Cem Bölükbaşı (; born 9 February 1998) is ölükbaşıa Turkish racing driver and former sim racer who currently competes in the Super Formula Championship with TGM Grand Prix, having previously raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Charouz Racing System.
Bölükbaşı started motocross racing at the age of 5, and won the Turkish Championship a year later. Starting his professional career in esports in 2017, he joined G2 Esports FA Racing and competed in several Formula One eSports Series. He also won the inaugural championship of the Formula Renault Esport Series in 2020.
Making a switch back to real cars in May 2019, Bölükbaşı started racing in the GT4 European Series, and made his open-wheeler debut in October the same year in Formula Renault Eurocup. Throughout the first months of 2021, he competed in the F3 Asian Championship and finished as the runner-up in the rookie standings. He competed part-time in the 2021 Euroformula Open Championship and won twice. After testing Formula 2 cars at the end of 2021, he was picked to drive in the 2022 Formula 2 Championship with Charouz Racing System.
Bölükbaşı left Charouz Racing System before the Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round on 27 August 2022. The team argued there was a major breach of agreement from Bölükbaşı’s side, while he argued they could not reach a consensus on financial contract terms. Bölükbaşı announced that he views his withdrawal unfair.
Early and personal life
Realizing his passion for speed when he was only 6 years old, his father took him to the motocross track. He began to compete in motocross when he was 5 years old, and won the Turkish Championship at the age of 6.
In 2022, Bölükbaşı said that his favourite Formula One driver is Fernando Alonso, adding that Alonso "as a person and his movements on track" made the Spanish driver interesting to him.
Career
Esports
In late 2017, he was selected to join G2 Esports FA Racing, in which he would compete in various simracing competitions throughout 2018. Bölükbaşı raced for McLaren in the 2017 Formula One eSports Series, which he finished 5th in the standings with 35 points and a race win under his name. In the 2018 Formula One eSports Series, he switched to Toro Rosso and participated in 4 out of the 10 races, finishing 12th with 32 points. In the 2019 Formula One eSports Series, he participated in 9 out of the 12 races, finishing 21st with 4 points. During the 2020 lockdowns, Bölükbaşı competed in several virtual races, including winning the inaugural championship of the Formula Renault Esport Series.
GT4
In May 2019, Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport announced that Bölükbaşı would race in the 2019 GT4 European Series. He was able to get a second-place finish in the Misano round and finished the championship in 17th overall. Bölükbaşı continued to race in the series full-time in 2020. He got 3 pole positions and 3 race wins and finished the season overall 2nd.
Lower formulae
Bölükbaşı made his Formula debut in the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup with M2 Competition. As a guest driver he raced only in the Hockenheim round, finishing 16th in race 1 and retiring from the second race.
Formula 3
In January 2021, BlackArts Racing announced that Bölükbaşı would drive for the team in the 2021 F3 Asian Championship. He scored points in 13 of the 15 races and with a best race result of 5th, finished 9th in the overall standings.
He also raced in the rebranded 2022 season, this time with Evans GP. Bölükbaşı retired from all three races in round 1, with the crash in race 3 causing major damage to the rear of his car. The damage could not be repaired until the second round the week after, causing him to miss all three races. In early February, just before round 3, Bölükbaşı announced that he would not continue racing in the series, as his chances of getting FIA Super Licence points were slim.
Euroformula
On 3 July 2021, it was announced that Bölükbaşı would join the 2021 Euroformula Open Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing. He made his debut in the series during the fourth round at Hungaroring. He won the first race in the round, becoming the first esport driver to win a race in formula series. Bölükbaşı also finished third in the second race. The third race was run on a wet track, and he finished in 7th place.