Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British-born former racing driver who raced under Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is from Ireland) and an Irish-issued racing licence. Earlier in his career he raced under a British licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., co-founded the Van Diemen[1] 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.
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 Firman in 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  British Irish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Ralph David Firman Jr. 20 May 1975 Norwich, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
editFormula Three
editEducated 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
editFirman 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
editFirman then moved to Japan, culminating in the 2002 Formula Nippon championship, before returning to Europe.
Formula One
editFirman secured a seat in Formula One for the 2003 season at the Jordan team,[2] 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.[3]
Post-Formula One
editFirman 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
editFirman retired from racing in 2013, and now runs a British engineering company.[4]
Racing career
editCareer summary
editComplete British Formula 3 results
edit(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 1 1 |
SIL 2 1 |
THR 1 Ret |
THR 2 2 |
DON Ret |
SIL 2 |
SIL 3 |
DON 1 Ret |
DON 2 1 |
OUL 9 |
BRH 1 1 |
BRH 2 1 |
SNE Ret |
PEM 1 1 |
PEM 2 7 |
SIL 1 DSQ |
SIL 2 12 |
THR 7 |
2nd | 176 |
| 1996 | Paul Stewart Racing | Mugen | SIL 1 4 |
SIL 2 2 |
THR 3 |
DON DNS |
BRH 1 1 |
BRH 2 1 |
OUL 1 |
DON 2 |
SIL 2 |
THR 2 |
SNE 1 6 |
SNE 2 C |
PEM 1 13 |
PEM 2 5 |
ZAN 1 5 |
ZAN 2 4 |
SIL 4 |
1st | 188 |
Complete Formula Nippon results
edit(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 Ret |
MIN 4 |
FUJ 15 |
SUZ 6 |
SUG 2 |
FUJ 13 |
MIN Ret |
MOT 5 |
FUJ Ret |
SUZ 11 |
8th | 12 |
| 1998 | Team Nova | SUZ 12 |
MIN Ret |
FUJ Ret |
MOT 14 |
SUZ Ret |
SUG 2 |
FUJ C |
MIN 4 |
FUJ 3 |
SUZ 7 |
7th | 13 |
| 1999 | Team Nova | SUZ Ret |
MOT 3 |
MIN 2 |
FUJ 9 |
SUZ Ret |
SUG 6 |
FUJ 10 |
MIN 9 |
MOT 8 |
SUZ 1 |
4th | 21 |
| 2000 | Team Nova | SUZ Ret |
MOT 11 |
MIN Ret |
FUJ 6 |
SUZ 7 |
SUG 2 |
MOT 10 |
FUJ 13 |
MIN 5 |
SUZ Ret |
9th | 9 |
| 2001 | Nakajima Racing | SUZ 5 |
MOT Ret |
MIN 2 |
FUJ 6 |
SUZ Ret |
SUG Ret |
FUJ 7 |
MIN 8 |
MOT 1 |
SUZ 1 |
4th | 29 |
| 2002 | Nakajima Racing | SUZ 1 |
FUJ 2 |
MIN Ret |
SUZ 1 |
MOT 9 |
SUG 1 |
FUJ 2 |
MIN 2 |
MOT 1 |
SUZ 3 |
1st | 62 |
Source:[4]
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Complete JGTC/Super GT results
editComplete Formula One results
edit(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Jordan Ford | Jordan EJ13 | Ford V10 | AUS Ret |
MAL 10 |
BRA Ret |
SMR Ret |
ESP 8 |
AUT 11 |
MON 12 |
CAN Ret |
EUR 11 |
FRA 15 |
GBR 13 |
GER Ret |
HUN WD |
ITA | USA Ret |
JPN 14 |
19th | 1 |
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Dome S101-Judd | LMP1 | 313 | DNF | DNF | ||
Complete A1 Grand Prix results
edit(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 9 |
GER FEA 6 |
POR SPR 19 |
POR FEA 3 |
AUS SPR |
AUS FEA |
MYS SPR 7 |
MYS FEA 9 |
UAE SPR 4 |
UAE FEA Ret |
RSA SPR 4 |
RSA FEA Ret |
IDN SPR 6 |
IDN FEA Ret |
MEX SPR Ret |
MEX FEA Ret |
USA SPR 5 |
USA FEA 6 |
CHN SPR |
CHN FEA |
8th | 68 | [10] |
| 2007–08 | NED SPR 8 |
NED FEA 6 |
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 | [11] | |||
Source:[4]
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References
edit- ^ RFR – In development: the 2010 RFR F2000/FC – Ralph Firman Racing
- ^ "Firman set to join Jordan F1". Irish Examiner. 3 February 2003.
- ^ "Firman breaks Macau lap record". Crash Net. 14 November 2003.
- ^ a b c d "Ralph Firman". Motor Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ a b c "Ralph Firman Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ a b "Ralph Firman jr". Driver Database. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Complete Archive of Ralph Firman". Racing Sports Cars. pp. 2, 3. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Ralph Firman – Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Ralph Firman". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Ralph Firman – 2005 A1 Grand Prix Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Ralph Firman – 2007 A1 Grand Prix Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.