| Marcus Ericsson | |
|---|---|
Ericsson in 2008 |
|
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Born | September 2, 1990 Kumla (Sweden) |
| 2012 GP2 Series | |
| Debut season | 2010 |
| Current team | iSport International |
| Car no. | 10 |
| Former teams | Super Nova Racing |
| Starts | 38 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 10th in 2011 |
| Previous series | |
| 2007 2008–09 2009 2009–10-2011 |
Formula BMW UK British Formula Three Japanese Formula Three GP2 Asia Series |
| Championship titles | |
| 2007 2009 |
Formula BMW UK Japanese F3 |
| Awards | |
| 2007 | Swedish Junior Racer/Year |
Marcus Ericsson (born September 2, 1990 in Kumla, Örebro County) is a Swedish race car driver. After a successful début in car racing in 2007 which saw him take the British Formula BMW title with Fortec Motorsport, he moved up into the British team's British Formula Three squad. After finishing as one of the top rookies in the category, Ericsson turned his attentions to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship where he won the championship in his debut year. In 2010, he moved up to the GP2 Series where he secured one victory during his maiden campaign for Super Nova Racing. For 2011, Ericsson drives alongside Sam Bird for iSport.
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Ericsson's first taste of motorsport came when he was nine years old racing in karts. "I got a call from Fredrik Ekblom, whom I ran in British Formula 3000 and Indy Lights. He now runs a kart circuit and he told me about a nine-year old kid who'd walked in off the street and nearly broke the lap record" recalled Richard Dutton, head of Fortec Motorsport.[1] Ekblom managed to convince Ericsson's father, Tomas, to buy his son a kart and the young Swede stayed in karting for the next four years, "I'd never really thought about racing as a career. My family didn't have the money for me to race formula cars so we never thought about it" Ericsson recalled.[1]
It was in 2006 that Ericsson's career got notable backing in the form of former Champ Car driver and 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Bräck. "I spotted Marcus at a race in Gothenburg" Bräck says, "He didn't win the race because his engine blew up with two laps to go but he was clearly the best out there. He didn't get caught in any battles when passing - he'd just wait for the right opportunity, then he pounced and he was away. He has such patience but when he does go for it, it measures so perfectly. He reminded me of watching Alain Prost" Bräck added.[1]
Bräck had managed to convince Richard Dutton, who ran the Swede in British F3 in 1989, to race Ericsson for his Fortec Motorsport team's 2007 Formula BMW UK title challenge. Ericsson was realistic of his chances during the season, "I was thinking that I should be around top eight to start with, trying for podiums and maybe wins by the end of the year".[1] However, Ericsson's first win came earlier then expected at the first meeting of the series at Brands Hatch where he took third place in the first race and won from pole position in the second race. Following his win, Ericsson was hailed as "the best young talent" Bräck had ever seen.[2] The Swede was in the title race for the whole season, challenging Czech Josef Král and Brit Henry Arundel. In the end, the sixteen–year–old won the title by 40 points from Kral, becoming the final Champion of the British Formula BMW series prior to the series merge with the German series to make a European FBMW championship.
Following his win of the Formula BMW title, Ericsson began aiming for a seat in Formula Three. Tests soon followed with British Formula Three team Räikkönen Robertson Racing as part of his prize for winning the title that year. Soon afterwards the Swede had a test with frontrunning Formula Three Euroseries team ASM Formule 3, now ART Grand Prix. Despite an offer to join the French team, Ericsson opted to stay in England and join Fortec's British Formula Three team. The Swede showed his pace to the F3 paddock with two pole positions and a handful of podium finishes, but no victories, which gave him fifth overall in the championship.
During the winter of 2008, Ericsson signed a contact with the Japanese F3 team TOM'S to compete full-time in the championship for the upcoming season. The Swede reasoned that he could was more likely to gain the experience needed to win the Macau Grand Prix in comparison to competing further in the British championship.[3] Ericsson won the Japanese F3 championship, and also won races when making guest appearances back in British F3. He consequently participated in the Macau Grand Prix where he qualified in pole position and finished the main race in fourth position.
Ericsson moved into the GP2 Asia Series for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, driving originally for the ART Grand Prix team.[4] However, it was later confirmed that Ericsson will drive for Super Nova Racing in the 2010 GP2 Series season.[5] He had been expected to complete the rest of the Asian series with the team, but Jake Rosenzweig was signed to replace Ericsson for the final two rounds.[6] Ericsson returned to Super Nova for the 2010 season, partnering Josef Král and later Luca Filippi. He took his first series victory at Valencia, but only scoring points on two further occasions restricted him to seventeenth place in the drivers' championship.
Ericsson switched to the iSport International team for 2011, alongside Sam Bird. He finished sixth in the Asia series championship, and tenth in the main series championship.
Ericsson drove for Mercedes GP at the young driver test at Circuito de Jerez over three days, on December 1–3. He tested alongside IndyCar Series driver Mike Conway.[7] Conway had the edge by three tenths of a second, however team principal Ross Brawn commended Ericsson for his performance, saying that he had "performed very well showing exceptional maturity in his approach and feedback".
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Formula BMW UK | Fortec Motorsport | 18 | 11 | 7 | 676 | 1st |
| 2008 | British Formula Three | Fortec Motorsport | 20 | 2 | 0 | 141 | 5th |
| Macau Grand Prix | Carlin Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | DNF | |
| 2009 | British Formula Three | Räikkönen Robertson Racing | 6 | 1 | 2 | 65 | 11th |
| Japanese Formula Three | TOM'S | 16 | 5 | 5 | 112 | 1st | |
| Macau Grand Prix | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 4th | ||
| 2009–10 | GP2 Asia Series | ART Grand Prix | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| Super Nova Racing | |||||||
| 2010 | GP2 Series | Super Nova Racing | 20 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 17th |
| 2011 | GP2 Asia Series | iSport International | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6th |
| GP2 Series | iSport International | 18 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 10th |
(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 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Super Nova Racing | ESP FEA 11 |
ESP SPR Ret |
MON FEA 12 |
MON SPR 9 |
TUR FEA Ret |
TUR SPR Ret |
VAL FEA 7 |
VAL SPR 1 |
GBR FEA 12 |
GBR SPR 18 |
GER FEA 6 |
GER SPR Ret |
HUN FEA 12 |
HUN SPR 10 |
BEL FEA 13 |
BEL SPR 7 |
ITA FEA Ret |
ITA SPR 11 |
ABU FEA 11 |
ABU SPR Ret |
17th | 11 |
| 2011 | iSport International | TUR FEA 9 |
TUR SPR 8 |
ESP FEA 5 |
ESP SPR 3 |
MON FEA Ret |
MON SPR Ret |
VAL FEA Ret |
VAL SPR 11 |
GBR FEA 3 |
GBR SPR 4 |
GER FEA 5 |
GER SPR 16 |
HUN FEA 5 |
HUN SPR 16 |
BEL FEA Ret |
BEL SPR 12 |
ITA FEA 14 |
ITA SPR 8 |
10th | 25 |
* Season in progress.
(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 | ART Grand Prix | ABU1 FEA 11 |
ABU1 SPR 12 |
24th | 0 | ||||||
| Super Nova Racing | ABU2 FEA 17 |
ABU2 SPR 12 |
BHR1 FEA |
BHR1 SPR |
BHR2 FEA |
BHR2 SPR |
|||||
| 2011 | iSport International | ABU FEA 4 |
ABU SPR 3 |
ITA FEA 10 |
ITA SPR 16 |
6th | 9 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Niall Breen |
Formula BMW UK Champion 2007 |
Succeeded by series merged into Formula BMW Europe |
| Preceded by Carlo van Dam |
Japanese Formula Three Champion 2009 |
Succeeded by Yuji Kunimoto |
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