Andreas Wirth
Andreas Wirth (born November 19, 1984 in Heidelberg ) is a former German racing driver .
Career
Monopostosport
In 2001 Wirth drove in several Formula Ford racing series in Germany and France, among others. In 2002 and 2003 he started in the German Formula BMW , where he achieved several top 10 and three podium finishes. After moving to the United States and the American Formula BMW, he was able to secure the championship title in 14 races with eleven podium finishes, including three wins. After several victories in Formula Atlantic in 2005 and 2006, he was allowed to contest two champ car races for Dale Coyne in 2006 . Before and during the 2007 season, he tested several times for Dale Coyne and Forsythe Racing . In addition, he drove demonstration drives for the Champ Car. Before the 2008 season, he was also in discussions with Audi for the DTM , where he should drive a two-year-old car. For various reasons, however, the decision was made in favor of Christijan Albers from the Netherlands . Wirth drove in the Formula Atlantic again, but after a few races the season ended prematurely.
GT and touring car racing
At the end of 2008 he contested the Petit Le Mans for the Panoz works team. From 2009 he was a works driver for Alpina and drove an Alpina B6 GT3 in the ADAC GT Masters , the FIA GT3 European Championship , the BFGoodrich endurance championship and the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring .
After Alpina ended its work at the factory and sold the vehicles to s-Berg Racing for the 2010 season, Wirth and his Czech team-mate Martin Matzke started for the Austrian private team. At the end of the season he and his teammate finished 9th with 44 points.
In 2011 Andreas Wirth drove the then newly designed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in the GT3 version. On July 10, 2011, he and his teammate Christiaan Frankenhout won the first race with this vehicle in the service of Heico Motorsport at the ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring . Wirth finished 9th with 90 points at the end of the season.
In 2012 Wirth switched to the Callaway Competition Corvette team in the ADAC GT Masters series and shared the cockpit with the former Formula 1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen. In 2013 he drove with the European GT Champion Christian Hohenadel and in 2014 Wirth and the ADAC GT Masters defending champion Daniel Keilwitz formed a driver pairing.
2014 was the best year so far in the ADAC GT Masters series. Although Wirth only took part in 10 out of 16 races due to other contractual obligations in the USA, he finished the season in sixth place with four wins in the overall standings the record with the most victories at the Nürburgring.
In 2014 Wirth was invited to take part in the GT3 World Final in Baku / Azerbaijan.
2015 marks Wirth's seventh season in the ADAC GT Masters. Continuing this year with Callaway Competition Corvette for its fourth season, he shares the cockpit with 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion Daniel Keilwitz.
2016 brought a turning point in Wirth's career. Together with his co-drivers Stefano Coletti and Julián Leal, he competed for the Russian-owned SMP Racing Team in their BR01 Nissan-powered sports prototypes in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). The multinational trio finished on the podium three times and narrowly missed it twice. The team's performance brought them 3rd place in the 2016 ELMS championship.
In 2017 Wirth joined the CEFC Manor TRS Racing, a very experienced racing team with a long tradition, and thus chose the path as a development and reserve driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Speedsport Magazine - Internet site: Score: ADAC GT Masters - 2010 season. At: www.speedsport-magazine.de , accessed on November 3, 2012 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wirth, Andreas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1984 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Heidelberg |