Fabio Leimer

Fabio Leimer (born 17 April 1989) is a former professional racing driver from Switzerland.

Fabio Leimer
Leimer in 2015
Nationality	Swiss
Born	17 April 1989 Rothrist, Switzerland
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Racing Engineering
Car number	8
Former teams	Ocean Racing Technology Rapax
Starts	63
Wins	5
Poles	2
Fastest laps	4
Best finish	1st in 2013
Previous series
2009–10–2011 2008–09 2008 2007 2007 2006	GP2 Asia Series International Formula Master Formula Master Italia Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula BMW ADAC
Championship titles
2013 2009	2013 GP2 Series season International Formula Master

Career

Karting

Like many of today's racing drivers, Rothrist-born Leimer started his career in karting back in 2003, when he won the Swiss Junior Championship. He finished runner-up in the same category the following season before finishing second in the Swiss Championship ICA in 2006.

Formula BMW

In 2006, Leimer graduated to single-seater racing, competing in the Formula BMW ADAC series in Germany. He started the year with Team Rosberg, but finished the season with a different team, Matson Motorsport. During the year, he accumulated four points to be classified eighteenth in the standings. He also competed in the end-of-season Formula BMW World Final, held in Valencia, where he finished in nineteenth place.

Formula Renault

The following year, Leimer moved up to Formula Renault, racing in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championships for Jenzer Motorsport.

In the Eurocup series, he scored points in three races and took a single fastest lap at Donington Park to end the year in seventeenth place.[1]

In the Italian championship, Leimer scored points in eleven of the fourteen races and took two podium places (at Spa-Francorchamps and Valencia) to be classified eleventh in the standings.[2]

International Formula Master

In 2008, Leimer progressed to the International Formula Master series, once again racing with Jenzer Motorsport. In a very successful debut season, he finished as runner-up to champion Chris van der Drift, taking three race wins at Estoril, Imola and Monza along with five other podium places. He also helped Jenzer Motorsport finish third in the teams' standings.[3] In the accompanying Formula Master Italia series, Leimer finished in fourth place with one race win (at Mugello) from two starts.

In October 2008, Leimer took part in a three-day Indy Lights prize test with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The prize test was originally awarded to German driver Michael Ammermüller, but he declined it due to personal reasons.[4]

Leimer continued in the series for 2009, partnering Pål Varhaug, the reigning Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion.[5] During the first six rounds of the season, he took race wins in Pau, Valencia, Brno, Brands Hatch and Spa-Francorchamps, the latter event supporting the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.[6] Leimer then sealed the title with his sixth win of the season, at the seventh round in Oschersleben.[7]

GP2 Series

Leimer won the opening sprint race of the 2010 GP2 Series season in Barcelona.

Leimer drove for the Racing Engineering team during his title-winning 2013 season.

As a result of finishing championship runner-up in the 2008 Formula Master season, in November of that year, Leimer took part in a prize GP2 test with Italian team Trident Racing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France,[8] and a year later he tested with the DAMS team at the same venue as a prize for winning the Formula Master title.[9]

In October 2009, Leimer tested with Tiago Monteiro's Ocean Racing Technology team at Jerez and later that month he was confirmed as a driver for the team in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, racing alongside fellow Formula Master graduate Alexander Rossi,[10] and former British Formula 3 driver Max Chilton. Leimer continued with the team into the 2010 GP2 Series, and was partnered by Chilton.[11] At the first round of the season in Barcelona, Leimer finished eighth in the feature race, a result which gave him pole position for the reverse grid sprint event which he won from the Rapax Team entry of Luiz Razia.[12] However, he did not score any further points, limiting himself to nineteenth place in the drivers' championship.

For 2011, Leimer moved to the Rapax team alongside Julián Leal. He finished fifth overall in the Asia series, and then proceeded to take his second category win in the main series. As was the case the previous year, the victory came in the sprint race at the Catalunya circuit, and he again set the fastest lap in the process, although on this occasion he owed his reverse-grid pole position to Romain Grosjean's disqualification from the feature race. Another haul of points at Monza saw him improve to 14th position in the championship standings. He also won the feature race of the non-championship event held at the Yas Marina Circuit. Leimer switched to the Racing Engineering team for 2012, where he partnered Nathanaël Berthon. Despite failing to win a race during the season, his improved consistency, consisting of six podium finishes, saw him improve to seventh place in the drivers' championship. Leimer took the GP2 driver's championship title in 2013, with seven podium finishes and three wins.

FIA World Endurance Championship

In 2014, Leimer joined the Swiss team Rebellion Racing for the FIA World Endurance Championship after testing for the team at the pre-season "Prologue".[13] This was Leimer's first experience driving sports cars.

Super Formula

Leimer planned to race at the Japanese Super Formula in 2015, driving a Team Mugen's Honda-powered car.[14] However, on 7 March 2015, it was announced that Leimer's contract with Mugen had been prematurely terminated due to financial issues.[15]

Formula One

On 3 June 2015 the Manor Marussia F1 Team announced that they have signed Leimer as the official team reserve for 2015 and will participate in FP1 sessions at Grand Prix throughout the season.

Formula E

On 23 June 2015 Virgin Racing announced Leimer to be their driver to replace Jaime Alguersuari for the final two rounds, 10 and 11, at London after Alguersuari was suspended from racing due to minor health issues.[16] Race 10 saw him qualify 19th and finish the race in 14th position.[17] The final round saw him qualify 17th, but he crashed out of the race.[18] Leimer finished the season without scoring a point and finished 32nd out of 35 in the championship.[19]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2006	Formula BMW ADAC	Team Rosberg	18	0	0	0	0	4	18th
		Matson Motorsport
2007	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Jenzer Motorsport	14	0	0	1	0	17	17th
	Italian Formula Renault 2.0		14	0	0	0	2	161	11th
2008	International Formula Master	Jenzer Motorsport	16	3	1	3	8	79	2nd
	Formula Master Italia		2	1	1	2	1	48	4th
2009	International Formula Master	Jenzer Motorsport	16	7	6	12	9	106	1st
2009–10	GP2 Asia Series	Ocean Racing Technology	7	0	0	0	0	0	31st
2010	GP2 Series	Ocean Racing Technology	20	1	0	1	1	8	19th
2011	GP2 Series	Rapax	18	1	0	1	2	15	14th
	GP2 Asia Series		4	0	0	0	1	9	5th
	GP2 Final	Racing Engineering	2	1	1	1	1	13	1st
2012	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	24	0	1	2	6	152	7th
2013	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	22	3	1	1	7	201	1st
2014	FIA World Endurance Championship	Rebellion Racing	8	0	0	0	0	19	17th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2014–15	Formula E	Virgin Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	32nd
2015	Formula One	Manor Marussia F1 Team	Test driver
2016	Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli (Pro)	Octane126	6	1	4	2	5	89	5th
2017	Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli (Pro)	Octane126	8	1	0	1	6	105.5	6th

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
2010	Ocean Racing Technology	CAT FEA 8	CAT SPR 1	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 17	IST FEA 13	IST SPR 15	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	SIL FEA 17	SIL SPR 13	HOC FEA 21	HOC SPR Ret	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 11	SPA FEA 12	SPA SPR Ret	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR DNS	YMC FEA Ret	YMC SPR 15					19th	8
2011	Rapax	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR 20	CAT FEA 8	CAT SPR 1	MON FEA 9	MON SPR 7	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 14	SIL FEA 15	SIL SPR 11	NÜR FEA DSQ	NÜR SPR 8	HUN FEA 11	HUN SPR 11	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR Ret	MNZ FEA 7	MNZ SPR 2							14th	15
2012	Racing Engineering	SEP FEA 4	SEP SPR 6	BHR1 FEA 7	BHR1 SPR 12	BHR2 FEA 2	BHR2 SPR 8	CAT FEA 12	CAT SPR 11	MON FEA 18	MON SPR Ret	VAL FEA 4	VAL SPR 3	SIL FEA 14	SIL SPR 9	HOC FEA 2	HOC SPR 4	HUN FEA 9	HUN SPR 14	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 5	MNZ FEA 5	MNZ SPR 2	MRN FEA 3	MRN SPR 3	7th	152
2013	Racing Engineering	SEP FEA 1	SEP SPR 12	BHR FEA 1	BHR SPR 9	CAT FEA 18	CAT SPR 9	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 13	SIL FEA 4	SIL SPR 15	NÜR FEA 4	NÜR SPR 3	HUN FEA 4	HUN SPR 3	SPA FEA 4	SPA SPR 5	MNZ FEA 1	MNZ SPR 6	MRN FEA 5	MRN SPR 3	YMC FEA 4	YMC SPR 3			1st	201

Complete GP2 Asia 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	DC	Points
2009–10	Ocean Racing Technology	YMC1 FEA 17	YMC1 SPR Ret	YMC2 FEA Ret	YMC2 SPR Ret	BHR1 FEA 20	BHR1 SPR 15	BHR2 FEA Ret	BHR2 SPR DNS	31st	0
2011	Rapax	YMC FEA 10	YMC SPR 6	IMO FEA 6	IMO SPR 2					5th	9

Complete Formula One participations

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2015	Manor Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR03B	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	AUT	GBR	HUN TD	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	RUS	USA	MEX	BRA	ABU	–	–

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2014	Rebellion Racing	LMP1	Lola B12/60	Toyota (RV8KLM 3.4 L V8)	SIL Ret	SPA Ret	LMS Ret	COA Ret	FUJ 10	SHA 8	BHR 6	SÃO 7	17th	19

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Rebellion Racing	Dominik Kraihamer Andrea Belicchi	Rebellion R-One-Toyota	LMP1-L	73	DNF	DNF

Complete Formula E results

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

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2014–15	Virgin Racing	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI	PUT	PDE	BUE	MIA	LBH	MCO	BER	MSC	LON 14	LON Ret	32nd	0

Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali results

Year	Class	Team	Car	Pos.
2016	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo	20th
2017	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	1st

References

1. "Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2007". driverdb.com. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
2. "Formula Renault 2.0 Italy 2007". driverdb.com. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
3. "2008 International Formula Masters". Speedsport Magazine. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
4. "Leimer in the US for Formula Master rookie prize". automobilsport.com. 25 October 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
5. "2008 Formula Master Vice-Champion returns". F1SA. 4 February 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
6. Straw, Edd (30 August 2009). "Rossi takes second IFM season win". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
7. English, Steven (5 September 2009). "Leimer wraps up IFM title with victory". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
8. "Leimer enjoys GP2 test". crash.net. 13 November 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
9. "IFM champion claims GP2 Series prize". formulamaster.net. International Formula Master. 11 November 2009. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
10. "Ocean Racing Technology prepares for the first GP2 Asia Series races". oceanracingtech.com. Ocean Racing Technology. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
11. "Ocean reveals 2010 GP2 line-up". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
12. "Leimer dominates Barcelona sprint". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 9 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
13. Dagys, John. "Leimer Confirmed at Rebellion for LMP1 Campaign". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
14. "Honda 2015 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
15. "2013 GP2 champion Fabio Leimer loses Super Formula seat". 7 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
16. "Alguersuari's licence suspended on FIA doctors' orders". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
17. "London ePrix - Official FIA Formula E Championship". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
18. "London ePrix - Rd 11 - Official FIA Formula E Championship". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
19. "Driver Standings". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Fabio Leimer career summary at DriverDB.com