Stephen Simpson (born 8 January 1984) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional racing driver currently competing in the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

and previously in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

Champ Car Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

and the Indy Pro Series, among others.

Biography

Simpson was born on 8 January 1984 in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and he moved to South Africa with his family when he was 10 months old. He studied at the South African College High School and graduated in 2002. He moved to the US in pursuit of his motor sport career in 2006 and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018.

Early career

Simpson began karting at the age of 8 and won several regional and national karting titles in South Africa. In 2000 Simpson became the youngest ever driver to win the South African Formula Ford Championship, at the age of 16. In 2001 Simpson left his native

to compete in the Slick 50

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Zetec Championship in the UK. Despite poor funding the youngster was highly impressive beating factory teams on a number of occasions and culminating in being awarded the Motorsport News Race Ace award for his performance at

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 ...

. He ended the season with a stirring performance in atrocious conditions at

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 ...

in the

Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are hel ...

. For 2002 Simpson was signed by

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 ...

to compete in the European Formula Renault Championship and Italian Championship, however his season was dogged by bad luck and a serious lack of testing. Just weeks before the 2003 season got underway, a potential sponsor pulled out, leaving Simpson with no alternatives and thus without a drive for the season. Simpson instead concentrated on his fitness and continued looking for the right drive. For 2004 Simpson joined Richard Dean's Team JLR, with which he contested the prestigious

British Formula Renault Championship British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was ge ...

. He finished second in the Winter Series with two wins and five podiums to his name.

2005–2008

Simpson was brought in to race in the inaugural

World Cup of Motorsport in winter 2005, helping A1 Team South Africa to a dismal 17th place in the series. His best result was a third place in the Feature Race in Dubai and he also achieved a fifth at his home event. Simpson also continued to drive for Team JLR in British Formula Renault. For 2006 he was signed to drive for Gelles Racing in the

Champ Car Atlantic Series The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

but he left the series after three races, with a best finish of 5th. Towards the end of the year he had a test with

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

team

Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series and the Atlantic Championship. Formerly it competed in the Champ Car World Series. History It is owned by former series competitor Éric Bachelart. The team ran in Indy Li ...

and reportedly impressed the team with his performance. In 2007 he signed with Kenn Hardley Racing to compete in the

Indy Pro Series 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 ...

.Kenn Hardley signs Simpson
, IndyCar.com, 19 February 2007 He struggled with the oval races on the series, but finished well on the road and street courses, recording a season best 3rd-place finish at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and finished 9th in the championship. Kenn Hardley Racing shut down at the end of the season and its assets were sold. He then enjoyed a number of very strong outings for the Creation/AIM LMP1 team in Europe and America before the 2008 recession resulted in the closure of the team and he was again left without a drive.

2014 to date

After a challenging few years without any race driving, Simpson was back in a full time race seat 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 ...

driving for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the

Tudor United SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

. The highlight of the season was a 3rd-place finish at Road America. In

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Simpson raced in selected races in the

and finished 3rd at the

Daytona 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

, 2nd at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and had a Pole Position at

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously op ...

. During 2015 Simpson was also a race driver for LAP Motorsport, the official team of MINI USA. Simpson won the PC class of the

Daytona 24 hours The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

in 2016, part of the

. The team moved up to the top prototype category for

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and enjoyed a number of podium finishes. For

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 ...

he continues to race for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the top Prototype class of the IMSA Weathertech Championship alongside teammates

Misha Goikhberg Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg (born 24 November 1986), is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Early career Goikhberg's first foray into driving happened in 2003 at the Russi ...

and Chris Miller in an

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

LMP2 car, winning the 2018 Sahlens 6 Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen. He also races with Michael Johnson for the same team in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in an Audi RS3 TCR car.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar 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)

References

A1 GP South Africa site
– Driver biography page

External links

Stephen Simpson web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Stephen 1984 births Living people Indy Lights drivers South African racing drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers A1 Team South Africa drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Alumni of South African College Schools Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers JDC Motorsports drivers Bryan Herta Autosport drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Durango drivers DAMS drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers