Andreas Wirth
| Andreas Wirth | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 |
| Born |
November 19, 1984 Heidelberg, Germany |
| Previous series | |
| 1998–2000 2001 2002–2003 2004 2005–06, 08 2006, 07 2009–2015 2016 |
Karting German Formula Ford Formula BMW ADAC Formula BMW USA Champ Car Atlantic Championship Champ Car World Series ADAC GT Masters European Le Mans Series |
| Championship titles | |
| 2004 | Formula BMW USA |
| Awards | |
| 2006 | Gilles Villeneuve Award |
Andreas Wirth (born 19 November 1984 in Heidelberg) is a German racing driver currently acting as reserve and development driver for World Endurance Championship team CEFC Manor TRS Racing (Manor Motorsport).
Motorsport career
Early Years
Born in a small village near the famed Hockenheimring, Andreas Wirth started his open-wheel career in karting in 1998. From 1998 to 2000 he raced in several junior and senior German Karting series where he earned several championships.
German Formula Ford
In 2001, his rookie year, Wirth finished second in the German Formula Ford Championship, and earned two 10th-place finishes, including the event at Spa and the World Final at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.[1]
Formula BMW Germany
Wirth moved to the Formula BMW ADAC series in Germany, finishing 9th in the championship in 2002 (finishing in the top-ten in all eight races, including a 2nd-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix and a 3rd-place finish at Zandvoort in the Netherlands).
In 2003 Wirth finished 10th overall having poroduced six top-five finishes, including a 2nd-place finish in Italy.
Formula BMW USA
Moving state-side in 2004, Wirth captured the Formula BMW USA championship in his rookie year, recording podium finishes in 11 of the 14 Formula BMW North American events in 2004 (never finishing lower than 5th place), including wins at Road America, Laguna Seca, and both events at Lime Rock.
Toyota Atlantics / Champ Car Atlantic Series
Advancing to the Toyota Atlantic Series in 2005, Wirth earned five 3rd-place finishes, one 2nd-place and one victory in his 2005 rookie season.
During his rookie year in the Toyota Atlantic Series, Wirth was second in the point standings going into the penultimate race, and was a serious contender for the Championship. However, due to an unfortunate accident he was forced to miss the final two events of the 2005 season. Despite missing the last two events, Wirth finished the season in a respectable 6th place.
The following year the series changed their name to the Champ Car Atlantic Series and Wirth joined the Forsythe Championship Racing squad of four for the season. With a total of six trips to the podium in the 2006 (two first-place finishes and four third-place finishes), and a total of eight top-ten finishes in the 12 events on the calendar Wirth finished third overall in the championship and won the prestigious Gilles Villeneuve Award.
Champ Car World Series
Following up a full 2006 season with Forsythe Championship Racing in the Champ Car Atlantics, Wirth was extended the privilege to debut in the Champ Car World Series at Surfer’s Paradise Australia in Dale Coyne Racing's #19 Sonny's BBQ entry at Surfer's Paradise where he finished in ninth place on one of the most difficult tracks on the schedule. He then went on to compete in the Champ Car season finale at Mexico City finishing 15th.
In 2007 Wirth tested the new DP01 Champ Car, and accepted the invitational challenge from the Champ Car World Series to break the lap record at TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands as part of a promotion for Champ Car’s European debut late in August of that year. Despite the fact that Wirth hadn’t raced with the series all year, and the fact that he’d never competed or tested on the Assen track, he bettered the track record set by Jos Verstappen in the smaller, lighter A1GP car by more than four seconds (1:28.276).
American Le Mans Series (ALMS)
In 2008 Wirth decided to try his hand at sports-car racing and joined Panoz Team PTG in the role of test driver, and participated in the Petit Le Mans in the American Le Mans Series.
Superleague Formula
Called on to test in the Superleague Formula[2] in 2008, Wirth returned home to Europe.
ADAC GT Masters
For seven seasons Wirth competed in the ADAC GT Masters Series where he tallied a total of 9 victories, and as of the close of the 2015 season, holds the record for GT Masters driver with the most wins at the Nürburgring.
BMW ALPINA (2009-2010)
In 2009 Wirth joined BMW ALPINA as they celebrated their return to motorsport in the FIA GT3 European Championship, the GT Masters and VLN Series and the 24h race of the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Wirth continued work with ALPINA in 2010 for the development of the BMW ALPINA B6 race car with their new managing team S-Berg Racing of Austria, competing once again in the German ADAC GT Masters series and the FIA GT3 European Championship.
HEICO Motorsport (2011)
2011 was spent with HEICO Motorsport to put the all-new Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 through its paces. The season kicked off for Wirth at the 24 hours of Dubai — the chosen testing grounds for the new Mercedes gull-wing supercar.
Callaway Competition (2012-2015)
Wirth teamed with Callaway Competition for four seasons in the ADAC GT Masters, piloting the FIA class-champion Z06R GT3 Corvette with the likes of former Formula 1 stand-out Heinz-Harald Frentzen, touring car veteran Christian Hohenadel and 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion Daniel Keilwitz.
2014 was Wirth's best year in the series where he won four races in a partial season alongside the defending champion Daniel Keilwitz, and placed 6th in the championship. Topping off a successful 2014 season Wirth was invited to participate in the Blancpain GT3 World Final in Baku / Azerbaijan.
European Le Mans Series (ELMS)
In 2016 Wirth jumped to Prototype racing in the European Le Mans Series with SMP Racing in their LMP2-class Nissan-powered BR01 with co-drivers Stefano Coletti and Julián Leal. The multi-national rookie trio finished in a very strong 3rd place in the championship after having visited the podium three times and capturing two fourth-place finishes.
World Endurance Championship (WEC)
In 2017 Wirth joined World Endurance Championship team CEFC Manor TRS Racing (Manor Motorsport) in the capacity of reserve and development driver.
Motorsport Results
American Racing Results
Atlantic Championship (Finishing Place Displayed)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Atlantics 2005[3] | Brooks Associates Racing | LBH Ret |
MTY 8 |
POR1 3 |
POR2 2 |
CLE1 3 |
CLE2 3 |
TOR 3 |
EDM 3 |
SJO 5 |
DEN 1 |
ROA DNS |
MTL | 6th | 234 |
| Champ Car Atlantics 2006[4] | Forsythe Racing | LBH 1 |
HOU 1 |
MTY 6 |
POR 3 |
CLE1 3 |
CLE2 18 |
TOR Ret |
EDM 3 |
SJO 18 |
DEN 5 |
MTL 12 |
ROA 3 |
3rd | 227 |
| Champ Car Atlantics 2008[5] | Brooks Associates Racing | LBH 9 |
LS 8 |
MTT 7 |
EDM1 | EDM2 | ROA1 | ROA2 | TRR | NJ | UTA | ATL | 22nd | 45 |
- 2008 Raced in first 3 rounds only
Champ Car World Series(Finishing Place Displayed)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 [6] | Dale Coyne Racing | LBH | HOU | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | EDM | SJO | DEN | MTL | ROA | SRF 9 |
MXC 15 |
20th | 19 |
European Racing Results
ADAC GT Masters (Race Points Displayed)
| Year | Team | Co-Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009[7] | ALPINA — BMW B6 GT3 | J.Klingman | DNR | DNR | DNR | DNR | 3 | DNR | DNR | 10 | DNR | DNR | 10 | -- | -- | 14th | 23 | |||
| 2010[8] | ALPINA — BMW B6 GT3 | M.Matzke | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 10 | -- | -- | 6th | 44 | |||||||
| 2011[9] | HEICO MOTORSPORTS — Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 | C.Frankenhout | 2 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 25 | 8 | 12 | 9th | 90 | ||||||||
| 2012[10] | CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3 | HH.Frentzen | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | DNR | DNR | 6 | 19th | 42 | |||||||||
| 2013[11] | CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3 | C.Hohenadel | 1 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
1 | 1 | 24th | 19 | ||||||||||
| 2014[12] | CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3 | D.Keilwitz | DNR | DNR | 4 | 2 | DNR | DNR | DNR | DNR | 12 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 6th | 118 | |||
| 2015[13] | CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3 | D.Keilwitz | 12 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 7th | 104 |
- DNR = Did Not Race
European Le Mans Series - ELMS (Finishing Place Displayed)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016[14] | SMP Racing | Silverstone 2 |
Imola 4 |
Red Bull Ring 4 |
Le Castellet 2 |
Spa 6 |
Estoril 3 |
3rd | 83 |
References
- ↑ https://www.driverdb.com/championships/standings/formula-ford-festival/2001/
- ↑ "Untitled Document". Team Astromega. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ↑ 2005 Atlantic Championship
- ↑ 2006 Atlantic Championship
- ↑ 2008 Atlantic Championship
- ↑ 2006 Champ Car World Series
- ↑ 2009 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2010 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2011 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2012 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2013 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2014 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2015 ADAC GT Masters
- ↑ 2016 European Le Mans Series
External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by None |
Formula BMW USA Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Richard Philippe |