Tõnis Kasemets (born March 17, 1974 in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

) is an

n racing driver and a former competitor in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

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 ...

. He won the 2022 IMSA Prototype Challenge championship.

Career

Kasemets emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1995 and began

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

racing. He advanced through the open wheel ranks and by 2004 was in the

Toyota Atlantic 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) ...

series. In 2005 he placed second in the series championship to

Charles Zwolsman Charles Zwolsman (6 August 1955 – 21 January 2011) was a Dutch drug dealer and professional racecar driver and team owner. Drug dealing Zwolsman was born in Oostzaan, and started dealing in marijuana in the 1980s. He built an organization ...

. He participated in a partial 2006 schedule in the

for Paul Gentilozzi's

Rocketsports Racing Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 200 ...

. To participate in Champ Car in 2006 he had to gather funds for a quarter of the participation costs. Kasemets wanted to do a full season of Champ Car in 2007 and in the future he wants to own a successful team à la Newman-Haas and Forsythe. However, he has not appeared in a Champ Car or

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

race since 2006. He continued racing in the

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) ...

until its closure after the 2009 season and made his

Firestone 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 progra ...

debut on the

Streets of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It ...

in April 2010. Kasemets has competed in some Grand Am Road Racing events, including the 2013 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. He currently lives in

Mundelein, Illinois Mundelein is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States and a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 31,560. It is approximately thirty-five miles northwest of Chicago. History The community now known as M ...

with his son and daughter.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American open–wheel racing 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 ...

)

Atlantic Championship

Indy Lights

Champ Car

IMSA Prototype Challenge

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasemets, Tonis Living people 1974 births Sportspeople from Pärnu People from Lake County, Illinois Estonian emigrants to the United States Estonian racing drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers EFDA Nations Cup drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Newman Wachs Racing drivers Team Moore Racing drivers Rocketsports Racing drivers