Marko Asmer (born 30 July 1984) is an Estonian racing driver, who won the British Formula 3 Championship title in 2007. Asmer is also the first Estonian to test a Formula One car, having tested for the Williams BMW team in 2003, after just half a season of car racing in British Formula Ford.[1][2] Asmer's father is a former racing driver Toivo Asmer, who was Estonian Minister of Regional Affairs between 1999 and 2003.[3]
| Marko Asmer | |
|---|---|
 Asmer demonstrating a BMW Sauber F1.06 at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed. | |
| Nationality | Estonian |
| Born | 30 July 1984 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Championship titles | |
| 2007 | British F3 Champion |
Racing career
editAsmer was born in Tallinn. His father is motorsports promoter, musician and politician Toivo Asmer. He began karting in 1995, aged eleven, and had won the Estonian, Baltic, Finnish and Scandinavian kart championships by 2001.[4] Asmer went on to make his car racing debut in 2003 and raced in British Formula Ford for team JLR. He scored six wins that season and finished in second place in the Formula Ford festival.[1] Apart from a brief participation in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup in 2003, Asmer's career was henceforth focused on Formula Three in Britain and Japan. He made his British series début in 2004 with Hitech Racing and, apart from a move to Japan in 2006, he has remained with the team in the years since. He became a championship title contender on his return to the British series in 2007, led the points standings for most of the season, and secured the title at Croft with three races remaining.[5] His participations in All-Japan F3 have been confined to one and a half seasons with Three Bond Racing in 2006 and 2007, the latter of which was limited by competing in Britain.[6] In 2008 Asmer was BMW Sauber's second test driver alongside Christian Klien[6][7] and competed in seven of ten rounds in the GP2 Series for FMS International.[8]
Retirement
editFollowing the conclusion of the 2008 GP2 season Asmer parted ways with Fisichella Motor Sport and was unable to find a new team in GP2 for the 2009 season. Due to new rules restricting the amount of testing Formula 1 teams could carry out in-season he also lost his role as test and reserve driver for the BMW Formula 1 Team.[9] With no competitive race seat for the 2009 season Asmer became a test and reserve driver in Superleague Formula series.[10]
On 8 April 2010 Toivo Asmer, the father of Marko Asmer, announced that Marko had ended his career in motorsport he had no race seat or test/reserve driver role for the 2010 season, and lack of funding meant that his son's career was finished.[11] Despite this Asmer made a quick return to the cockpit the following week when he tested for the Atech team in a GP3 Series test session in Barcelona.[12]
Return to competitive racing
editIn February 2011 Asmer returned to motorsport when he tested a British Formula 3 car for the Double R Racing team at Silverstone, during which he set competitive times.[13] Staying with Double R Asmer finally returned to competitive racing when he competed in the Pau Grand Prix on 21–22 May 2011. Asmer qualified 10th[14] and after a bad start found himself in last place,[15] but showed good race pace and overtaking nous to finish 7th.[16]
Following his return to racing Asmer was interviewed by Autosport.com and revealed that he had spent his time out of professional motorsport "testing some cars, doing karting and ... doing some driver coaching".[17] He went on to say that he had no firm plans for the future, although he did want to take part in the Macau Grand Prix.[17] Asmer also said that he would welcome a return to racing "if something good comes up", although a full-time return to British F3 would not interest him.[17]
Despite these claims it was announced on 28 July 2011 that Asmer would return to British Formula 3, again racing a Dallara-Mercedes for the Double R team at the Spa-Francorchamps round.[18] Asmer qualified 18th (of 28 cars) for Race One at Spa, but then scored Double R's best qualifying result of the season, lining up second on the grid for the Feature Race. Asmer failed to finish in Race One[19] or Two,[20] but drove solidly to finish sixth in the Feature Race.[21] However, his status as an invitational driver meant that he was not eligible to score championship points for this weekend.[22] During this weekend it was also announced that Asmer had sponsorship in place to take part in the 2011 Macau Grand Prix,[23] where he would drive a Dallara-Mercedes for a three-man Double R Racing team, alongside GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas and current GP3 Series racer Mitch Evans.[24]
In an interview with Autosport carried out over the Macau Grand Prix weekend Asmer reiterated his desire to get back into racing full-time, and said his future may lie in DTM.[25]
Return to regular racing
editIn recent years Asmer has returned to actively racing in competitive international motorsport. He raced as part of a four-man team alongside Formula 2 race winner Kazim Vasiliauskas, driving a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 in the 2014 24 Hours of Spa with the GT Russian Team. He also competed in several rounds of the ADAC GT Masters.[26] Asmer continued to race for GT Russian Team, taking part in the 2015 Blancpain GT Series (the successor to FIA GT1 World Championship), with his best result being a 7th-place finish in the main race in the final round in Zandvoort. He also raced in the top A6 category of the Dubai 24 Hour, again for the GT Russia Team.[27]
Motorsport management
editSince summer 2020 Marko Asmer is the manager of Estonian racing driver Jüri Vips.[28]
Racing record
edit 
Career summary
editComplete GP2 Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Fisichella Motor Sport International | CAT FEA |
CAT SPR |
IST FEA |
IST SPR |
MON FEA |
MON SPR |
MAG FEA 17 |
MAG SPR 11 |
SIL FEA 20 |
SIL SPR 13 |
HOC FEA 14 |
HOC SPR 13 |
HUN FEA 18 |
HUN SPR Ret |
VAL FEA DNS |
VAL SPR Ret |
SPA FEA 16 |
SPA SPR Ret |
MNZ FEA Ret |
MNZ SPR Ret |
28th | 0 |
References
edit- ^ a b Car No.7: Marko Asmer Archived 16 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine From hitechracing.net. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
- ^ Teenager lands Williams job From news.bbc.co.uk, 3 September 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
- ^ Ott, Urmas. Asmerid. Topeltpeeglis ISBN 978-9985-854-76-1.
- ^ Marko Asmer – F1Fanatic. F1Fanatic.co.uk, 4 December 2007.
- ^ Asher, Richard. "Asmer takes title" From autosport.com, 9 September 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
- ^ a b Race driver database From speedsport.com. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan. "BMW plan shoot-out for test role" From autosport.com, 17 November 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Asmer joins GP2 series From gp2.gpupdate.net. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Ovidiu Panzariu. Testing Ban Leaves Asmer and Di Grassi Without Jobs Autoevolution.com, 23 January 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Stars of Tomorrow – Where Are They Now? Archived 24 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Update F1, 1 January 2010.
- ^ Asmer Career is over says Father. GP Update, 8 April 2010.
- ^ Asmer – Time is Running Out. GP Update, 15 April 2010.
- ^ Asmer Tests for Double R at Silverstone. GP Update, 25 February 2011
- ^ Wittmann takes Pole Position at Pau. The Checkered Flag, 21 May 2011
- ^ Wittmann Dominates Pau Grand Prix. Autosport.com, 22 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Wittmann Scores Dominant Pau Grand Prix Win. The Checkered Flag, 22 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ a b c Q & A: Asmer on his F3 Return Autosport.com, 21 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Former Champ Asmer Returns to British F3 for Spa Archived 24 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. MotorsTV.com, 28 July 2011.
- ^ Race 1 Results – British F3 Spa. GpUpdate.net, 30 July 2011
- ^ Race 2 Results – British F3 Spa. GpUpdate.net, 30 July 2011.
- ^ Merhi & Buller Star in Spa Curtain Closer[usurped]. Formula3.co, 30 July 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Ben Anderson. Roberto Merhi Takes Double Pole Position for British F3 Races at Spa. Autosport.com, 29 July 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Marko Asmer to return to British Formula 3 Championship at Spa with Double R. Autosport.com, 28 July 2011
- ^ Mark Foley. Entry List Reveals Merhi, Nasr, Bottas, Stanway to Contest 2011 Macau GP The Checkered Flag, 6 October 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Marko Asmer hopes to revive career in Macau GP". www.Autosport.com. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Ex-F1 test driver Marko Asmer to race McLaren in Spa 24 Hours". www.Autosport.com. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Result of 24H – Race". 24hseries.com. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Vips adds Formula Regional Europe to 2020 programme". motorsport.com. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
External links
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