Stephen Simpson

Stephen Simpson
Stephen Simpson
Nationality	South African
Born	8 January 1984 (age 40); Poole, Dorset, England
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship career
Current team	JDC-Miller MotorSports
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	85
Engine	Cadillac 5.5L V8
Co-driver	Chris Miller ; Juan Piedrahita ; Simon Trummer

Last updated February 20, 2024

Stephen Simpson (born 8 January 1984) is a South African-American ^[1] professional racing driver currently competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and previously in the A1 Grand Prix, Champ Car Atlantic Championship and the Indy Pro Series, among others.

Biography

Simpson was born on 8 January 1984 in Poole, Dorset, England and he moved to South Africa with his family when he was 10 months old. He studied at the South African College High School and graduated in 2002. He moved to the US in pursuit of his motor sport career in 2006 and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018.

Early career

Simpson began karting at the age of 8 and won several regional and national karting titles in South Africa.

In 2000 Simpson became the youngest ever driver to win the South African Formula Ford Championship, at the age of 16. In 2001 Simpson left his native South Africa to compete in the Slick 50 Formula Ford Zetec Championship in the UK. Despite poor funding the youngster was highly impressive beating factory teams on a number of occasions and culminating in being awarded the Motorsport News Race Ace award for his performance at Donington Park. He ended the season with a stirring performance in atrocious conditions at Brands Hatch in the Formula Ford Festival.

For 2002 Simpson was signed by Durango to compete in the European Formula Renault Championship and Italian Championship, however his season was dogged by bad luck and a serious lack of testing.

Just weeks before the 2003 season got underway, a potential sponsor pulled out, leaving Simpson with no alternatives and thus without a drive for the season. Simpson instead concentrated on his fitness and continued looking for the right drive.

For 2004 Simpson joined Richard Dean's Team JLR, with which he contested the prestigious British Formula Renault Championship. He finished second in the Winter Series with two wins and five podiums to his name.

2005–2008

Simpson was brought in to race in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport in winter 2005, helping A1 Team South Africa to a dismal 17th place in the series. His best result was a third place in the Feature Race in Dubai and he also achieved a fifth at his home event. Simpson also continued to drive for Team JLR in British Formula Renault.

For 2006 he was signed to drive for Gelles Racing in the Champ Car Atlantic Series but he left the series after three races, with a best finish of 5th. Towards the end of the year he had a test with Champ Car World Series team Mi-Jack Conquest Racing and reportedly impressed the team with his performance.^[2]

In 2007 he signed with Kenn Hardley Racing to compete in the Indy Pro Series.^[3] He struggled with the oval races on the series, but finished well on the road and street courses, recording a season best 3rd-place finish at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and finished 9th in the championship. Kenn Hardley Racing shut down at the end of the season and its assets were sold. He then enjoyed a number of very strong outings for the Creation/AIM LMP1 team in Europe and America before the 2008 recession resulted in the closure of the team and he was again left without a drive.

2014 to date

After a challenging few years without any race driving, Simpson was back in a full time race seat in 2014 driving for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. The highlight of the season was a 3rd-place finish at Road America. In 2015 Simpson raced in selected races in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and finished 3rd at the Daytona 24 Hours, 2nd at Detroit and had a Pole Position at Lime Rock Park. During 2015 Simpson was also a race driver for LAP Motorsport, the official team of MINI USA.

Simpson won the PC class of the Daytona 24 hours in 2016, part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The team moved up to the top prototype category for 2017 and enjoyed a number of podium finishes. For 2018 he continues to race for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the top Prototype class of the IMSA Weathertech Championship alongside teammates Misha Goikhberg and Chris Miller in an Oreca Gibson LMP2 car, winning the 2018 Sahlens 6 Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen. He also races with Michael Johnson for the same team in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in an Audi RS3 TCR car.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indy Pro Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2007	Kenn Hardley Racing	HMS 11	STP1 4	STP2 20	INDY 14	MIL 22	IMS1 5	IMS2 11	IOW 19	WGL1 12	WGL2 13	NSH 7	MDO 3	KTY 11	SNM1 4	SNM2 5	CHI 12	9th	312

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
2014	JDC-Miller MotorSports	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY	SEB 4	LGA 6	KAN 10	WGL 6	IMS 7	ELK 3	VIR	COA 7	PET 6		9th	210
2015	JDC-Miller MotorSports	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY 3	SEB	LGA	DET 2	WGL	MOS	LIM 6	ELK	COA	PET		16th	90
2016	JDC-Miller MotorSports	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY 1	SEB 4	LBH 1	LGA 5	DET 7	WGL 4	MOS 5	LIM 6	ELK 7	COA 6	PET 3	3rd	317
2017	JDC-Miller MotorSports	P	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	DAY 5	SEB 4	LBH 4	MDO 4	DET 6	WGL 2	MOS 2	ELK 8	LGA 4	PET 6		4th	277
2018	JDC-Miller MotorSports	P	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	DAY 7	SEB 7	LBH 8	MDO 7	DET 11	WGL 1	MOS 7	ELK 2	LGA 6	PET 10		4th	252
2019	JDC-Miller MotorSports	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5L V8	DAY 10	SEB 8	LBH 5	MDO 7	DET 4	WGL 9	MOS 8	ELK 9	LGA 9	PET 5		8th	237
2020	JDC-Miller MotorSports	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY	DAY	SEB 8	ELK	ATL 8	MOH	ATL	LGA 8	SEB 4			14th	97

Related Research Articles

Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships under Champ Car World Series sanction from 2004 to 2007. Later he competed at the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2021. He also entered 27 races in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008 and the start of 2009.

DAMS is an auto racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsport. DAMS was founded in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and former Formula One driver René Arnoux. In 2022 it was bought by ex-F1 driver Charles Pic. It is headquartered near Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti Circuit.

Ryan John Briscoe is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.

Alexandre Prémat is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, driving for DJR Team Penske.

Neel Jani is a Swiss professional racing driver.

Nicolas Lapierre is a French professional racing driver. He raced with Toyota and with Alpine Racing in the past seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with overall victories in 2011 and 2018, and scored four LMP2 class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. He now races with Alpine in the LMH class in the FIA World Endurance Championship driving the number 36 Alpine A480.

Robert Michael Doornbos is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for Minardi and Red Bull Racing in 2005 and 2006. Doornbos then drove for Minardi Team USA in the 2007 and final season of the Champ Car World Series. He competed in the Superleague Formula racing series in 2008, and drove for the Netherlands team in A1 Grand Prix's 2008–2009 season. In 2009, Doornbos competed in the IndyCar Series. He began the season with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, but switched to HVM Racing after the race in Kentucky Speedway.

Robert "Robbie" Kerr is a British racing driver. In 2002, Kerr won the British Formula 3 championship.

Rodin Motorsport is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in six championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, GB3 Championship, F1 Academy, F4 British Championship and Spanish F4 Championship.

Ryan Dalziel, is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona.

The 2006 GP2 Series season was the second season of the Formula One feeder championship GP2 Series. The season began at Circuit de Valencia, Spain on 8 April 2006 and ended in Monza, Italy on 10 September 2006. The championship was won by ART Grand Prix driver Lewis Hamilton, over Piquet Sports driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

Jiang Tengyi is a Chinese racing driver who drives for A1 Team China.

Danny Watts is a retired British professional racing driver.

The 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series season was the third championship year of Europe's premier Formula Three series. The championship consisted of ten rounds – each with two races – held at a variety of European circuits. Each weekend consisted of one 60-minute practice session and two 30-minute qualifying sessions, followed by one c.110 km race and one c.80 km race. Each qualifying session awarded one bonus point for pole position and each race awarded points for the top eight finishers, with ten points per win. Lewis Hamilton dominated the season, winning 15 of the 20 races and scoring nearly twice as many points as his nearest rival, team-mate Adrian Sutil. As of now, six drivers have competed in Formula One.

James Winslow is a British professional car racing driver who races at Le Mans 24 Hours. A ten-time Motorsport champion member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, he competes in Europe, Australia & Asia in Le Mans LMP & GT cars. He represented Great Britain in A1 Grand Prix the World Cup of Motorsport. Awarded the Royal Humane Award in 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II, for saving the life of a fellow driver trapped in his burning race car, he gained international attention and many bravery awards followed before featuring in the BBC's 'Accidental Heroes' TV Series. He currently holds the record for the most Formula 3 open-wheeler wins after a tally of 86 victories, and ranked in the Top 10 'Most Victories of all time' listings for British drivers.

Daniel Morad is a Canadian racecar driver. He is notable for winning the 2007 American Formula BMW championship; the 2010 World Championship in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in La Conca, Italy; the 2016 Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Platinum Cup; and the 2017 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona with Alegra Motorsports.

Fabio Onidi is a professional racing driver from Italy.

Tristan Vautier is a French professional racing driver who is currently competing in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship for the Vanwall Racing Team.

Raoul Owens is a London-based, British racing driver. He will compete in the VLN Endurance Championship based at the Nürburgring with Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW.

Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg, is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

References

↑ Pruett, Marshall (6 May 2018). "Simpson, Briscoe become U.S. citizens". RACER. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
↑ Freeman, Glenn. Conquest see potential in Simpson, Autosport.com, 15 December 2006
↑ Kenn Hardley signs Simpson Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , IndyCar.com, 19 February 2007

A1 GP South Africa site – Driver biography page

External links

Stephen Simpson web site

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Pruett, Marshall (6 May 2018). "Simpson, Briscoe become U.S. citizens". RACER. Retrieved 8 May 2018.

[2] Freeman, Glenn. Conquest see potential in Simpson, Autosport.com, 15 December 2006

[3] Kenn Hardley signs Simpson Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , IndyCar.com, 19 February 2007

[1]

[2]

[3]