Ralph Firman
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| Ralph Firman | |
|---|---|
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Nationality  Irish |
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| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Active years | 2003 |
| Teams | Jordan |
| Races | 15 (14 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 0 |
| Career points | 1 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | 2003 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last race | 2003 Japanese Grand Prix |
Ralph David Firman Jr. (born May 20, 1975 in Norwich, Norfolk) is a racing driver from the United Kingdom, who now races under Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is Irish) and an Irish-issued racing licence. Earlier in his career he raced under a British licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., founded the Van Diemen racecar constructor.
Educated at Gresham's School between 1988 and 1993, Firman went straight into motor racing on leaving school and won the 1996 British Formula Three Championship, at his second attempt.
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[edit] 1996 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.
[edit] 1997 onwards
Firman then moved to Japan, culminating in the 2002 Formula Nippon championship, before returning to Europe. He participated in 14 Formula One grands prix, debuting on March 9, 2003. He scored 1 championship point, in the 2003 Spanish Grand Prix. He was injured in a huge crash during practice for the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix which forced him to sit out this and the next race, in which he was replaced by Zsolt Baumgartner.
Firman has also competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours, and was an official test driver for the A1 Grand Prix series in August 2004.
Ralph's sister Natasha is also a racing driver.
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 ultra-competitive history.
[edit] 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 | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 DNS |
ITA DNP |
USA Ret |
JPN 14 |
20th | 1 |
[edit] External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Oliver Gavin |
British Formula Three Champion 1996 |
Succeeded by Jonny Kane |
| Preceded by Ralf Schumacher |
Macau Grand Prix winner 1996 |
Succeeded by Soheil Ayari |
| Preceded by Satoshi Motoyama |
Formula Nippon Champion 2002 |
Succeeded by Satoshi Motoyama |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Dario Franchitti |
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 1993 |
Succeeded by Jamie Davies |
