Thomas Jäger (racing driver, 1976)

Thomas Hunter

Nation:	Germany
DTM
First race:	Hockenheimring 2000
Teams (manufacturers)
2000 HWA 2001–2003 Persson ( Mercedes )
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 43 - - -
Podiums:	2
Overall wins:	-
Points:	97
As of August 17, 2009

Thomas Jäger (born October 27, 1976 in Karl-Marx-Stadt ) is a German automobile racing driver . His father Manfred used to be a racing driver as well.

Career

Beginnings

Thomas Jäger began his motorsport career with karting . After running through various kart championships and becoming German kart runner-up in 1995, he joined the Formula Campus in 1996 . There he celebrated three victories in his first year, so that in 1997 he was able to switch to the Renault Spider Cup . In 1998 he was promoted to the German Formula 3 Cup . There he finished one race as the winner, two more on the podium. The following year he improved his previous year's result and finished ten championship runs on the podium, including three wins. This helped him to the third championship place.

DTM

In 2000 Jäger was promoted to the newly founded DTM and drove a Mercedes CLK from the Mercedes works team HWA AG . However, the task turned out to be difficult and Jäger could not meet the high expectations. It wasn't until the end of the season that he achieved a podium finish at the Nürburgring . At the end of the season, he only took eleventh place in the championship, well behind his teammate and championship winner Bernd Schneider . In 2001 Jäger received only one cockpit in the Persson Motorsport customer team . There he surprisingly made a breakthrough at the start of the qualifying run at the Hockenheimring by finishing the car in third place. However, he finished the race in fifth place overall. In the second championship run at the Nürburgring, Jäger again finished on the podium with third place. Although there were no further successes in the further course of the season, Jäger regularly scored points. So he finished the season on the seventh championship place and as the second non-works driver. When the new model of the Mercedes CLK class was introduced in 2002 , Persson Motorsport was just a hardly competitive vehicle from the previous year. Therefore, Jäger remained without points this season. In the 2003 season , he still had to compete on a vehicle from the previous year. Benefiting from the reform of the point system, he was able to achieve two points by the end of the year and finish the championship in 13th place. At the end of the season, however, Jäger withdrew from the DTM.

Guest starts

In 2004 Jäger did not have a fixed cockpit. As a guest starter in the Mini Challenge , he was twice victorious. The highlight of the year was the participation with Frank Schmickler and Jonathan Price in a Porsche 996 GT3 RS of the Raeder Motorsport team in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring . There he reached sixth place overall. In 2005 Jäger competed in the Ford Focus of the Ford Hotfiel Sport team for half a season in the World Touring Car Championship , but without achieving any results worth mentioning. He also took part in the BFGoodrich endurance championship and was able to secure two class wins in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup . He also had a guest start in the Mini Challenge, where he won the race. In 2006 Jäger played a full season in the Mini Challenge and became champion. At the world final of the Ferrari Challenge in Monza , he took pole position and finished third in both races.

Porsche Carrera Cup and GT series

After Jäger won his first title in the Mini Challenge, he switched to the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in 2007 . In his debut season he drove on the winners podium once and took eleventh place in the championship. He also took part in the Mini Challenge as a guest starter and won two races. He was also at the start again at the world final of the Ferrari Challenge in Mugello . In 2008, Jäger again contested a full season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. This time he also achieved a podium finish. In the drivers' standings, he improved to tenth place. He also took part in five ADAC GT Masters races with Sven Hannawald as a guest starter. The breakthrough finally came in 2009 . Jäger managed to win the championship in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany after three wins in nine races. He is also contesting two race weekends with Freddy Kremer in Oschersleben and at the Lausitzring of the ADAC GT Masters. However, the duo only ended all four championship races in the lower midfield. In 2011 he took part in three ADAC GT Masters race weekends and finished 19th in the overall driver standings.

statistics

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2018	SunEnergy1 Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Mikaël Grenier	Kenny Habul	Rank 26

Web links

• Official website of Thomas Jäger