Derek John Hill (born March 28, 1975 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

) is an American racing driver. He is the son of

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

World Champion

Phil Hill Philip Toll Hill Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American automobile racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States ( ...

Career

Early career

Hill initially raced

karts Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

sports cars (his father won his F1 title with the team). Winning three of three races in the championship runoffs in Italy at the Mugello circuit in the Ferrari 355, Hill attracted the attention of the Alfa Romeo Factory DTM team and was invited to test the DTM car at Mugello in November 1995.

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Hill competed in the US-based

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was a professional open-wheel auto racing series from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were primarily on road and street courses in Nor ...

in 1996, finishing third overall, taking Rookie-of-the-Year honors. In 1997, he took the championship title, winning four races in the process.

Professional Sports Car / IMSA

Also in 1997, Hill raced the Factory BMW M3 for the Prototype Technology Group in GTS3 Class. He won the GTS3 class at the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours as well as scoring two other wins with teammate, Javier Quiros.

Formula Toyota Atlantic

Hill moved up to Formula Toyota Atlantic for 1998, finishing 13th in the championship.

Formula Palmer Audi

Hill moved into

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an racing in 1999 by taking part in the second season of the

Formula Palmer Audi Formula Palmer Audi, officially abbreviated to FPA, and sometimes informally abbreviated to Palmer Audi, was a one-make class of open wheel Formula racing founded in 1998 by former Formula One driver, Jonathan Palmer. It was based in the United ...

series, organised by former F1 driver

Jonathan Palmer Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British businessman and former Formula One racing driver. Before opting for a career in motor racing, Palmer trained as a physician at London's Guys Hospital. He also worked as a junior phys ...

. He finished 19th in that year's championship.

Formula 3000

For

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, Hill competed in six races of the

Italian Formula 3000 Auto GP, sometimes referred to as the Auto GP World Series and formerly known as both Euro Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000, was a European formula racing series. The series' roots can be traced back to 1999 and the Italian Formula 3000 serie ...

series, failing to score any points. The following year, he moved up to the more prestigious

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

-backed series with the

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

team with teammate,

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

, and remained there in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(a part-season with

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

, replacing Alexander Müller) and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

(with

Super Nova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a mass ...

). In three years, he scored a total of four points and was dropped midway through 2003 in favour of

Nicolas Kiesa Nicolas Kiesa (born 3 March 1978) is a Danish racing driver. He participated in five Formula One Grands Prix in the 2003 season, scoring no championship points, but finishing every race. Previously, he had won the 2003 Formula 3000 race at Monac ...

, who had been left without a drive due to the withdrawal of the Super Nova-run

Den Blå Avis Den Blå Avis was a Danish auto racing team, who competed in the FIA Formula 3000 Championship. The team has also competed in the Eurocup Formula Renault series in the 2001–2002 seasons. History The Den Blå Avis stable was founded for Jason ...

outfit. Nonetheless, Hill was often the most prominent American driver competing in Europe at this time. During this period he also entered into a management contract with Anthony Haas and Brigitte Hill – daughter and sister of

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

champion namesakes

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

and Damon respectively – to act as his managers. He is currently involved in historic racing and working as a racing instructor after moving back to the United States to help look after his elderly father, who died in August 2008.

Other career highlights

In 1996, Hill competed in the 1996 Daytona 24 Hours in a Bugatti EB110 Competizione in the GT1 category, setting fastest lap in the Daytona Test Days. Leading the class in the seventh hour, the car experienced mechanical failure. This was the last time a Bugatti raced professionally in the United States. In 2002, Hill raced in the Grand Am, Fontana Four-Hour California Grand Prix, in the

Saleen S7 Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...

. He won the category and finished fourth overall.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Italian Formula 3000 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete International Formula 3000 results

References

Footnotes

Books

* * *

Websites

Career statistics
from ''driverdb.com''. Retrieved on September 13, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Derek 1975 births Living people American racing drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Auto GP drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California Racing drivers from California Barber Pro Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Super Nova Racing drivers DAMS drivers Durango drivers