event.

Sensing his time racing was over, Donnelly retired at the end of the season, stating "I've reached the top level at 49, and I want to leave on a high note". Fusion offered Donnelly a contract to remain with the team as a global marketing ambassador, which he duly accepted.

Results

F1RWRS

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Pts
2017	Energy T.I. Fusion Motorsports	CL1/17	Great Wall GWRS-17	AUS DNPQ	NSW DNQ	GBR DNPQ	ITA DNPQ	AUT DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	USS DNPQ	USN DNPQ	GER DNPQ	NED DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	MON DNQ	MOR DNPQ	ARG DNPQ	JPN DNPQ	CHN DNPQ	45th	0