Ralph Firman

Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British and Irish former racing driver who last raced under an Irish licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., co-founded the Van Diemen<ref>RFR – In development: the 2010 RFR F2000/FC – Ralph Firman Racing</ref> racecar constructor with Ross Ambrose, father of V8 Supercars champion Marcos, then more recently founded RFR. He is married to Aldís Kristín Árnadóttir, an Icelandic UK-educated lawyer. Ralph's sister, Natasha, is also a racing driver.

Career

Formula Three

File:Ralph Firman British F3 1995 Silverstone.jpg

Firman driving for Paul Stewart Racing at Silverstone during the 1995 British Formula 3 Championship season.

Educated at Gresham's School between 1988 and 1993, Firman went straight into motor racing on leaving school. Despite leading much of the 1995 British F3 championship, he lost the title at the final round to Oliver Gavin. However, he continued in the championship in 1996 and captured the title at his second attempt.

Macau Grand Prix controversy

Firman won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 1996 under controversial circumstances. At the end of round 1, Firman finished ahead of German Formula 3 champion Jarno Trulli. In round 2, he was overtaken by Trulli on the last lap. Firman was running with a broken front wing. Just as Jarno Trulli was on the way to victory, Firman crashed at the hairpin corner, blocked the track and caused a red flag. The race officials counted the results to the previous lap when Firman was ahead of Trulli, thus giving him the win.

Formula Nippon

Firman then moved to Japan, culminating in the 2002 Formula Nippon championship, before returning to Europe.

Formula One

File:Ralph Firman 2003.JPG

Firman driving for Jordan at the 2003 French GP.

Firman secured a seat in Formula One for the Template:F1 season at the Jordan team,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> alongside Giancarlo Fisichella. He participated in 14 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting at the 2003 Australian Grand Prix. He scored one championship point, in the 2003 Spanish Grand Prix. This point was the first for a Republic of Ireland driver since Derek Daly in 1982. He was injured in a huge crash during practice for the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix which forced him to sit out that and the next race, in which he was replaced by Zsolt Baumgartner.

In November 2003, Firman drove a Jordan-Ford EJ13 at Macau's Guia Circuit as part of the Macau Grand Prix's 50th anniversary celebrations, the first time that a contemporary F1 machine had been seen in action around the tight and tricky Guia circuit. Firman clocked an impressive 1:59.4 seconds lap, 13 seconds quicker than F3 poleman Fabio Carbone managed on the same day.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Post-Formula One

File:Ralph Firman 2010 Super GT Fuji 400km qualify Super Lap.jpg

Firman driving the Honda HSV-010 GT for ARTA at the 2010 Super GT Fuji 400km race.

Firman has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was an official test driver for the A1 Grand Prix series in August 2004.

In August 2005, it was announced that he would be the driver for A1 Team Ireland. He had previously been seen to be in competition for the Great Britain seat.

In 2007, Firman, along with Daisuke Ito, won the Japan Super GT GT500 class championship with the Aguri Suzuki co-owned ARTA team. Firman and Ito won the championship before the final race of the season, a first in the series' competitive history.

Retirement from racing

Firman retired from racing in 2013, and now runs a British engineering company.<ref name=MSportData>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Racing career

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
1993	Formula Vauxhall Junior	?	?	9	11	?	?	?	?
1994	Formula Vauxhall Lotus	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	4th
1995	British Formula Three Championship	Paul Stewart Racing	18	9	6	4	9	176	2nd
	Masters of Formula 3	Paul Stewart Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	10th
	Macau Grand Prix	San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Formula One	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes	Test driver
1996	British Formula Three Championship	Paul Stewart Racing	15	4	3	4	8	188	1st
	Macau Grand Prix	San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing	1	0	1	0	1	N/A	1st
	Masters of Formula 3	Paul Stewart Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
1997	Formula Nippon Championship	Team TMS	10	0	0	0	1	12	8th
	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Team TMS	4	0	0	0	0	4	24th
	Macau Grand Prix	San Miguel Paul Stewart Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
1998	Formula Nippon Championship	Team Nova	9	0	0	0	2	13	8th
1999	Formula Nippon Championship	Team Nova	10	1	1	2	3	21	4th
	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Team Taeivon Ralliart	7	0	0	0	2	42	6th
2000	Formula Nippon Championship	Team Taeivon Ralliart	10	0	0	0	1	9	9th
	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Toyota Team Sard	7	0	0	0	1	25	12th
2001	Formula Nippon Championship	Nakajima Racing	10	1	2	1	3	29	4th
2002	Formula Nippon Championship	Nakajima Racing	10	2	4	1	8	62	1st
	All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship	Nakajima Racing	8	0	3	0	3	74	2nd
2003	Formula One	Jordan	14	0	0	0	0	1	19th
2004	24 Hours of Le Mans	Racing for Holland	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2005	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	8	0	2	0	1	61	2nd
2005-06	A1 Grand Prix	Ireland	16	0	0	2	1	68	8th
2006	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	9	0	1	0	2	68	7th
2007	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	9	0	3	0	4	91	1st
2007-08	A1 Grand Prix	Ireland	2	0	0	0	0	8	6th
2008	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	9	0	0	0	3	49	8th
2009	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	9	0	2	0	5	81	2nd
2010	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	7	0	1	0	1	29	11th
2012	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	8	0	0	0	0	12	16th
2013	Super GT	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	8	0	1	0	1	31	11th
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Complete British Formula 3 results

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

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Pts
1995	Paul Stewart Racing	Mugen	SIL Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	THR Template:Small	THR Template:Small	DON Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	DON Template:Small	DON Template:Small	OUL Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	SNE Template:Small	PEM Template:Small	PEM Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	THR Template:Small	2nd	176
1996	Paul Stewart Racing	Mugen	SIL Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	THR Template:Small	DON Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	OUL Template:Small	DON Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	THR Template:Small	SNE Template:Small	SNE Template:Small	PEM Template:Small	PEM Template:Small	ZAN Template:Small	ZAN Template:Small	SIL Template:Small		1st	188

Complete Formula Nippon 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	DC	Points
1997	Team TMS	SUZ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	8th	12
1998	Team Nova	SUZ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	7th	13
1999	Team Nova	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	4th	21
2000	Team Nova	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	9th	9
2001	Nakajima Racing	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	4th	29
2002	Nakajima Racing	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	1st	62
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Complete JGTC/Super GT results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
1997	Team TMS	Porsche 911 GT2	GT500	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MIN	SUG Template:Small				24th	4
1999	Team Taeivon Ralliart	Mitsubishi FTO	GT300	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	TAI Template:Small	MOT Template:Small			6th	42
2000	Toyota Team SARD	Toyota Supra	GT500	MOT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	TAI Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small			12th	25
2002	Nakajima Racing	Honda NSX	GT500	TAI Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	MIN Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small		2nd	74
2005	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small		2nd	61
2006	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ Template:Small	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	7th	68
2007	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ Template:Small	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	1st	94
2008	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ Template:Small	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	8th	49
2009	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda NSX	GT500	OKA Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	MOT Template:Small	2nd	81
2010	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	SUZ Template:Small	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	MOT Template:Small		11th	29
2012	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	MOT Template:Small		16th	12
2013	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda HSV-010 GT	GT500	OKA Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SEP Template:Small	SUG Template:Small	SUZ Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	MOT Template:Small		11th	31
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Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
Template:F1	Jordan Ford	Jordan EJ13	Ford V10	AUS Template:Small	MAL Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	EUR Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	ITA	USA Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	19th	1
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Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Racing for Holland	Template:Flagicon Tom Coronel Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson	Dome S101-Judd	LMP1	313	DNF	DNF
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Complete A1 Grand Prix 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	DC	Points	Ref
2005–06	Ireland	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	GER SPR Template:Small	GER FEA Template:Small	POR SPR Template:Small	POR FEA Template:Small	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR Template:Small	MYS FEA Template:Small	UAE SPR Template:Small	UAE FEA Template:Small	RSA SPR Template:Small	RSA FEA Template:Small	IDN SPR Template:Small	IDN FEA Template:Small	MEX SPR Template:Small	MEX FEA Template:Small	USA SPR Template:Small	USA FEA Template:Small	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	8th	68	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2007–08		NED SPR Template:Small	NED FEA Template:Small	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	ZHU SPR	ZHU FEA	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	SHA SPR	SHA FEA	GBR SPR	GBR SPR			6th	94	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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External links

• Template:Official website
• GP Encyclopedia
• RFR