Tom Kimber-Smith

Tom Kimber-Smith (2013)

Thomas "Tom" Kimber-Smith (born November 1, 1984 in Ascot , England ) is a British racing driver . He will start in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) in 2012 . He achieved class wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2006, 2011 and 2012 .

Career

Kimber-Smith began his motorsport career in 2000 in the T-Cars , whose championship he won that season. In 2001 he made his debut in formula racing and competed in the British Formula Ford . After finishing 31st in 2001, he was sixth in the drivers' championship in 2002 with two podium finishes. In the subsequent winter series of the British Formula Ford, he was runner-up behind Alx Danielsson . In 2003, Kimber-Smith won five British Formula Ford races and became champions. He then took part in the winter series of the British Formula Renault for Team JLR and achieved 15th place.

In 2004 , Kimber-Smith switched to the Formula 3 Euro Series for Team Kolles . While his teammate Adrian Sutil was 17th with nine points, he reached 20th place with two places. In 2005, Kimber-Smith returned to Team JLR and competed in the British Formula Renault. He finished twelfth in the drivers' championship with a podium finish. He also took part in two races of the Dutch Formula Renault.

In 2006, Kimber-Smith left formula racing and switched to GTs for the British team LNT. He was runner-up in the British GT Championship in the GT2 class. He also made his debut at the Le Mans 24-hour race that year . Together with Richard Dean and Lawrence Tomlinson , he won the GT2 class of this race. He also competed in individual races in the Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In 2007, Kimber-Smith completed four races in the GT2 class of the Le Mans Series and two races in this category in the ALMS. At the 24-hour race at Le Mans , he retired as a participant in the GT2 class. When his team LNT switched to the Le Mans prototype category LMP2 of the Le Mans Series during the season , Kimber-Smith also made his debut with the sports prototypes. He was also a guest starter for LNT in the GT4 European Cup .

In 2008 LNT reduced its involvement in the sports car sector. Kimber-Smith therefore had to look around for a new driver's seat at short notice. Therefore he only started in a few races in the Rolex Sports Car Series , in which he finished 32nd in the DP class, and in a race in the British GT Championship in the GT4 classification. After not racing in 2009, he took part in some races in the Spanish GT Championship in 2010.

In 2011 , Kimber-Smith received a cockpit for the Le Mans Series at Greaves Motorsport . Karim Ojjeh was his team-mate throughout, Gary Chalandon was replaced by Olivier Lombard during the season . Kimber-Smith and Ojjeh won the LMP2 classification once together with Chalandon and twice together with Lombard. Kimber-Smith and Ojjeh won the LMP2 ranking. In addition, he took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race with Ojjeh and Lombard and won the LMP2 class of this race. In 2012 , Kimber-Smith stayed with Greaves Motorsport. Alex Brundle and Lucas Ordoñez became his teammates. After the first race, the three were in fourth place in the LMP2 drivers' standings, which will be the highest category from this season on. In addition, he competed for Starworks Motorsport together with Ryan Dalziel and Vicente Potolicchio at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The engagement came about at short notice because Starworks regular driver Stéphane Sarrazin had switched to Toyota for this race . The trio finished seventh overall and won the LMP2 class. In 2012 he also took part in an ALMS race in the LMPC class for CORE Autosport .

He has been driving sports car races in North America since 2015 and was a regular starter in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship .

statistics

Career stations

2000: T-Cars (master) 2001: British Formula Ford (31st place) 2002: British Formula Ford (6th place) 2002: British Formula Ford, winter series (2nd place) 2003: British Formula Ford (champion) 2003: British Formula Renault , winter series (15th place) 2004 : Formula 3 Euro Series (20th place) 2005: British Formula Renault (12th place)

2005: Dutch Formula Renault (25th place) 2006: British GT, GT2 (2nd place) 2006 : Le Mans Series , LMGT2 (12th place) 2006: ALMS , GT2 (24th place) 2007 : Le Mans Series, LMGT2 (19th place) 2007 : Le Mans Series, LMP2 (8th place) 2007: ALMS, GT2 (28th place) 2008: Rolex Sports Car Series , DP (32nd place)

2008: British GT, GT4 2010: Spanish GT 2011 : Le Mans Series, LMP2 (1st place) 2012 : ELMS, LMP2 2012: ALMS, LMPC 2012 : WEC

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2006	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Lawrence Tomlinson	Richard Dean	15th place and class win
2007	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Tommy Milner	Danny Watts	failure	Gearbox damage
2011	Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN	Olivier Lombard	Karim Ojjeh	Rank 8 and class win
2012	Starworks Motorsport	HPD ARX-03b	Ryan Dalziel	Vicente Potolicchio	Rank 7 and class win
2013	Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN	Eric Lux	Alexander Rossi	Rank 24
2014	Caterham Racing	Zytek Z11SN	Chris Dyson	Matthew McMurry	Rank 23

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2006	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Lawrence Tomlinson	Richard Dean		Rank 13
2007	Panoz Team PTG	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Joey hand	Bill Auberlen		failure	Leak in the oil tank
2013	Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN	Eric Lux	Christian Zugel		Rank 8
2014	8 Star Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Eric Lux	Mike Marsal	Sean Rayhall	Rank 37
2015	PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Andrew Palmer	Mike Guasch		Rank 6 and class win
2016	PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Jose Gutiérrez	Robert Alon		Rank 9
2017	PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Ligier JS P217	Jose Gutiérrez	Mike Guasch		failure	malfunction

Web links

Commons : Tom Kimber-Smith  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Tom Kimber-Smith (English)
• Career Stats Tom Kimber-Smith (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Ordonez in Le Mans team-mate from Brundle". Motorsport-Total.com, January 30, 2012, accessed June 15, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Gerald Dirnbeck: "Kimber-Smith replaces Sarrazin at Starworks". Motorsport-Total.com, May 27, 2012, accessed June 17, 2012 .