Markus Niemelä (born 20 March 1984 in Rauma) is a Finnish race car driver, currently in the Champ Car Atlantic series in North America. He is the 2008 Series Champion after winning the final round at Road Atlanta. His international racing career has been volatile due to a number of injuries he has sustained during his career.
Career
Karting
1998
Markus won the Finnish junior karting championship with maximum points.
2001
Injury of left arm in a snowboarding accident before the start of season prevented participation in the Formula A European/World Championship. Won the one race where participated, driving practically one-handed against top Finnish karters (ICA).
2002
Markus was the Finnish champion in Formula A. He set the fastest laptime of at least in one heat of every European Championship round. Qualified in World Cup final but technical problems caused DNF in pre-final and final.
2003
Because of accident in a European championship race, couldn’t drive for three months. Returned for World Championships to finish 5th.
Single-seaters
2004
Markus became the Finnish and Swedish Champion and the winner of STCC Formula Ford championship. Led Scandinavian Championship before the last round but finished 2nd overall because did not participate on the last round. Nominated as a ”Young Champion” by Finnish ASN. Tested for Formula BMW and was fastest at several unofficial tests.
2005
Markus finished 7th in championship points with one victory and one pole position. Many crashes resulting to damaged car during the season (12 out of 20 races). He was also 5th in UK Formula Renault Winter Championship, 3rd best qualifier of the championship (3rd, 4th, 9th and 3rd in qualifyings). Markus drove Formula Renault first time ever in free practice of first race meeting.
2006
One victory, fastest lap and pole position. Multiple Driver Of The Day Awards - awarded by Renault Sport. Markus finished 7th in the final standings with best positions 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2x4th.
2007
In Eurocup, his best result was a second place at Hungaroring, while in the Asian series, he finished second in the season. He joined BCN Competicion in the GP2 Series to replace Sakon Yamamoto who moved to F1 during the season. During his first race, also at the Hungaroring, he was forced to retire when his left shoulder unexpectedly dislocated after 11 laps, which also prevented him from taking part in the second race of the meeting.[1]
2008
For the 2008 season Niemelä won the 2008 Formula Atlantic Championship with Brooks Associates team in the North American.
Racing record
Complete GP2 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season in progress.
References
- ^ Bradley, Charles (August 2007). "GP2's new faces suffer on debuts". Autosport 189 (6): p.15.
External links
|
