Markus Niemelä

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Markus Niemelä
Nationality Flag of Finland Finnish
Date of Birth March 20, 1984 (1984-03-20) (age 24)
2008 Champ Car Atlantic
Debut season 2008
Current team Brooks Associates
Car No. 8
Starts 0
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 0
Championship titles
2004
2004
Formula Ford Zetec Sweden
Formula Ford Zetec Finland

Markus Niemelä (born 20 March 1984 in Rauma) is a Finnish race car driver and a race winner in the Formula Renault Series in the UK in 2006. His international racing career has been volatile due to a number of injuries he has sustained during his career.


Contents

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[edit] Career

[edit] Karting

[edit] 1998

Markus won the Finnish junior karting championship with maximum points.

[edit] 2001

Injury of left arm in a snowboarding accident before the start of season prevented participation in the Formula A European/World Championship. Won the one race where participated, driving practically one-handed against top Finnish karters (ICA).

[edit] 2002

Markus was the Finnish champion in Formula A. He set the fastest laptime of at least in one heat of every European Championship round. Qualified in World Cup final but technical problems caused DNF in pre-final and final.

[edit] 2003

Because of accident in a European championship race, couldn’t drive for three months. Returned for World Championships to finish 5th.

[edit] Single-seaters

[edit] 2004

Markus became the Finnish and Swedish Champion and the winner of STCC Formula Ford championship. Led Scandinavian Championship before the last round but finished 2nd overall because did not participate on the last round. Nominated as a ”Young Champion” by Finnish ASN. Tested for Formula BMW and was fastest at several unofficial tests.

[edit] 2005

Markus finished 7th in championship points with one victory and one pole position. Many crashes resulting to damaged car during the season (12 out of 20 races). He was also 5th in UK Formula Renault Winter Championship, 3rd best qualifier of the championship (3rd, 4th, 9th and 3rd in qualifyings). Markus drove Formula Renault first time ever in free practice of first race meeting.

[edit] 2006

One victory, fastest lap and pole position. Multiple Driver Of The Day Awards - awarded by Renault Sport. Markus finished 7th in the final standings with best positions 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2x4th.

[edit] 2007

In Eurocup, his best result so far is 2nd place at Hungaroring. In the Asian series, he is 2nd after four races. He joined BCN Competicion in the GP2 Series to replace Sakon Yamamoto who moved to F1 during the season. During his first race, also at the Hungaroring, he was forced to retire when his left shoulder unexpectedly dislocated after 11 laps, which also prevented him from taking part in the second race of the meeting.[1]

[edit] 2008

For the 2008 season Niemelä joined Brooks Associates team in the North American Champ Car Atlantic series.

[edit] Formula Renault UK record

Season Team Name Poles Wins Final Placing
2006 Mark Burdett Motorsport 1 1 7th

[edit] GP2 Series record

Season Team Name No. Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
2007 BCN Competicion 18 8 0 0 0 31st

[edit] Champ Car Atlantic record

Season Team Name No. Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
2008 Brooks Associates 8 0 0 0 0


[edit] References

  1. ^ Bradley, Charles (August 2007). "GP2's new faces suffer on debuts". Autosport 189 (6): p.15. 

[edit] External links

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