Ralph Firman


Ralph David Firman Jr. is an English-born former racing driver who raced under Irish citizenship 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 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.

Career

Formula Three

Educated 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

Firman 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

Firman then moved to Japan, culminating in the 2002 Formula Nippon championship, before returning to Europe.

Formula One

Firman secured a seat in Formula One for the season at the Jordan team, 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. 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.

Post-Formula One

Firman 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

Firman retired from racing in 2013, and now runs a British engineering company.

Racing career

Complete Formula Nippon results

YearEntrant12345678910DCPoints
1997Team TMSSUZ
Ret		MIN
4		FUJ
15		SUZ
6		SUG
2		FUJ
13		MIN
Ret		MOT
5		FUJ
Ret		SUZ
11		8th12
1998Team NovaSUZ
12		MIN
Ret		FUJ
Ret		MOT
14		SUZ
Ret		SUG
2		FUJ
C		MIN
4		FUJ
3		SUZ
7		7th13
1999Team NovaSUZ
Ret		MOT
3		MIN
2		FUJ
9		SUZ
Ret		SUG
6		FUJ
10		MIN
9		MOT
8		SUZ
1		4th21
2000Team NovaSUZ
Ret		MOT
11		MIN
Ret		FUJ
6		SUZ
7		SUG
2		MOT
10		FUJ
13		MIN
5		SUZ
Ret		9th9
2001Nakajima RacingSUZ
5		MOT
Ret		MIN
2		FUJ
6		SUZ
Ret		SUG
Ret		FUJ
7		MIN
8		MOT
1		SUZ
1		4th29
2002Nakajima RacingSUZ
1		FUJ
2		MIN
Ret		SUZ
1		MOT
9		SUG
1		FUJ
2		MIN
2		MOT
1		SUZ
3		1st62

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

Complete Formula One results

YearEntrantChassisEngine12345678910111213141516WDCPts
2003Jordan FordJordan EJ13Ford V10AUS
Ret		MAL
10		BRA
Ret		SMR
Ret		ESP
8		AUT
11		MON
12		CAN
Ret		EUR
11		FRA
15		GBR
13		GER
Ret		HUN
DNS		ITAUSA
Ret		JPN
14		19th1

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516171819202122DCPoints
2005–06IrelandGBR
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		8th68
2007–08IrelandNED
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		6th94