Sean Lawrence Guy Edwards (6 December 1986 − 15 October 2013) was an English professional racing driver, whose career highlight was winning as co-driver the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hours. He died as a passenger in a private testing incident in October 2013, at

Queensland Raceway Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located at Willowbank in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The circuit did host Supercars Championship until 2019, drifting as well as club level racing and ride days. Qu ...

in Australia.

Early and personal life

Edwards was born in London on 6 December 1986, the son of racing driver

Guy Edwards Guy Richard Goronwy Edwards, QGM (born 30 December 1942) is a former racing driver from England. Best known for his sportscar and British Formula One career, as well as for brokering sponsorship deals, Edwards participated in 17 World Champion ...

. He was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

and Cherwell College in Oxford. He lived and was based in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Career

Edwards started racing at the age of eleven taking part in karting competitions. After gaining fourth place in the 2003

British Formula Ford Championship The British Formula Ford Championship was an entry level single seater motor racing category, designed to give racing drivers their first step into car racing after karting. Drivers from around the world were attracted to the United Kingdom to ...

, he gained 5th in the 2004 Formula Renault UK, and fifth in the 2005

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

. Moving to Monaco, he then undertook drives in various years of the

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

, the

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche ...

(latterly with Team Allyouneed) and the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

(with MOMO NGT Motorsport). In 2006 he won the FIA European GT3 championship driving a Tech9 Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup Car. In May 2013 he won the Nurburgring 24 Hours, his first major victory in endurance racing, driving a

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (C197 / R197) is a front mid-engine, 2-seater, limited production grand tourer developed by the Mercedes-AMG division of German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, with the assistance of David Coulthard. The car is ...

alongside Bernd Schneider,

Jeroen Bleekemolen Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...

and Nicki Thiim. One of the first professional racing drivers to embrace

Sim racing Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tir ...

as a means of development and training, in 2012 he assisted with the racing scenes in

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

's film '' Rush'', about the battle between

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

and

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

in the

1976 Formula One season The 1976 Formula One season was the 30th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1976 World Championship of Drivers and the 1976 International Cup for Formula 1 Manufacturers . The two titles were contested over a sixteen race s ...

. The younger Edwards also portrayed his father in several scenes of the film, the latter being among the drivers who pulled Lauda from the burning wreckage of his formula one racing car during the

1976 German Grand Prix The 1976 German Grand Prix (formally the XXXVIII Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring on 1 August 1976. It was the scene of reigning world champion Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident, and the last ...

Death

On 15 October 2013, Edwards was killed in a crash during a private session at

Willowbank, Queensland Willowbank is a rural locality in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the , Willowbank had a population of 1,315 people. Geography The Cunningham Highway passes through the suburb from north to south. Both the Willowbank Raceway a ...

, Australia as a passenger whilst instructing Will Holzheimer of Dellow Racing in a

Porsche 996 The Porsche 996 is the internal designation for the 911 model manufactured by the German automaker Porsche from 1997 until 2006. It was replaced by the 997 in 2004, but the high performance Turbo S, GT2 and GT3 variants remained in production un ...

Supercup car. Holzheimer was treated at Royal Brisbane Hospital for injuries and burns.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Porsche Supercup results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete 24 Hours of Dubai results

Complete Nürburgring 24 Hours results

References

External links

* * * (official) {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Sean 1986 births 2013 deaths Racing drivers from London People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire English racing drivers English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in Monaco 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers European Le Mans Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Porsche Supercup drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Britcar 24-hour drivers International GT Open drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Sport deaths in Australia Accidental deaths in Queensland Racing drivers who died while racing Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers 24H Series drivers Porsche Carrera Cup Germany drivers