Fabio Leimer (born 17 April 1989) is a former professional

racing driver 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 ...

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 is best known for winning the

2013 GP2 Series The 2013 GP2 Series season was the forty-seventh season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also ninth season under the GP2 Series moniker, a support series to the 2013 Formula One World Championship. The 2013 season saw th ...

Career

Karting

Like many of today's racing drivers,

Rothrist Rothrist is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Originally an Alamanni settlement, the modern village of Rothrist is first mentioned in 1263 as ''Routris''. The ''Herrschaft'' rights were ...

-born Leimer started his career 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 ...

back in 2003, when he won the Swiss Junior Championship. He finished runner-up in the same category the following season before finishing second in the Swiss Championship ICA in 2006.

Formula BMW

In 2006, Leimer graduated to

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

racing, competing in the

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young k ...

ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mobi ...

series in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He started the year with

Team Rosberg Team Rosberg GmbH is a motor racing organisation that competes in single-seater and touring car disciplines in Europe. It was founded in 1994 by former Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg, of Finland. It is headquartered at Neustadt an der ...

, but finished the season with a different team, Matson Motorsport. During the year, he accumulated four points to be classified eighteenth in the standings. He also competed in the end-of-season Formula BMW World Final, held in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, where he finished in nineteenth place.

Formula Renault

The following year, Leimer moved up to

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

, racing in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championships for

Jenzer Motorsport Jenzer Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Switzerland. Founded in 1993 by Andreas Jenzer the team is currently competing in FIA Formula 3, Italian F4 and F4 Spanish and has had a number of drivers who would turn out to be successful in ...

. In the Eurocup series, he scored points in three races and took a single

fastest lap In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some racing series, like Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula E award championship points for a driver or team that set the fastest lap. In Grand Prix motorcycle racing no point i ...

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

to end the year in seventeenth place. In the Italian championship, Leimer scored points in eleven of the fourteen races and took two podium places (at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

and Valencia) to be classified eleventh in the standings.

International Formula Master

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Leimer progressed to the

International Formula Master International Formula Master, also known as Formula Super 2000, was a European-based junior single seater formula. The series was conceived as a competitor for Formula Three and made its debut at Valencia in 2007. European television channel Euros ...

series, once again racing with Jenzer Motorsport. In a very successful debut season, he finished as runner-up to champion

Chris van der Drift Christopher Jason van der Drift (born 8 March 1986) is a New Zealand racing driver of Dutch descent. Career Van der Drift started karting at the age of 7 and in 1994 he raced his first year in cadets. From there he went on to win 6 New Zealand ...

, taking three race wins at

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has host ...

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

and

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

along with five other podium places. He also helped Jenzer Motorsport finish third in the teams' standings. In the accompanying Formula Master Italia series, Leimer finished in fourth place with one race win (at

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

) from two starts. In October 2008, Leimer took part in a three-day

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

prize test with

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name ...

. The prize test was originally awarded to German driver

Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller (born 14 February 1986) is a racing driver from Germany. After competing in various junior formulae, he became a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team in the 2007 season. Following this, he repr ...

, but he declined it due to personal reasons. Leimer continued in the series for

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, partnering

Pål Varhaug Pål Varhaug (born 26 January 1991 in Stavanger) is a professional racing driver from Norway. Career Karting Varhaug began his motorsport career in karting in 2005, finishing fifth in the Norwegian Championship ICA Junior category. He also ...

, the reigning Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion. During the first six rounds of the season, he took race wins in Pau, Valencia,

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

and

, the latter event supporting the

2009 Belgian Grand Prix The 2009 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 August 2009 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village of Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium. It was the 12th race ...

. Leimer then sealed the title with his sixth win of the season, at the seventh round in

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

GP2 Series

GP2-Belgium-2013-Sprint Race-Fabio Leimer

As a result of finishing championship runner-up in the 2008 Formula Master season, in November of that year, Leimer took part in a prize GP2 test with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

team

Trident Racing Trident Racing is a motor racing team that competes in single-seater formula racing. It was founded in 2006 in order to compete in the GP2 championship, which was Europe's second highest-ranking single-seater formula below Formula One. Trident is ...

at the

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

circuit in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and a year later he tested 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 at the same venue as a prize for winning the Formula Master title. In October 2009, Leimer tested with

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 ...

Ocean Racing Technology Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...

team at

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and later that month he was confirmed as a driver for the team in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, racing alongside fellow Formula Master graduate

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...

, and former British Formula 3 driver

Max Chilton Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver who last competed for Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series, before announcing his retirement from IndyCar in February 2022. Prior to IndyCar, he competed in Formula ...

. Leimer continued with the team into the 2010 GP2 Series, and was partnered by Chilton. At the first round of the season in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Leimer finished eighth in the feature race, a result which gave him

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

for the reverse grid sprint event which he won from the

Rapax Team Rapax Team was an Italian motor racing team. The team's history can be traced back to when the GP Racing team was founded in 1997, and also to when Piquet Sports was created in 2000 by triple world champion Nelson Piquet. In 2007, Piquet Sports an ...

entry of

Luiz Razia Luiz Tadeu Razia Filho (born 4 April 1989) is a Brazilian businessman and former racing driver. Career Early career Razia began his single seater career in 2005 in the South American Formula 3 championship. Driving for Dragão Motorsport, R ...

. However, he did not score any further points, limiting himself to nineteenth place in the drivers' championship. For 2011, Leimer moved to the Rapax team alongside

Julián Leal Ómar Julián Leal Covelli, commonly known as Julián Leal, (born May 11, 1990 in Bucaramanga) is a professional racing driver from Colombia. He has also competed with an Italian licence in the GP2 Series. Career Formula Renault 2.0 Leal began ...

. He finished fifth overall in the

Asia series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), ...

, and then proceeded to take his second category win in the main series. As was the case the previous year, the victory came in the sprint race at the

Catalunya Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the northe ...

circuit, and he again set the fastest lap in the process, although on this occasion he owed his reverse-grid pole position to

Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Grosjean had previously spent nine ...

's disqualification from the feature race. Another haul of points at

saw him improve to 14th position in the championship standings. He also won the feature race of the non-championship event held at the

Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Marina was ...

. Leimer switched to the

Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...

team for

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, where he partnered

Nathanaël Berthon Nathanaël Berthon (born 1 July 1989 in Romagnat) is a professional racing driver from France. Career Karting Berthon began his international karting career in 2006, with the highlights being a third-place finish in the Copa Campeones Trophy I ...

. Despite failing to win a race during the season, his improved consistency, consisting of six podium finishes, saw him improve to seventh place in the drivers' championship. Leimer took the GP2 driver's championship title in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, with seven podium finishes and three wins.

FIA World Endurance Championship

In 2014, Leimer joined the Swiss team

Rebellion Racing Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...

for the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

after testing for the team at the pre-season "Prologue". This was Leimer's first experience driving sports cars.

Super Formula

Leimer planned to race at the Japanese

Super Formula The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) an ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, driving a Team Mugen's

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

-powered car. However, on 7 March 2015, it was announced that Leimer's contract with Mugen had been prematurely terminated due to financial issues.

Formula One

On 3 June 2015 the Manor Marussia F1 Team announced that they have signed Leimer as the official team reserve for

and will participate in FP1 sessions at Grand Prix throughout the season. He participated in only one FP1 session, at the

Hungarian Grand Prix The Hungarian Grand Prix ( hu, Magyar Nagydíj) is a motor racing event held annually in Mogyoród. Since 1986, the race has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. History Origins The first Hungarian Grand Prix was held on 21 ...

Formula E

On 23 June 2015

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...

announced Leimer to be their driver to replace

Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...

for the final two rounds, 10 and 11, at London after Alguersuari was suspended from racing due to minor health issues. Race 10 saw him qualify 19th and finish the race in 14th position. The final round saw him qualify 17th, but he crashed out of the race. Leimer finished the season without scoring a point and finished 32nd out of 35 in the championship.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP2 Series 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 GP2 Asia Series results

(

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

Complete GP2 Final results

(

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

Complete Formula One participations

(

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Formula E results

(

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

Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leimer, Fabio 1989 births Living people 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers People from Zofingen District Swiss racing drivers International Formula Master drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula BMW ADAC drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers GP2 Series drivers GP2 Series Champions FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Formula E drivers 24H Series drivers Swiss Formula One drivers Sportspeople from Aargau Team Rosberg drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Ocean Racing Technology drivers Rapax Team drivers Racing Engineering drivers Rebellion Racing drivers Envision Virgin Racing drivers