Nigel Melker

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Nigel Melker
180px
Nationality Netherlands Dutch
Born (1991-01-25) 25 January 1991 (age 33)
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Formula Renault 3.5 Series career
Debut season 2012
Current team Tech 1 Racing
Car no. 2
Former teams Lotus
Starts 19
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 2
Best finish 6th in 2013
Previous series
2012
2011
2010–11
2009
2008–09
2008		 GP2 Series
Formula 3 Euro Series
GP3 Series
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Formula Renault 2.0 Italy

Nigel Melker (born 25 January 1991 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch racing driver.

Career

Karting

Melker began his motorsport career in karting in 2001, winning in the Dutch Mini Junior Cup. In 2005, he won the German Junior championship and finishing as runner-up in the European ICA Junior championship.

Formula Renault

After sitting out the 2007 season, Melker moved up to single-seaters in 2008. He participated in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup with Van Amersfoort Racing. He finished in twelfth place in the standings with eleven point-scoring positions that gave him 120 points.[1] He also took part in ten races of the Italian Formula Renault Championship. He finished eighteenth with 37 points.[2]

The following season, Melker competed in both the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championships with MP Motorsport. He finished eighteenth in the NEC standings, taking points in all six races he contested.[3] In the Eurocup, he took part in the first five rounds, finishing 23rd with five points for sixth place at Spa.[4]

GP3 Series

In 2010, Melker became the first driver to join RSC Mücke Motorsport for the 2010 GP3 Series season.[5] His team-mates were compatriot Renger van der Zande and German Tobias Hegewald. He started the season by taking the first pole position of his open-wheel racing career in the opening round at Barcelona,[6] but in the race he was involved in an accident on the opening lap and retired.[7] In the sprint race he started from the back and rose to fourteenth place.[8] He took another pole in Turkey, but did not finish in the points until the final race of the season at Monza, restricting him to 23rd place in the championships.

Melker remained in GP3 with the Mücke team for the 2011 season, alongside Michael Christensen and Luciano Bacheta (who was later replaced by Daniel Mancinelli). With the benefit of a year's experience in the category, his form was much stronger and he won the first race of the season in Turkey. This gave him the early championship lead, and he took a further four podium finishes, but he ultimately slipped to third place behind the Lotus ART duo of Valtteri Bottas and James Calado after his team appeared to lose its competitive edge following mid-season testing at Barcelona.[9]

Formula 3 Euro Series

As well as his 2011 GP3 campaign, Melker competed in the season's Formula 3 Euro Series, also with Mücke, finishing in fourth position in the drivers' standings with four wins.[10] He finished ahead of his team-mates Felix Rosenqvist, Marco Sørensen and Facu Regalia, but was unable to consistently challenge dominant champion Roberto Merhi, his Prema Powerteam colleague Daniel Juncadella, or Signature driver Marco Wittmann.

GP2 Series

After participating in the non-championship 2011 GP2 Final with DAMS, Melker switched to Ocean Racing Technology for the 2012 season, initially alongside Jon Lancaster.[11][12] With a best race finish of fourth at Silverstone, he ended the season 19th in the championship.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Melker made his racing début in a Formula Renault 3.5 car at Silverstone 2012, replacing César Ramos at the Lotus team. He qualified a respectable 14th for the first race and went on to take a podium at his first race at a wet racing track, finishing 3rd. He retired in the second race and was replaced by Estonian Kevin Korjus for the remainder of the season. He was the only driver in Lotus car #11 to get a podium that year.

After a disappointing season in GP2, Melker went to Formula Renault 3.5 full-time for 2013, driving for previous year's team champions Tech 1 Racing alongside series veteran Mikhail Aleshin. Melker spent most of the season in the subtop of the championship, amassing 4 podiums and 136 points, as well as posting 2 fastest laps. His best weekend of the season was at the Red Bull Ring when he was runner-up twice behind dominant winner Marco Sørensen. He finished the season in 6th place.

Formula Acceleration 1

Unable to find a drive in Formula Renault 3.5 for 2014, Melker turned his attention elsewhere. He signed with Azerti Motorsport for the inaugural Formula Acceleration 1 season. He was competitive immediately, finishing second twice at the opening round in Portugal, before taking a double victory at Circuito de Navarra.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2008 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Van Amersfoort Racing 15 0 0 0 0 120 12th
Formula Renault 2.0 Italy 10 0 0 0 0 37 18th
2009 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup MP Motorsport 10 0 0 0 0 5 23rd
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC 6 0 0 0 0 77 18th
2010 GP3 Series RSC Mücke Motorsport 16 0 2 0 0 5 23rd
ATS F3 Cup Jo Zeller Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
Masters of Formula 3 Mücke Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 14th
2011 GP3 Series RSC Mücke Motorsport 16 1 0 2 5 38 3rd
Formula 3 Euro Series Mücke Motorsport 24 4 2 2 9 251 4th
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 4th
GP2 Final DAMS 2 0 0 0 0 0 20th
2012 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 24 0 0 0 0 25 19th
Formula Renault 3.5 Series Lotus 2 0 0 0 1 15 19th
2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Tech 1 Racing 17 0 0 2 4 136 6th
2014 Formula Acceleration 1 Netherlands 10 5 4 3 9 183 1st

† – As Melker was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points
2010 RSC Mücke Motorsport ESP
FEA
Ret		 ESP
SPR
14		 TUR
FEA
23		 TUR
SPR
17		 VAL
FEA
Ret		 VAL
SPR
15		 GBR
FEA
12		 GBR
SPR
Ret		 GER
FEA
Ret		 GER
SPR
Ret		 HUN
FEA
23		 HUN
SPR
14		 BEL
FEA
12		 BEL
SPR
15		 ITA
FEA
8		 ITA
SPR
13		 23rd 5
2011 RSC Mücke Motorsport TUR
FEA
1		 TUR
SPR
3		 ESP
FEA
6		 ESP
SPR
2		 VAL
FEA
Ret		 VAL
SPR
19		 GBR
FEA
Ret		 GBR
SPR
8		 GER
FEA
10		 GER
SPR
3		 HUN
FEA
8		 HUN
SPR
4		 BEL
FEA
3		 BEL
SPR
Ret		 ITA
FEA
9		 ITA
SPR
Ret		 3rd 38

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Year Entrant Engine 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 DC Points
2011 Mücke Motorsport Mercedes LEC
1
1		 LEC
2
12		 LEC
3
4		 HOC
1
7		 HOC
2
11		 HOC
3
5		 ZAN
1
1		 ZAN
2
11		 ZAN
3
3		 RBR
1
5		 RBR
2
Ret		 RBR
3
2		 NOR
1
1		 NOR
2
11		 NOR
3
10		 NÜR
1
4		 NÜR
2
6		 NÜR
3
3		 SIL
1		 SIL
2		 SIL
3		 VAL
1
1		 VAL
2
8		 VAL
3
3		 HOC
1
6		 HOC
2
5		 HOC
3
2		 4th 251

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2012 Ocean Racing Technology MYS
FEA
16		 MYS
SPR
14		 BHR1
FEA
20		 BHR1
SPR
18		 BHR2
FEA
19		 BHR2
SPR
11		 ESP
FEA
14		 ESP
SPR
24		 MON
FEA
Ret		 MON
SPR
12		 VAL
FEA
Ret		 VAL
SPR
13		 GBR
FEA
4		 GBR
SPR
6		 GER
FEA
6		 GER
SPR
8		 HUN
FEA
14		 HUN
SPR
18		 BEL
FEA
Ret		 BEL
SPR
DNS		 ITA
FEA
11		 ITA
SPR
Ret		 SGP
FEA
12		 SGP
SPR
12		 19th 25

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points
2012 Lotus ALC
1		 ALC
2		 MON
1		 SPA
1		 SPA
2		 NÜR
1		 NÜR
2		 MSC
1		 MSC
2		 SIL
1
3		 SIL
2
Ret		 HUN
1		 HUN
2		 LEC
1		 LEC
2		 CAT
1		 CAT
2		 19th 15
2013 Tech 1 Racing MNZ
1
5		 MNZ
2
11		 ALC
1
6		 ALC
2
6		 MON
1
17		 SPA
1
3		 SPA
2
6		 MSC
1
3		 MSC
2
15		 RBR
1
2		 RBR
2
2		 HUN
1
6		 HUN
2
4		 LEC
1
Ret		 LEC
2
4		 CAT
1
Ret		 CAT
2
8		 6th 136

Complete Formula Acceleration 1 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos Points
2014 Netherlands ALG
1
2		 ALG
2
2		 NAV
1
1		 NAV
2
1		 NÜR
1
1		 NÜR
2
DNS		 MNZ
1
2		 MNZ
2
2		 ASS
1
1		 ASS
2
1		 1st 183

References

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External links

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