Anu Võsu
Anu Võsu (b. 17th February 1996 in Pärnu, Estonia) is an Estonian professional racing driver. She made her Reject Motorsport debut for Nurminen Racing Engineering in the inaugural season of F1 Rejects Development Series. Her earlier career includes two seasons in the Finnish Formula Ford series, during which she did enough to impress Nurminen Racing Engineering.
In January 2016, The Sun revealed that she is the illegitimate daughter of Nathan Nurmester.
F1RDS
2015
In the non-championship Winter Cup, Võsu managed to score points in two out of the three races but was never a contender for winning it.
Võsu's debut in the new series couldn't have been worse, as she retired early on with a transmission failure. The first race in San Marino was much better, as she came in home second, clinching NRE's 1-2 finish. However, she failed to score for the next three races, before another podium at the second French race. She was then well off the pace in Czech Republic and was replaced by Tommi Hämäläinen, who had just joined Niko Nurminen's management portfolio. She was called back for the last two rounds of the season as Hämäläinen had struggled as well and it was felt that he needed to prepare for his F3RWRS drive next season. However, Võsu still struggled, being 23rd in the first Dutch race. Her form improved for the season finale, where she finished 5th. This was enough to allow her to keep the drive for the next season.
2016
After her 2015 team mate Tõnu Pykälistö had moved on to F3RWRS, Võsu was paired with German rookie Florian Grünewald for her second and final season in F1RDS as she was fast reaching the age limit of the series. She started the season with a huge surprise by winning the non-championship Winter Cup after being victorius at the last race of the Cup in Long Beach. At the first weekend of the regular season in Spain, she scored points in both starts with 3rd and 9th place finishes. She continued her points streak in Britain with a 2nd in the first start. A 4th in the second start promoted her to second in the championship standings, just three points adrift of the then-current leader Naas Botha. However, her points streak was cut at the next round in Italy, where she struggled all weekend, only managing a 20th place finish. The disappointing form continued in Austria where she finished a mere 17th. In Turkey, motivated by having a new team mate in the form of Thomas Butler, she finished 5th and 3rd which put her first in the WDC. In France she finally won her first race in the series, leading her team mate to a 1-2 finish from pole position. The second start had less to write home about, as she was just outside of the points in 11th. A puncture while leading ended her race in Germany - her first retirement of the season.
At Zandvoort she finished 6th, losing the championship lead to Aimée Gauthier who won the race. She then won her second race of the season at Oulton Park with a dominant performance from pole position, and would've won the second start as well but an electrics problem dropped her down to 6th. In Belgium she won the first start from pole, but qualified badly in the second one and eventually retired with suspension problems. At Brno she managed yet another 6th in the first start and suffered an engine failure in the second, pushing her title battle with Aimée Gauthier to the last weekend in Japan. A perfect result in the first start almost clinched the title in her favor, but she was then off the pace in the second start, finishing 12th while Gauthier battled for the win with Daniela Anger. However, the Swisswoman persisted and thus Võsu won the title by only three points over Gauthier.
F3RWRS
Prior to the title-deciding F1RDS weekend, Võsu was confirmed as a driver for Restov Racing in the 2017 F3RWRS season.
Complete Results
F1RDS Winter Cup Results
Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | DC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Nurminen Racing Engineering | Opel-Spiess 2.0L L4DOHC | SUZ 5 |
MOT 8 |
FUJ 23 |
10th | 11 | |||
2016 | Nurminen Racing Engineering | VW-Cosworth 2.0L V6 | SN1 2 |
SN2 13 |
LS1 5 |
LS2 10 |
LB1 5 |
LB2 1 |
1st | 50 |
F1 Rejects Development Series
Year | Team | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Nurminen Racing Engineering | Opel-Spiess 2.0L L4DOHC | AUS Ret |
SM1 2 |
SM2 19 |
MON 19 |
FR1 18 |
FR2 3 |
CZ1 22 |
CZ2 23 |
GB1 |
GB2 |
GER |
BEL |
ITA |
NE1 23 |
NE2 5 |
18th | 34 | |||||
2016 | Nurminen Racing Engineering | VW-Cosworth 2.0L V6 | SP1 3 |
SP2 9 |
UK1 2 |
UK2 4 |
ITA 20 |
AUT 17 |
TU1 5 |
TU2 3 |
FR1 1 |
FR2 11 |
GER Ret |
NED 6 |
EN1 1 |
EN2 6 |
BE1 1 |
BE2 Ret |
CZ1 6 |
CZ2 Ret |
JP1 1 |
JP1 12 |
1st | 154 |
*Season in progress