Andreas Wirth

Andreas Wirth (19 November 1984 – ) was born in Heidelberg Germany, and currently resides near the famed Hockenheimring. From an early age Andreas proved himself to be a capable German racer.

In 2004 Wirth won the Formula BMW USA championship after coming state-side, and then advanced to the Champ Car Atlantics in 2005 where he raced for two years, winning three races and finishing 6th and 3rd in the championship.

Following up a full 2006 season with Forsythe Championship Racing in the Champ Car Atlantics, Wirth was named to compete in his first Champ Car race in Dale Coyne Racing's #19 Sonny's BBQ entry at Surfer's Paradise, where he finished in 9th place. He then went on to race with Dale Coyne in Mexico City, and tested the new DP01 Champ Car in 2007.

In 2008 he was called to test in the Superleague Formula ^[1] and also ran in the American Le Mans Series with PTG Panoz.

For seven seasons Andreas competed in the ADAC GT Masters Series where he tallied a total of 9 victories, and as of the close of the 2015 season holds the record for GT Masters driver with the most wins at the Nürburgring.

In 2016 Wirth takes on a new challenge, moving into Prototype racing in the European Le Mans Series with SMP Racing in their LMP2 BR01 with co-drivers Stefano Coletti and Julian Leal.

Career highlights

2016

2016 marks a turning point in Andreas‘ career as he shifts gears from sports car racing to prototypes in the series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).
Wirth will compete for Russian-based SMP Racing in their BR01 Nissan-powered entry to the LMP2 class of the ELMS alongside two other newcomers to the series, Stefano Coletti and Julian Leal.

2012 to 2015

Wirth teamed with Callaway Competition for four seasons (2012-2015) in the ADAC GT Masters, piloting the FIA class-champion Z06R GT3 Corvette with the likes of former Formula 1 stand-out Heinz-Harald Frentzen, touring car veteran Christian Hohenadel and 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion Daniel Keilwitz.
2014 was Andreas‘ best year in the series. Despite only competing in 10 of the 16 races (due to business obligations in the USA) Wirth finished the season with 4 wins, placing 6th in the overall standings. Topping off a successful 2014 season Wirth was invited to participate in the Blancpain GT3 World Final in Baku / Azerbaijan.
In total, Wirth tallied a total of 9 victories in the ADAC GT Masters series and as of 2015 continued to maintain the record for GT Masters driver with the most wins at the Nürburgring.

2011

2011 marked the beginning of a new chapter for Wirth as he joined HEICO Motorsport to put the all-new Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 through its paces, showcasing it to the world. Thrilled to be working with a team steeped in motorsport history and a world-class manufacturer like Mercedes, he enjoyed an amazing season where he re-visited many familiar tracks competing for his 2nd full season in the ADAC GT Masters, FIA GT3 European Championship and the 24 hours of the Nürburgring. He kicked off this new chapter of his career at the 24 hours of Dubai—the chosen testing grounds for his new Mercedes gull-wing supercar.

2010

In 2010 Andreas continued his work with ALPINA (and their new managing team S-Berg Racing of Austria) on the development of the BMW ALPINA B6 race car in the ADAC GT Masters series and the FIA GT3 European Championship.

2009

The 2009 race season marked the beginning of a new journey for this young racer as he joined a team rich in racing heritage — BMW ALPINA, as they celebrated their return to motorsport in the FIA GT3 European Championship, the GT Masters and VLN Series and the 24h race of the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife. Andreas was proud to join the ranks of such legendary ALPINA drivers as Niki Lauda, Jacky Ickx, Hans Stuck and Dieter Quester.

2008

In 2008 Andreas was called to test for Team Astromega in the Superleague Formula, and closed out his mainstream racing efforts for the year in the American Le Mans Series with PTG Panoz competing in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

2007

In 2007 Wirth was honoured to accept the Champ Car World Series invitation and challenge to break the standing lap record at TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands as part of a promotion for Champ Car’s European debut late in August of that year. Despite the fact that Wirth hadn’t raced with the series all year, and the fact that he’d never set wheels on the Assen track, he proudly bettered the track record set by Jos Verstappen in the smaller, lighter A1GP car by more than four seconds (1:28.276).
Early in 2007 Andreas tested the new DP01 Champ Car with Dale Coyne Racing and was invited to explore a number of options with teams throughout a variety of racing series. Despite being sidelined in 2007 due to unreasonable budget demands Wirth continued building behind the scenes for a strong racing future.

2006

In 2006 Andreas was extended the privilege to debut in the Champ Car World Series at Surfer’s Paradise Australia with Dale Coyne Racing where he proudly finished in ninth place on one of the most difficult tracks on the schedule. He then went on to compete in the Champ Car season finale at Mexico City finishing 15th in an event that presented many challenges for the young up and comer.
Led the season opener from wire-to-wire in his sophomore season in the Champ Car Atlantic Series to capture his second career win. Wirth’s third career victory represented the first time in fourteen years that a driver captured back-to-back wins in the opening two rounds of Atlantic competition.
Enjoyed a total of six trips to the podium in 2006 (two first-place finishes and four third-place finishes), and a total of eight top ten finishes in the 12 events on the calendar with Forsythe Championship Racing.

2005

During his rookie year in the Toyota Atlantic Series, Andreas drove together in Brooks Associates Racing with Fernando Rees. He was second in the point standings going into the penultimate race, and was a serious contender for the Championship. However, due to an unfortunate accident he was forced to miss the final two events of the 2005 season. Despite missing the last two events, Andreas finished the season in a respectable 6th place.
Earned five 3rd-place finishes, one 2nd place and one victory in his 2005 rookie season with the Toyota Atlantic Series.

2004

Won the inaugural Formula BMW North American Championship in 2004.
Recorded podium finishes in 11 of 14 Formula BMW North American events in 2004 (never finishing lower than 5th place), including wins at Road America, Laguna Seca, and both events at Lime Rock.

2003

Produced six top-five finishes in the 2003 German Formula BMW series, including a 2nd-place finish in Italy.

2002

Finished in the top 10 in all eight races in 2002 Formula BMW series, including a 2nd-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix and a 3rd-place finish at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

2001

Finished second in the 2001 German Formula Ford Championship in his rookie year.
Earned two 10th-place finishes in Formula Ford including the event at Spa and the World Final at Brands Hatch in 2001.

1998-2000

Raced in several junior and senior German Karting series, earning several championships along the way.

Racing record

American Racing Results

(key)

Atlantic Championship (Finishing Place Displayed)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2005	Brooks Associates Racing	LBH Ret	MTY 8	POR1 3	POR2 2	CLE1 3	CLE2 3	TOR 3	EDM 3	SJO 5	DEN 1	ROA DNS	MTL	6th	234
2006	Forsythe Racing	LBH 1	HOU 1	MTY 6	POR 3	CLE1 3	CLE2 18	TOR Ret	EDM 3	SJO 18	DEN 5	MTL 12	ROA 3	3rd	227
2008	Brooks Associates Racing	LBH 9	LS 8	MTT 7	EDM1	EDM2	ROA1	ROA2	TRR	NJ	UTA	ATL		22nd	45

2008 Raced in first 3 rounds only

Champ Car (Finishing Place Displayed)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2006	Dale Coyne Racing	LBH	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF 9	MXC 15	20th	19

European Racing Results

ADAC GT Masters (Race Points Displayed)

Year	Team	Co-Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2009	ALPINA — BMW B6 GT3	J.Klingman	DNR	DNR	DNR	DNR		3	DNR	DNR	10		DNR	DNR	10		--	--	14th	23
2010	ALPINA — BMW B6 GT3	M.Matzke	2	5		5		4	8				10	10			--	--	6th	44
2011	HEICO MOTORSPORTS — Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	C.Frankenhout	2	10			6	12	15	25					8	12			9th	90
2012	CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3	HH.Frentzen				6	8				10	12			DNR	DNR	6		19th	42
2013	CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3	C.Hohenadel	1									2	1	6			1	1	24th	19
2014	CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3	D.Keilwitz	DNR	DNR	4	2	DNR	DNR	DNR	DNR	12	25		25			25	25	6th	118
2015	CALLAWAY COMPETITION — Corvette Z06R GT3	D.Keilwitz	12		18			18	2	18			15	1	6		10	2	7th	104

DNR = Did Not Race

European Le Mans Series - ELMS (Finishing Place Displayed)

Co-Drivers: Stefano Coletti, Julian Leal, Vitaly Petrov

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	Rank	Points
2016	SMP Racing	Silverstone Circuit 2	Imola Circuit 4	Red Bull Ring 4	Circuit Paul Ricard 2	Spa Francorchamps 6	Autódromo do Estoril 3	3	83

References

↑ "Untitled Document". Team Astromega. Archived from the original on 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-07-13.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by None	Formula BMW USA Champion 2004	Succeeded by Richard Philippe

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