Barcelona, Spain

Javier Jurado

Motorsport Engineer & Software Developer.

Master's in Motorsport EngineeringMBA

Motorsport engineering taught me to understand the car and the driver, and software development gave me a way to build the tools a team needs rather than wait for someone else to make them. What ties the two together is the structure my master's degrees gave me for the people, the processes and the priorities behind the work, and it is in combining all three that I try to do this job as well as it can be done.

Experience

Twelve seasons on the pit wall.

Chief Engineer at RPM in the FIA Formula Regional European Championship, through the 2026 season. Before that, race and performance engineer from Formula Renault 3.5 to FIA F3, and five years as Head of Sim Racing Engineering at Williams Esports.

Most recent role
Chief EngineerRPM · FIA Formula Regional · 2022–2026
Before that
Head of Sim Racing EngineeringWilliams Esports · 2021–2025
Based in
Barcelona, SpainWorking across Europe
Languages
ES · CA · EN · ITEnglish fluent
12Seasons engineering single-seaters, from 2014 to 2026
5Championships engineered in, from Formula Renault 3.5 to FIA F3 and FIA Formula Regional
15Engineers led at Williams Esports, across every engineering and development area

Career

From Formula Renault 3.5 to Formula Regional.

Race programmes, sim racing and teaching, often running at the same time.

Race team Sim racing Teaching and industry

Vision

How I see motorsport.

Every step connected to the next, each with its own tools.

01 · Before the event

Preparation

02 · Together

Driving coach + vehicle dynamics

03 · On track

Performance

04 · After every run

Analysis

05 · Simulation

Correlation

The resultMastery

Everything connected, in a loop that starts again at every event.

Vision · Toolkit

Five steps, one loop.

  1. 01PreparationCanopy · Simulator · MATLAB / Simulink · CAD / CAE
  2. 02Driving coach + vehicle dynamicsPinion driver reports · WinTAX
  3. 03PerformancePinion · set-up evolution · tyres · weather · live timing
  4. 04AnalysisWinTAX · data acquisition · telemetry
  5. 05CorrelationCanopy · AI

Scroll to walk through it: each step shows what happens on the ring and the software behind it.

01 · Preparation

Simulate before the car leaves the workshop.

CanopySimulatorMATLAB / SimulinkCAD / CAE

Lap simulation and set-up sweeps in Canopy, vehicle dynamics models in MATLAB / Simulink, simulator sessions with the driver, and CAD / CAE for anything that needs designing before the event.

02 · Driving coach + vehicle dynamics

What the driver does and what the car can give.

Pinion driver reportsWinTAX

The driver's lap against the reference, corner by corner, read together with what the real car is doing on track. Coaching and set-up decided as one.

03 · Performance

Every run, the most out of the package.

PinionSet-up evolutionTyre strategyWeather radarLive timing

Set-up evolution, tyre strategy, weather radar and live timing, all in Pinion, to process the information as it arrives and extract the most from the package every time we go out on track.

04 · Analysis

Every run broken down.

WinTAXData acquisition softwareTelemetry

Data analysis corner by corner and lap by lap, across different data acquisition packages: were the tyres ready, was the energy from weaving and the brakes enough to start the push lap, what the car did, what the driver did, and why.

05 · Correlation

The model learns from the car.

CanopyAI

Track data fed back into Canopy, with AI adjusting the vehicle model until simulation and car agree. The next event starts from a better model and a better understanding of the car.

The resultMastery

Everything connected, in a loop that starts again at every event.

Leadership

Structure that lets people perform.

Good results come from teams that know how they work. Leading RPM's engineering since the team's first day, and groups of up to 15 engineers at Williams Esports, has shaped how I do it.

Method

One way of working.

Shared processes and methods for the whole department, so an event runs the same way whichever engineer is on the car and nothing depends on one person's memory.

People

Engineers who understand the why.

Four years teaching vehicle dynamics showed me that people perform when they understand the reasons behind a decision, so I explain the physics before I hand over the task.

Decisions

Clear ownership.

Every technical decision, on and off track, has one owner. Everyone knows who decides, who gets asked and when, and the team moves faster for it.

Tools

Remove the friction.

When a task costs the team time at every event, I build the tool that takes it away, so the engineers spend their weekend on engineering.

Built for motorsport

nionPinion

Much of a race team's daily work still happens across separate tools. Pinion covers the needs of every department in the team and brings them together in one cross-platform app, built to be visual and intuitive to use. Designed by me.

iOSAndroidWeb
  • Race engineering

    Set-ups, run plans and tyres

    Set-ups, run plans, tyres, ballast and session sheets for every car, in one place.

  • Live timing

    Every lap, captured

    The championship timing feed collected around the clock, cleaned and stored lap by lap.

  • Driver reports

    Corner-by-corner notes

    Lap data turned into automatic, corner-by-corner coaching notes for each driver.

  • Simulator room

    Live telemetry, shared

    Telemetry shared live between the simulator and the engineers.

  • Canopy tools · beta

    Simulation, connected

    Canopy simulation tools, suspension calculations and a data bridge between Canopy and WinTAX. In beta: an AI that imports the real car's data directly and runs and correlates the simulations on its own, explained step by step below.

  • History

    Replay any session

    Every session kept, comparable and ready to replay.

  • Logistics

    Travel and timetables

    Travel coordination and event timetables for the whole team.

  • Regulations

    Ask the rulebook

    An AI assistant for the championship regulations.

Everything unified in one app. Designed and coded by me, with AI to build faster.

Pinion · Canopy tools · beta

Simulation that runs itself.

One of the tools I built inside Pinion, now in beta. The AI imports the real car's data directly from the track, runs the simulation in Canopy and adjusts the vehicle model until it correlates, with nobody touching Canopy. This is how it works.

Step 1 of 4 · Run

Import the car's data, run the simulation.

The AI takes the real car's data from the last run, straight from Pinion, launches the simulation in Canopy and lines the simulated lap up against the real one: speed trace, lap time and the difference between them, metre by metre.

Step 2 of 4 · Compare

Compare model and car.

The model is checked against what the real car did on track. Aero load matches, but the g-g diagram shows the model carrying more lateral grip than the car.

Step 3 of 4 · Adjust

Adjust the model.

The tyre's Magic Formula parameters are tuned automatically, iteration by iteration, until the lateral force curve fits the data measured on the car.

Vehicle model · FR 2026Illustrative
Select a system to edit
Magic Formula · Lateral force Iteration 1 / 8
ParameterValueChange
Step 4 of 4 · Correlate

Correlate again.

The adjusted model runs again. The error in the slow corner disappears, and the simulated lap now follows the real car. The correlated model goes back into Pinion, ready for the next run.

Illustrative data, not team telemetry

Drivers

Drivers I've had the chance to work with.

From rookies stepping into single-seaters to Formula 1 and IndyCar.

Javier Jurado with Álex Palou and the winner's trophy at the Nürburgring, Formula V8 3.5, 2017

Álex Palou

Teo Martín · Formula V8 3.5 · 2017

Now: five-time IndyCar champion

Javier Jurado and Noah Strømsted on track after the race, RPM, 2024

Noah Strømsted

RPM · FRECA · 2024

FRECA rookie champion 2024 · FIA Formula 2 with Invicta in 2027

Javier Jurado talking with Brad Benavides beside the car, DR Formula, 2021

Brad Benavides

DR Formula · FRECA · 2021

Went on to FIA Formula 3

Javier Jurado, left, with Roberto Merhi during a simulator session

Roberto Merhi

Pons Racing · Formula Renault 3.5 · 2015

Former Formula 1 driver

Javier Jurado walking the track with Santiago Ramos, RPM, 2022

Santiago Ramos

RPM · FRECA · 2022–2023

Went on to FIA Formula 3

Javier Jurado talking with Bent Viscaal at Teo Martín Motorsport, Euroformula Open, 2018

Bent Viscaal

Teo Martín · Euroformula Open · 2018

Javier Jurado with Callan O'Keeffe in the paddock at Van Amersfoort Racing, 2019

Callan O'Keeffe

Van Amersfoort · FRECA · 2019

Background

Engineer by training.

Mechanical engineering and motorsport engineering, four years teaching vehicle dynamics, and an MBA for the management side of the job.

Education and teaching

  • Vehicle Dynamics LecturerMonlau Motorsport · 2019–2023
  • MBAEAE Business School · 2022
  • Master's in Motorsport EngineeringMonlau Repsol Technical School · 2014
  • Mechanical EngineeringUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya · 2014

Cars engineered

  • Tatuus T-326FIA Formula Regional · 2026
  • Dallara F312FIA F3 European, Euroformula Open
  • Dallara T12Formula Renault 3.5, Formula V8 3.5
  • Dallara GP2/11GP2 Series

Software

  • TypeScript · React NativePinion on iOS, Android and web
  • Node.js · PostgreSQLBack end and data
  • C++ · C# · VBAEngineering tools
  • AI agentsSimulation automation

Languages

  • SpanishNative
  • CatalanNative
  • EnglishFluent
  • ItalianConversational

Barcelona, Spain

Let's talk engineering.

Open to conversations about race engineer and chief engineer roles.