Fabio Leimer (born 17 April 1989) is a former professional racing driver from Switzerland. He is best known for winning the 2013 GP2 Series.

Career

Karting Like many of today's racing drivers, Rothrist-born Leimer started his career in karting 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 racing, competing in the Formula BMW ADAC series in Germany. He started the year with Team Rosberg, but finished the season with a different team, Matson Motorsport. During the year, he accumulated four points to be classified 18th in the standings. He also competed in the end-of-season Formula BMW World Final, held in Valencia, where he finished in 19th place.

Formula Renault The following year, Leimer moved up to Formula Renault, racing in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championships for Jenzer Motorsport.

In the Eurocup series, Leimer scored points in three races and took a single fastest lap at Donington Park 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 and Valencia) to be classified eleventh in the standings.

International Formula Master In 2008, Leimer progressed to the International Formula Master series, once again racing with Jenzer Motorsport. In a very successful debut season, he finished as runner-up to champion Chris van der Drift, taking three race wins at Estoril, Imola and Monza 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) from two starts.

In October 2008, Leimer took part in a three-day Indy Lights prize test with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The prize test was originally awarded to German driver Michael Ammermüller, but he declined it for personal reasons.

Leimer continued in the series for 2009, partnering Pål Varhaug, the reigning Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion. During the first six rounds of the season, he took race wins in Pau, Valencia, Brno, Brands Hatch and Spa-Francorchamps, the latter event supporting the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Leimer then sealed the title with his sixth win of the season, at the seventh round in Oschersleben.

GP2 Series

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 team Trident Racing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, and a year later he tested with the DAMS team at the same venue as a prize for winning the Formula Master title.

In October 2009, Leimer tested with Tiago Monteiro's Ocean Racing Technology team at Jerez 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, and former British Formula 3 driver Max Chilton. Leimer continued with the team into the 2010 GP2 Series, and was partnered by Chilton. At the first round of the season in Barcelona, Leimer finished eighth in the feature race, a result which gave him pole position for the reverse grid sprint event which he won from the Rapax Team entry of Luiz Razia. However, he did not score any further points, limiting himself to 19th place in the drivers' championship.

For 2011, Leimer moved to the Rapax team alongside Julián Leal. He finished fifth overall in the Asia series, 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 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's disqualification from the feature race. Another haul of points at Monza 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. Leimer switched to the Racing Engineering team for 2012, where he partnered Nathanaël Berthon. 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, with seven podium finishes and three wins.

FIA World Endurance Championship In 2014, Leimer joined the Swiss team Rebellion Racing for the FIA World Endurance Championship 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 in 2015, driving a Team Mugen's Honda-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 2015 and would participate in FP1 sessions at Grand Prix throughout the season. He participated in only one FP1 session, at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Formula E

On 23 June 2015, Virgin Racing announced Leimer to be their driver to replace Jaime Alguersuari 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 SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition 2006 Formula BMW ADAC Team Rosberg 18 0 0 0 0 4 18th Matson Motorsport 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Jenzer Motorsport 14 0 0 1 0 17 17th Italian Formula Renault 2.0 14 0 0 0 2 161 11th 2008 International Formula Master Jenzer Motorsport 16 3 1 3 8 79 2nd Formula Master Italia 2 1 1 2 1 48 4th 2009 International Formula Master Jenzer Motorsport 16 7 6 12 9 106 1st 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series Ocean Racing Technology 7 0 0 0 0 0 31st 2010 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 20 1 0 1 1 8 19th 2011 GP2 Series Rapax 18 1 0 1 2 15 14th GP2 Asia Series 4 0 0 0 1 9 5th GP2 Final Racing Engineering 2 1 1 1 1 13 1st 2012 GP2 Series Racing Engineering 24 0 1 2 6 152 7th 2013 GP2 Series Racing Engineering 22 3 1 1 7 201 1st2014 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP1 Rebellion Racing 8 0 0 0 0 19 17th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP1 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC 2014–15 Formula E Virgin Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 32nd Amlin Aguri Test driver 2015 Formula One Manor Marussia F1 Team Test driver 2016 Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli (Pro) Octane126 6 1 4 2 5 89 5th 2017 Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli (Pro) Octane126 8 1 0 1 6 105.5 6th 24H Series - A6

Complete Formula BMW ADAC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 2006 Team Rosberg HOC11 HOC12 LAU1 LAU2 NÜR11 NÜR12 OSC11 OSC12 OSC21 OSC22 NOR1 NOR2 19th 4 Matson Motorsport NÜR21 NÜR22 ZAN1 ZAN2 HOC21 HOC22

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points2007Jenzer MotorsportVLL11VLL12VLL21VLL22SPA1SPA2VAL1VAL2MIS1MIS2MUG1MUG2MNZ1MNZ2 11th 161

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2007 Jenzer MotorsportZOL1ZOL2NÜR1NÜR2HUN1HUN2DON1DON2MAG1MAG2EST1EST2CAT1CAT2 17th 17

Complete International Formula Master results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points Ref 2008 Jenzer Motorsport VAL1 VAL2 PAU1 PAU2 BRN1 BRN2 EST1 EST2 BRH1 BRH2 OSC1 OSC2 IMO1 IMO2 MNZ1 MNZ2 2nd 79 2009 Jenzer Motorsport PAU1 PAU2 VAL1 VAL2 BRN1 BRN2 BRH1 BRH2 HUN1 HUN2 SPA1 SPA2 OSC1 OSC2 IMO1 IMO2 1st 106

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points 2010 Ocean Racing Technology CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 19th 8 2011 Rapax ISTFEA ISTSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 14th 15 2012 Racing Engineering SEPFEA SEPSPR BHR1FEA BHR1SPR BHR2FEA BHR2SPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR MRNFEA MRNSPR 7th 152 2013 Racing Engineering SEPFEA SEPSPR BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR MRNFEA MRNSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 1st 201

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2009–10 Ocean Racing Technology YMC1FEA YMC1SPR YMC2FEA YMC2SPR BHR1FEA BHR1SPR BHR2FEA BHR2SPR 31st 0 2011 Rapax YMCFEA YMCSPR IMOFEA IMOSPR 5th 9

Complete GP2 Final results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 DC Points 2011 Racing Engineering YMCFEA YMCSPR 1st 13

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points 2014 Rebellion Racing LMP1 Lola B12/60 Toyota (RV8KLM 3.4 L V8) SIL SPA LMS COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 17th 19

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Rebellion Racing Dominik Kraihamer Andrea Belicchi Rebellion R-One-Toyota LMP1-L 73 DNF DNF

Complete Formula E results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Powertrain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points 2014–15 Virgin Racing Spark SRT01-e SRT01-e BEI PUT PDE BUE MIA LBH MCO BER MSC LDN LDN 32nd 0

Complete Formula One participations (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points Manor Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR03B Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN AUT GBR HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA MEX BRA ABU – –

Ferrari Challenge Europe results Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Points Ref 2016Trofeo Pirelli ProOctane126MNZ1MNZ2MUG1MUG2LMS SOC1 SOC2 HOC1 HOC2JER1JER2 DAY1 DAY2 5th 89 2017Trofeo Pirelli ProOctane126 VAL1 VAL2 MNZ1 MNZ2 HUN1 HUN2LEC1LEC2SIL1SIL2IMO1IMO2 MUG1 MUG2 6th 105.5

Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali results Year Class Team Car Circuit Ref 2016 Trofeo Pirelli Pro Octane126 Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo Daytona International Speedway 20th 2017 Trofeo Pirelli Pro Octane126 Ferrari 488 Challenge Mugello Circuit 1st

References

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