Doru Sechelariu (born 19 November 1992 in

Bacău Bacău ( ; , ; ; ) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. With a population of 136,087 (as of 2021 census), Bacău is the 14th largest city in Romania. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

) is a

racecar Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including n ...

driver. He is the son of Dumitru Sechelariu, who was the mayor of Bacău from 1996 to 2004.

Career

Karting

Sechelariu began his

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

back in 2002, winning in the Mini class of the FRAK Cup. In 2005, he finished 15th in the ICA Junior class of the Italian championship.

Formula Renault

Sechelariu moved into

single-seaters An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

in 2006, competing in Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium for Thierry Boutsen Racing. After two races at the end of the 2006 season, the Romanian driver moved up to the Belgian series for the 2007 season, with the same team. He finished in sixth place in the standings.

Formula BMW

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, he participated in six races of the Formula BMW UK championship with

Räikkönen Robertson Racing Double R Racing is a motor racing team, which last raced in the 2023 F4 British Championship. The team was formed in November 2004 as Räikkönen Robertson Racing by then McLaren Formula One driver and world champion with Ferrari, Kimi Räikk� ...

. He finished in 22nd place in the standings with 42 points. The following season, Sechelariu competed in the new

Formula BMW Europe Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young k ...

series for

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship, GB4 Championship, and F4 British Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, ...

. He finished fifteenth in the standings, taking nine points-scoring positions in sixteen races. Also he briefly participated in the Americas and Pacific series, taking two wins at the Singapore Street Circuit in the latter. For

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, the Romanian driver remained in the series, but switched to

FMS International Fisichella Motor Sport is a motorsport team, founded by Italian Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and his manager Enrico Zanarini. Racing history Euroseries 3000 Fisichella Motor Sport had a team, run by Scuderia Coloni, racing in the ...

. He again changed team to Motaworld Racing after Coloni took full control of the FMS International from Valencia onwards. At the final two rounds at

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

and

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, Sechelariu drove for Eifelland Racing. He finished fourteenth behind Swedish rookie

Timmy Hansen Kenneth Timmy Hansen (born 21 May 1992) is a Swedish rallycross driver. He won the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, driving for Team Peugeot-Hansen. His father is the 14-times European Rallycross Ch ...

in the championship.

GP3 Series

In 2010, Sechelariu became the first driver to join

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. Founded in 2000 by racing driver Simon Abadie and his sister Sarah, it has garnered success in the World Series by Renault, the Eurocup Mégane Trophy and the GP3 Series, most notably ...

for the

2010 GP3 Series season The 2010 GP3 Series season was the first season of the GP3 Series, a feeder series for the GP2 Series. The championship was contested over sixteen races held at eight rounds, beginning on 8 May at Circuit de Catalunya and ending on 12 September ...

. He finished 29th in the standings, with zero points and a best finish of ninth. Sechelariu was set to remain with Tech 1 Racing for the 2011 season, but a lack of funding forced him to leave the championship.

Personal life

Sechelariu's hobbies are

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and his favourite circuit is the

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a Race track, motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa, Belgium, Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One ...

. His favourite drivers are

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...

and

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo "Giano" Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fisichella won three Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Bo ...

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Sechelariu was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete GP3 Series results

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

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sechelariu, Doru 1992 births Living people Romanian racing drivers Belgian Formula Renault 1.6 drivers Formula BMW UK drivers Formula BMW Pacific drivers Formula BMW USA drivers Formula BMW Europe drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers GP3 Series drivers Sportspeople from Bacău Double R Racing drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers Team Meritus drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Eifelland Racing drivers EuroInternational drivers Motaworld Racing drivers De Villota Motorsport drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers Boutsen Ginion Racing drivers