Alan van der Merwe

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Alan van der Merve in the Formula 1 Medical Car Mercedes C63 S Estate at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix

Alan van der Merwe (born January 31, 1980 in Johannesburg ) is a South African racing driver .

Career

At the age of 17, van der Merwe entered motorsport relatively late in 1997 . His father took him to go karting back then and also started playing. At the same time van der Merwe took part in the Dutch national ICA championship. In the second year of his career, he finished third in the Dutch national ICA with Slikker Racing . In 1999 van der Merwe made his debut in formula racing and initially drove in the British Formula Ford . At the end of the year, the South African was signed by Haywood Racing for the British Formula Ford 2000 season. At the end of the season he finished eleventh overall. In 2001 he stayed with Haywood Racing in the British Formula Ford. Although he could not win a race, he finished third overall at the end of the season.

In 2002 van der Merwe moved to the British Formula 3 championship at Carlin Motorsport . With a race win he finished eighth in the overall standings at the end of the season. In 2003 the South African stayed with Carlin Motorsport and contested his second season in the British Formula 3 Championship. With nine wins from 24 races, he finally won the championship title in front of his teammates Jamie Green and Nelson Piquet junior .

In 2004 van der Merwe switched to Super Nova Racing in the international Formula 3000 championship , which was held for him as a supporting program for Formula 1 . He only scored a point in two races in eighth and was replaced by Can Artam after seven races . In the overall standings, he finished 14th. In addition, he made his first experiences in a Formula 1 racing car in 2004 during test drives for British American Racing .

In 2005 van der Merwe stayed with British American Racing and was included in the team's junior squad. He was also the driver of a specially prepared Formula 1 racing car from British American Racing, with which he achieved the fastest speed ever with a Formula 1 racing car that complied with the regulations at an average of 397.481 km / h on a salt lake in Utah in 2005 reached.

After he had not found a cockpit for the 2006 season, van der Merwe drove eight races for the South African A1 team in the A1GP series in the 2006/07 season . He could not achieve any championship points there. In 2008 van der Merwe competed in one race in the Le Mans Series and in 2009 in two races in the A1GP season 2008/2009 .

Since the 2009 season , van der Merwe has been driving the Formula 1 medical car .

statistics

Career stations

Web links

Commons : Alan van der Merwe  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "BAR Honda contracts for van der Merwe and Dirani" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 19, 2005)
  2. ↑ "Van der Merwe:" Had to drive like a grandmother "" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 3, 2009)
  3. ↑ "Van der Merwe new medical car driver" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 30, 2009)
personal data
SURNAME Merwe, Alan van der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg , South Africa