Ralph Firman

From WikiProjectMed
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Ralph Firman
Firman in 2008
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Republic of Ireland Irish
BornRalph David Firman Jr.
(1975-05-20) 20 May 1975 (age 49)
Norwich, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
Formula One World Championship career
Active years2003
TeamsJordan
Entries15 (14 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points1
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry2003 Japanese Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years2004
TeamsRacing for Holland
Best finishNC
Class wins0

Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British-born former racing driver who raced under Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is from Ireland) and an Irish-issued racing licence. Earlier in his career he raced under a British licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., co-founded the Van Diemen[1] racecar constructor with Ross Ambrose, father of V8 Supercars champion Marcos, then more recently founded RFR. He is married to Aldís Kristín Árnadóttir, an Icelandic UK-educated lawyer. Ralph's sister, Natasha, is also a racing driver.

Career

Formula Three

Firman driving for Paul Stewart Racing at Silverstone during the 1995 British Formula 3 Championship season.

Educated at Gresham's School between 1988 and 1993, Firman went straight into motor racing on leaving school. Despite leading much of the 1995 British F3 championship, he lost the title at the final round to Oliver Gavin. However, he continued in the championship in 1996 and captured the title at his second attempt.

Macau Grand Prix controversy

Firman won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 1996 under controversial circumstances. At the end of round 1, Firman finished ahead of German Formula 3 champion Jarno Trulli. In round 2, he was overtaken by Trulli on the last lap. Firman was running with a broken front wing. Just as Jarno Trulli was on the way to victory, Firman crashed at the hairpin corner, blocked the track and caused a red flag. The race officials counted the results to the previous lap when Firman was ahead of Trulli, thus giving him the win.

Formula Nippon

Firman then moved to Japan, culminating in the 2002 Formula Nippon championship, before returning to Europe.

Formula One

Firman driving for Jordan at the 2003 French GP.

Firman secured a seat in Formula One for the 2003 season at the Jordan team,[2] alongside Giancarlo Fisichella. He participated in 14 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting at the 2003 Australian Grand Prix. He scored one championship point, in the 2003 Spanish Grand Prix. This point was the first for a Republic of Ireland driver since Derek Daly in 1982. He was injured in a huge crash during practice for the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix which forced him to sit out that and the next race, in which he was replaced by Zsolt Baumgartner.

In November 2003, Firman drove a Jordan-Ford EJ13 at Macau's Guia Circuit as part of the Macau Grand Prix's 50th anniversary celebrations, the first time that a contemporary F1 machine had been seen in action around the tight and tricky Guia circuit. Firman clocked an impressive 1:59.4 seconds lap, 13 seconds quicker than F3 poleman Fabio Carbone managed on the same day.[3]

Post-Formula One

Firman driving the Honda HSV-010 GT for ARTA at the 2010 Super GT Fuji 400km race.

Firman has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was an official test driver for the A1 Grand Prix series in August 2004.

In August 2005, it was announced that he would be the driver for A1 Team Ireland. He had previously been seen to be in competition for the Great Britain seat.

In 2007, Firman, along with Daisuke Ito, won the Japan Super GT GT500 class championship with the Aguri Suzuki co-owned ARTA team. Firman and Ito won the championship before the final race of the season, a first in the series' competitive history.

Retirement from racing

Firman retired from racing in 2013, and now runs a British engineering company.[4]

Racing career

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Poles Wins FLaps Podiums Points Position
1995 British Formula Three Championship Paul Stewart Racing 18 9 6 4 9 176 2nd
Masters of Formula 3 Paul Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
Macau Grand Prix San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
Formula One Marlboro McLaren Mercedes Test driver
1996 British Formula Three Championship Paul Stewart Racing 15 4 3 4 8 188 1st
Macau Grand Prix San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing 1 0 1 0 1 N/A 1st
Masters of Formula 3 Paul Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
1997 Formula Nippon Championship Team TMS 10 0 0 0 1 12 8th
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Team TMS 4 0 0 0 0 4 24th
Macau Grand Prix San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
1998 Formula Nippon Championship Team Nova 9 0 0 0 2 13 8th
1999 Formula Nippon Championship Team Nova 10 1 1 2 3 21 4th
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Team Taeivon Ralliart 7 0 0 0 2 42 6th
2000 Formula Nippon Championship Team Taeivon Ralliart 10 0 0 0 1 9 9th
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Toyota Team Sard 7 0 0 0 1 25 12th
2001 Formula Nippon Championship Nakajima Racing 10 1 2 1 3 29 4th
2002 Formula Nippon Championship Nakajima Racing 10 2 4 1 8 62 1st
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship Nakajima Racing 8 0 3 0 3 74 2nd
2003 Formula One Jordan 14 0 0 0 0 1 19th
2004 24 Hours of Le Mans Racing for Holland 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC
2005 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 0 2 0 1 61 2nd
2005-06 A1 Grand Prix Ireland 16 0 0 2 1 68 8th
2006 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 9 0 1 0 2 68 7th
2007 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 9 0 3 0 4 91 1st
2007-08 A1 Grand Prix Ireland 2 0 0 0 0 8 6th
2008 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 9 0 0 0 3 49 8th
2009 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 9 0 2 0 5 81 2nd
2010 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 7 0 1 0 1 29 11th
2012 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 0 0 0 0 12 16th
2013 Super GT Autobacs Racing Team Aguri 8 0 1 0 1 31 11th
Sources:[4][5][6]

Complete British Formula 3 results

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

Year Entrant Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts
1995 Paul Stewart Racing Mugen SIL
1
1 		SIL
2
1 		THR
1
Ret 		THR
2
2 		DON
Ret 		SIL
2 		SIL
3 		DON
1
Ret 		DON
2
1 		OUL
9 		BRH
1
1 		BRH
2
1 		SNE
Ret 		PEM
1
1 		PEM
2
7 		SIL
1
DSQ 		SIL
2
12 		THR
7 		2nd 176
1996 Paul Stewart Racing Mugen SIL
1
4 		SIL
2
2 		THR
3 		DON
DNS 		BRH
1
1 		BRH
2
1 		OUL
1 		DON
2 		SIL
2 		THR
2 		SNE
1
6 		SNE
2
C 		PEM
1
13 		PEM
2
5 		ZAN
1
5 		ZAN
2
4 		SIL
4 		1st 188

Complete Formula Nippon 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 DC Points
1997 Team TMS SUZ
Ret 		MIN
4 		FUJ
15 		SUZ
6 		SUG
2 		FUJ
13 		MIN
Ret 		MOT
5 		FUJ
Ret 		SUZ
11 		8th 12
1998 Team Nova SUZ
12 		MIN
Ret 		FUJ
Ret 		MOT
14 		SUZ
Ret 		SUG
2 		FUJ
C 		MIN
4 		FUJ
3 		SUZ
7 		7th 13
1999 Team Nova SUZ
Ret 		MOT
3 		MIN
2 		FUJ
9 		SUZ
Ret 		SUG
6 		FUJ
10 		MIN
9 		MOT
8 		SUZ
1 		4th 21
2000 Team Nova SUZ
Ret 		MOT
11 		MIN
Ret 		FUJ
6 		SUZ
7 		SUG
2 		MOT
10 		FUJ
13 		MIN
5 		SUZ
Ret 		9th 9
2001 Nakajima Racing SUZ
5 		MOT
Ret 		MIN
2 		FUJ
6 		SUZ
Ret 		SUG
Ret 		FUJ
7 		MIN
8 		MOT
1 		SUZ
1 		4th 29
2002 Nakajima Racing SUZ
1 		FUJ
2 		MIN
Ret 		SUZ
1 		MOT
9 		SUG
1 		FUJ
2 		MIN
2 		MOT
1 		SUZ
3 		1st 62
Source:[4]

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points
1997 Team TMS Porsche 911 GT2 GT500 SUZ
13 		FUJ
7 		SEN
13 		FUJ
13 		MIN SUG
DNQ 		24th 4
1999 Team Taeivon Ralliart Mitsubishi FTO GT300 SUZ
2 		FUJ
Ret 		SUG
5 		MIN
Ret 		FUJ
3 		TAI
8 		MOT
7 		6th 42
2000 Toyota Team SARD Toyota Supra GT500 MOT
10 		FUJ
Ret 		SUG
6 		FUJ
2 		TAI
Ret 		MIN
8 		SUZ
16 		12th 25
2002 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX GT500 TAI
1 		FUJ
11 		SUG
Ret 		SEP
1 		FUJ
12 		MOT
14 		MIN
6 		SUZ
1 		2nd 74
2005 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 OKA
4 		FUJ
12 		SEP
2 		SUG
6 		MOT
16 		FUJ
8 		AUT
1 		SUZ
12 		2nd 61
2006 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 SUZ
3 		OKA
7 		FUJ
8 		SEP
1 		SUG
8 		SUZ
6 		MOT
15 		AUT
11 		FUJ
14 		7th 68
2007 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 SUZ
12 		OKA
1 		FUJ
9 		SEP
6 		SUG
1 		SUZ
2 		MOT
12 		AUT
1 		FUJ
8 		1st 94
2008 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 SUZ
14 		OKA
3 		FUJ
Ret 		SEP
11 		SUG
15 		SUZ
13 		MOT
2 		AUT
3 		FUJ
12 		8th 49
2009 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 OKA
3 		SUZ
14 		FUJ
3 		SEP
3 		SUG
14 		SUZ
12 		FUJ
1 		AUT
4 		MOT
1 		2nd 81
2010 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 SUZ
Ret 		OKA
6 		FUJ
11 		SEP
11 		SUG
12 		SUZ
1 		FUJ
C 		MOT
7 		11th 29
2012 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 OKA
6 		FUJ
Ret 		SEP
12 		SUG
Ret 		SUZ
7 		FUJ
9 		AUT
11 		MOT
13 		16th 12
2013 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda HSV-010 GT GT500 OKA
9 		FUJ
8 		SEP
8 		SUG
1 		SUZ
12 		FUJ
8 		AUT
14 		MOT
15 		11th 31
Sources:[6][7]

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts
2003 Jordan Ford Jordan EJ13 Ford V10 AUS
Ret 		MAL
10 		BRA
Ret 		SMR
Ret 		ESP
8 		AUT
11 		MON
12 		CAN
Ret 		EUR
11 		FRA
15 		GBR
13 		GER
Ret 		HUN
WD 		ITA USA
Ret 		JPN
14 		19th 1
Sources:[5][8]

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2004 Netherlands Racing for Holland Netherlands Tom Coronel
United Kingdom Justin Wilson 		Dome S101-Judd LMP1 313 DNF DNF
Sources:[5][9]

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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 DC Points Ref
2005–06 Ireland GBR
SPR 		GBR
FEA 		GER
SPR
9 		GER
FEA
6 		POR
SPR
19 		POR
FEA
3 		AUS
SPR 		AUS
FEA 		MYS
SPR
7 		MYS
FEA
9 		UAE
SPR
4 		UAE
FEA
Ret 		RSA
SPR
4 		RSA
FEA
Ret 		IDN
SPR
6 		IDN
FEA
Ret 		MEX
SPR
Ret 		MEX
FEA
Ret 		USA
SPR
5 		USA
FEA
6 		CHN
SPR 		CHN
FEA 		8th 68 [10]
2007–08 NED
SPR
8 		NED
FEA
6 		CZE
SPR 		CZE
FEA 		MYS
SPR 		MYS
FEA 		ZHU
SPR 		ZHU
FEA 		NZL
SPR 		NZL
FEA 		AUS
SPR 		AUS
FEA 		RSA
SPR 		RSA
FEA 		MEX
SPR 		MEX
FEA 		SHA
SPR 		SHA
FEA 		GBR
SPR 		GBR
SPR 		6th 94 [11]
Source:[4]

References

  1. ^ RFR – In development: the 2010 RFR F2000/FC – Ralph Firman Racing
  2. ^ "Firman set to join Jordan F1". Irish Examiner. 3 February 2003.
  3. ^ "Firman breaks Macau lap record". Crash Net. 14 November 2003.
  4. ^ a b c d "Ralph Firman". Motor Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Ralph Firman Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Ralph Firman jr". Driver Database. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Complete Archive of Ralph Firman". Racing Sports Cars. pp. 2, 3. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Ralph Firman – Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Ralph Firman". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Ralph Firman – 2005 A1 Grand Prix Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Ralph Firman – 2007 A1 Grand Prix Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ralph Firman.
Sporting positions
Preceded by British Formula 3 Championship
Champion
1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Macau Grand Prix
Winner
1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Formula Nippon
Champion
2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Super GT
GT500 Champion
2007
With: Daisuke Itō 		Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
1993 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://mdwiki.org/wiki/Ralph_Firman"