Nikolai Nurmovich

Nikolai Nurmovich (born 18th November, 1966 in Sortavala, Russian SSR, Soviet Union) is a retired Russian racing driver. His racing career includes stints in the Rejects Touring Car Championship and GT-Rejects World Championship.

Early career

Nikolai started his racing career in the early 80s, driving whatever car he could get his hands on against other youngsters. These races were held illegally on public roads, and accidents happened often. However, this didn't stop him, as he was determined to become the first succesful Russian driver in an international series. Later on he also started driving in the national A-1600 touring car series. Eventually, when Soviet Union collapsed and travelling abroad became much easier, he spent any extra money he had to visit various European races. At one of these, he met with Niko Nurminen, who helped Nurmovich to start a career in various small European series.

Rejects Touring Car Championship

Nurmovich was recruited by his good friend Niko Nurminen to drive for his entry in the 1998 Rejects Touring Car Championship season. He was partnered by British Nathan Nurmester. However, the series collapsed after only four races as the series' owner was found quilty of various drug charges. Nurmovich continued his career in small touring car series, before winding down his activity from 2008 onwards. But in 2015 the series was resurrected using mostly the same equipment as in 1998, and despite nearing his fifties he once again drove alongside Nurmester. The first weekend at Oran Park didn't bring much in terms of, with a retirement and a finish in 27th. Knockhill was a bit better as while he again retired in the first race, he scored his first points of the season with a 13th place finish. San Francisco was a huge disappoitment as Nurmovich retired in both races by crashing out, which also sparked rumours about a possible retirement after the 2015 season. These rumors were only further escalated when Nurmovich failed to score points in Spa, finishing in 20th and 17th respectively, and at Suzuka where he finished both races in 19th position. At the season-ending round held in Lienz, Austria he managed his second points finish of the season with 15th in the first race. His RTCC career ended in an 18th position in the second race, after which he announced that he was going to move to the new GT-Rejects World Championship in 2016.

2015 Aston 24 Hours

Despite nearing his fifties, Nurmovich agreed to drive for Nicchi Motori in the 2015 Aston 24 Hours endurance event. However, perhaps due to his age he hit another car and spun off during his second stint. This further escalated the rumours about his possible retirement by the end of 2015.

GT-Rejects World Championship

Nurmovich in his JLD overalls

After disappointing results in his second RTCC season, Nurmovich considered retiring from motorsport completely. However, JLD Motorsport needed an experienced hand to fill in for Tom Douglas when his RTCC schedule clashed with that of the 2016 GT-R World Championship season. Nikolai accepted the offer and was initially scheduled to drive in the French, US and Argentine rounds. Later on it was confirmed that he would take part in all races of the season, driving with Douglas in most of the races and with Justin Case in the French, US and Argentine rounds which Douglas was forced to miss due to clashing RTCC commitments.

Nurmovich's GT-R career got off to a good start, as the Saleen S7-R driven by him and Douglas finished fourth overall in Malaysia. They also scored the fastest lap and were the best independent entrant of the race. Their luck didn't last for long though, as at the very next race in Australia they were off the pace and eventually retired because of car problems. However they were back in form for the next round at Monza, finishing 5th overall and once again being the best independent entrant. They then failed to score a single point over the next three races, with a best finish of 11th at the German round. In Great Britain they just made it into the points by finishing 10th but also setting the fastest lap in the process, before a surprise win in the chaotic Belgian round at Spa. A 10th in Argentina turned out to be their last finish, as the four last races in Brazil, China and Japan all ended in mechanical failures.

Having celebrated his 50th birthday during the last race weekend of the season at High Speed Ring, Nurmovich announced his retirement from motorsport shortly after the race ended.

Results

Rejects Touring Car Championship

Season	Team	Class	Car	Number	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		15		16		17		Points	DC
1998	Nurminen	I	Volvo	92	SIL		DON		COM		ROC		ZAN		IMO		HOC		NOR		OUL		SNE		THR		CRO		MAL		MON		BRA		BIR		ORA		12	17th
					1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2
					14	32	12	10
2015	Nurminen	M	Volvo	92	AUS		SCO		USA		BEL		JAP		AUT																								4	36th
					1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2
					Ret	27	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	20	17	19	19	15	18

GT-Rejects World Championship

Season	Team	Car	Class	Number	Co-driver(s)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Points	Pos.
2016	JLD Motorsport	Saleen S7-R	I	73	Tom Douglas Justin Case	MAL 4	AUS Ret	ITA 5	FRA 16	CAN 18	USA 17	GER 11	GBR 10	BEL 1	ARG 10	BRA Ret	CHI Ret	JAP Ret	SGP Ret	33	12th

* Season in progress