Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

) is an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver from

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He currently drives in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

Racing career

Early years

Barth started out in

karting 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 ...

before stepping up to French Formula Renault Campus in 2001, where he finished fifth. In 2002 he moved to the

Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula 3.5 V8, Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to ...

, although he scored no points in nine starts. In 2003 he competed in Formula Volkswagen Germany, where he finished tenth.

SEAT León Supercopa

In 2004 Barth moved to

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mo ...

, when he raced in the German

SEAT Leon Supercopa A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair eq ...

, finishing fifth in the standings. He finished third in the standings in 2006, behind champion

Florian Gruber Florian Gruber (born 26 January 1983 in Vilsbiburg, Lower Bavaria) is a German auto racing driver. Career Gruber won Division 2 of the German Touring Car Challenge in 2003, in a Volkswagen Lupo.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/6192/career/ Career ...

and

René Rast René Rast (born 26 October 1986 in Minden) is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He previously drove for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler in Formula E from 2019 to 2021 before Audi left the sport at the end o ...

. He raced in the Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa in 2007, finishing fifth in the standings. He moved to the new

SEAT León Eurocup The SEAT León Eurocup was a one-make racing, one-make touring car racing series which uses SEAT Leóns, run by SEAT Sport. Background The championship began in 2008, making its debut at Circuit de Valencia, as a support series for the World To ...

in 2008, finishing 17th in the championship. In 2009 he improved to finish third in the standings behind champion

Norbert Michelisz Norbert Michelisz (born 8 August 1984) is a Hungarian auto racing driver and the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup. Career Early career Michelisz was the 2006 Hungarian Suzuki Swift Cup champion, and in 2007 he won the Hungarian Ren ...

and

Massimiliano Pedalà Massimiliano Pedalà (born 22 December 1969 in Cantù, Como) is an Italian auto racing driver. Career Early racing included the Italian Renault Mégane SportCup and the European Renault Clio RS Cup. In 2002 he competed in the Italian Alfa 147 Cup ...

World Touring Car Championship

SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED (2010–2012)

Fredy Barth 2011 WTCC Race of Japan (Qualify)

Barth made his

debut for Sunred Engineering at the

2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC HSBC Race of Brazil) was a World Touring Car Championship round held at Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba near Curitiba, Brazil on 7 March 2010. It was the opening round of the 2010 ...

. At the start of race one of the Race of Morocco he moved up from eighth to third but was demoted to fourth by

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

, a position which he finished in. He started on the reversed grid pole position in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

but a slow start dropped him down to eighth at the end of the first lap. Barth finished the season thirteenth in the overall standings and third in the Rookie Challenge having led early on. He returned for another season in 2011, racing under the SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED banner. He was due to start on the reversed grid pole for the Race of Belgium but due to damage sustained in race one he was unable to take up his position on the grid. At the season finale in Macau, a major accident on the Friday ruled him out of the rest of the weekend. Barth was knocked unconscious by the impact before the car caught fire, he was extracted from the car and taken to hospital to treat smoke inhalation, back contusion and concussion. He was discharged from hospital the following morning. Barth was unable to secure a budget to continue in the WTCC for a full season in 2012, electing instead to race in the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

. He returned to the WTCC for the final two rounds of the season. In his first race back at the Race of China he finished tenth in the provisional classification before a 30-second penalty dropped him out of the points, to fourteenth.

Wiechers-Sport (2013–)

Barth joined

Wiechers-Sport Wiechers-Sport is a German auto racing team which is based in Nienburg. The team was first established in 1999, competing in German touring cars. The team currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship. World Touring Car Championship B ...

for the 2013 season, driving their BMW 320 TC which took Stefano D'Aste to two wins the previous season. He collided with

Robert Huff Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...

during qualifying for the Race of Italy, breaking the suspension on Huff's SEAT although neither driver were penalised. Barth went on to qualifying in 20th place. He had originally planned to miss the Race of Portugal and the Race of Brazil due to clashes with his 24 Hours of Spa programme. He raced in Portugal. For the Race of Argentina he was replaced at Wiechers-Sport by local driver

José María López José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is an Argentine race car driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing and 2014–2016 World Touring Car Champion. He raced in the 2006 GP2 ...

, Barth would return to the seat for the rest of the season except the Race of Japan.

Racing record

Complete World Touring Car Championship 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) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Official website

Driver profile at fiawtcc.comFredy Barth career statistics at Driver Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barth, Fredy 1979 births Swiss racing drivers Living people World Touring Car Championship drivers SEAT León Eurocup drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Sportspeople from Lucerne Emil Frey Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Cupra Racing drivers 24H Series drivers