Josef Kaufmann Racing is a

motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

team from

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 ...

. It mainly operates in the

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 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 ...

as well as

Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup The Formula Renault Northern European Cup (formerly Formula Renault 2.0 NEC) was a Formula Renault, Formula Renault 2.0 championship originally held in Northern Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Belgium), but has expanded over the years to the whol ...

. The team was founded in 1982.

History

In 1982, Josef Kaufmann Racing was founded by Josef Kaufmann, who was a racing driver and raced in his own team in the

German Formula Three Championship The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French Formula Three Championship to ...

. In the first year of the team's existence

Gerhard Berger Gerhard Berger (born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship ( and ), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, ach ...

and Kaufmann finished third and fourth respectively in the German Formula 3. Josef Kaufmann Racing first drivers' title was achieved by

Volker Weidler Volker Hermann Weidler (born 18 March 1962) is a retired racing driver from Germany, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991. Career Formula racing In 1985, he became German Formula Three champion. In the 1989 Formula One season ...

, who won the German Formula Three Championship in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. Their next success was in 1994, when

Arnd Meier Arnd Meier (born March 1, 1973, in Hannover, Germany) is a former race car driver. After finishing second in the 1996 German Formula Three Championship behind Jarno Trulli, but ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, Meier participated in the 1997 and 199 ...

won B-Cup of the German F3 Championship. The team remained in the German Formula Three Championship till 2002. In 2003 the team decided to concentrate on Formula BMW ADAC championship, which they joined 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 ...

Nico Hülkenberg Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the yea ...

won their first Formula BMW ADAC title in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. The success was repeated in the following year by

Christian Vietoris Christian Vietoris (; ; born 1 April 1989) is a German racing driver. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, most recently for HWA Team. Vietoris has also been a part of the revitalized Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, together with Robert Wi ...

. In

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; ...

, ADAC series was merged with UK series into Formula BMW Europe.

Esteban Gutiérrez Esteban Manuel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (; born 5 August 1991) is a Mexican racing driver currently representing Mercedes in Formula One, Formula E and esports and Inter Europol Competition in World Endurance Championship. Previously from 2013 t ...

brought their first title in the series and with help of

Kazeem Manzur Kazeem Manzur (born 8 July 1991, in Milton Keynes, England) is a professional British racecar driver, who races for Josef Kaufmann Racing in the Formula BMW Europe series. In 2008, Manzur became the first ever British-Asian racing driver to co ...

and

Marco Wittmann Marco Wittmann (born 24 November 1989) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He currently resides in Markt Erlbach. Wittmann has competed in such series as Formula Three Euroseries and Formula BMW ADAC/Europe. ...

their first teams' title ever. The team repeated titles in both the drivers' and teams' championships in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

with

Robin Frijns Robin Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch motor racing driver. He is the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, and the first driver to have won the series in his debut season since Robert Kubica in 2005. Frijns is currently competing in Fo ...

. As Formula BMW Europe was folded, the German outfit decided to move to

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and Frijns won another drivers' title for the team.

Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne (born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian professional racing driver who is currently racing for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He had previously competed in Formula One for McLaren from 2016 to 2018. He is currently a test driver of M ...

achieved their second Eurocup title in the following season.

Lando Norris Lando Norris (born 13 November 1999) is a Belgian-British racing driver currently competing in Formula One with McLaren, racing under the British flag. He won the MSA Formula championship in 2015, and the Toyota Racing Series, Eurocup Formul ...

collected another Eurocup drivers' championship for the German squad in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. Also the team won the teams' championship in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

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 ...

, as well as drivers' title for

Louis Delétraz Louis Delétraz (born 22 April 1997) is a Swiss racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series for Prema Orlen Team and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Tower Motorsport. He is the 201 ...

. For the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

, the team signed

Sacha Fenestraz Sacha Fenestraz Jules (born 28 July 1999) is a French-Argentine racing driver currently competing in the Super Formula Championship with Kondō Racing. He is the 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion. Currently, he drives for the Nissan For ...

, Luis Leeds and French F4 champion

Ye Yifei Ye Yifei (; born 16 June 2000) is a Chinese racing driver, 2016 French F4 champion, 2020 Euroformula Open champion, 2021 Asian Le Mans Series champion, 2021 European Le Mans Series champion, and former member of the Renault Sport Academy. In ...

. The team failed to defend teams' title but

achieved drivers' title. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, the team retained Ye and hired former Red Bull Junior

Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor (born 16 December 2000) is a Dutch racing driver set to compete for Van Amersfoort Racing in the Formula 2 Championship. Verschoor graduated to Formula 2 in 2021 with MP Motorsport before switching to Charouz Racing System, aft ...

and karting champion and

Toyota Racing Series The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand's premier formula racing category. The series includes races for every major trophy in New Zealand circuit racing including the New Zealand Motor Cup and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. ...

race winner

Clément Novalak Clément Novalak (born 23 December 2000) is a French- Swiss racing driver set to race for Trident in the 2023 Formula 2 Championship, having previously drove for MP Motorsport. He previously raced in the FIA Formula Three Championship for Car ...

, with Ye claiming third in the drivers' standings. At the end of the season, the team withdrew from the championship.

Former series results

Formula BMW ADAC

Formula BMW Europe

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

^† Guest driver, who was ineligible for championship points.

Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup

‡Shared position and points for the other team. † ineligible for championship points.

Timeline

References

External links

* {{s-end German auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1982 1982 establishments in Germany German Formula 3 teams Formula BMW teams Formula Renault Eurocup teams