Robert "Robbie" Kerr (born 26 September 1979 in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Aylesbur ...

, Buckinghamshire) is a British racing driver. In 2002, Kerr won the British Formula 3 championship.

Career

Early career

Castle Combe Circuit MMB 30C Robbie Kerr

In 2002 he became the British Formula Three Champion for

Alan Docking Racing Alan Docking Racing (ADR) is a motor racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom. The team was formed in 1975 by Australian Alan Docking. The team competed in the British Formula 3 series throughout most of its existence; however, it has ...

with 306 points ahead of Australian racing driver

James Courtney James Anthony Courtney (born 29 June 1980) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 5 Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. Courtney won the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series ...

. Following an abortive attempt at

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, Kerr did not race again until 2004 when he raced in the

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

V6 Eurocup. At the opening round at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

Kerr had earned pole position but mechanical problems forced him out. He eventually won a race at the last race of the season in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. He had not led the race until he took the lead on the last lap. Kerr has also raced in the

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. In one of the most impressive debuts the series has seen he raced at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

in a Zytek 04S P1 and was partnered by American

Chris Dyson Christopher Dyson (born February 24, 1978) is an American professional racing driver who competed in the American Le Mans Series for Dyson Racing from 2002 to 2013. He is currently competing in the Trans-Am Series in the TA class where he just c ...

. He took pole position from the

Audi R8 The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...

s of Allan McNish and

Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...

by more than 1.6 seconds. Kerr eventually finished 4th but set the fastest lap of the race.

A1 Grand Prix

In 2005 Kerr became the lead driver for A1 Team Great Britain, partner to Alex Lloyd. Robbie raced in the 2005–06 rounds except the season finale in China, and came close to winning on several occasions. At the feature race at the inaugural round at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

after a successful pitstop he was in the lead ahead of A1 Team Brazil until the battery failed in his car. At Dubai Autodrome he had the lead for most of the feature race until he was passed by A1 Team France's

Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) 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 overal ...

. Kerr performed well in the next round on the Durban street circuit, South Africa, where he finished second in the sprint race, and held the lead briefly in the early stages of the feature race, only for a pipe to get lodged underneath the car in his pit stop, he came in again on the next lap to get it removed but damage to the floor of the car led to Kerr's retirement. He then took A1 Team Great Britain's first ever

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most fo ...

pole position in the next round in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, but he lost out in the races, failing to turn those pole positions into a win, and in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

he struggled in qualifying, ended up down the order in unfamiliar territory, and just missing out on the points in the sprint race in 11th, but improving in the feature race to 6th position. At

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and M ...

Kerr raced his last two races for A1 Team Great Britain in the season. In a rain-sodden sprint race Kerr finished 4th behind

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

. In the feature race he finished 3rd behind Mexico and A1 Team Germany. Kerr did not race at Shanghai to prepare for the 2006 World Series by Renault, and his place was taken by

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsor (commercial), sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American American open-wheel car racing, open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United S ...

driver

Darren Manning Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshi ...

. The following season, Kerr returned to Team GBR for A1GP, though his World Series by Renault commitments (see below) prevented him from making the first round of the season at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterda ...

. He was again replaced by Manning. For this whole season, Kerr will be supported by Manning and young British Formula 3 star Oliver Jarvis.

Formula Renault 3.5

For the 2006 season, Kerr joined

Sean McIntosh Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...

in the KTR team racing in the

2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season The 2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series was the second Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. It began on April 29 at Zolder, Belgium and finished in Barcelona, Spain on October 29 after 17 races. Teams and drivers Calendar and race winners Eight rou ...

. Success was limited during the season with a best finish of 4th, then a fastest lap in the final round, resulting in a 17th finish in the overall standing.

Other drives

Since the solitary season of Formula Renault, Kerr has driven only sporadically and across different series. He had several sportscar outings in 2008 and 2009, a guest drive at the Silverstone round of the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2010 and a season of the Speed Euroseries in 2011. Kerr returned to sportscars in 2012 and 2013 picking up some drives in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a 2nd place in the LMP2 class at Interlagos.

Racing record

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Official website of Robbie Kerr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Robbie English racing drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault V6 Eurocup drivers A1 Team Great Britain drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Sportspeople from High Wycombe 1979 births Living people American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Porsche Supercup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers Arden International drivers Victory Engineering drivers KTR drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Highcroft Racing drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers