Stephen Simpson (born 8 January 1984) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n- American professional racing driver currently competing in the IMSA

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

and previously in the

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 ...

Champ Car Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

and the Indy Pro Series, among others.

Biography

Simpson was born on 8 January 1984 in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and he moved to South Africa with his family when he was 10 months old. He studied at the

South African College High School The South African College Schools (colloquially often known as “SACS”) is a public English medium primary and high education institution situated in Newlands - part of the Southern Suburbs region of Cape Town in the Western Cape province o ...

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

to compete in the Slick 50

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...

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 Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned ...

. He ended the season with a stirring performance in atrocious conditions 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 ...

in the

Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are he ...

. For 2002 Simpson was signed by

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated i ...

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 Richard Dean (''né'' Cowen; May 15, 1956 – December 27, 2006) was an American athlete, model and photographer, who co-hosted ''Cover Shot'', a television makeover show on the American cable TV network TLC. Early life and education Dean was b ...

'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

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. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

he signed with Kenn Hardley Racing to compete in the Indy Pro Series.Kenn Hardley signs Simpson
, IndyCar.com, 19 February 2007 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 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regi ...

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 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Simpson raced in selected races in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and finished 3rd at the

Daytona 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

, 2nd at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

and had a Pole Position at

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously o ...

. 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 The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

in 2016, part of the

. The team moved up to the top prototype category for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and enjoyed a number of podium finishes. For

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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 Chris or Christopher Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Chris Miller (writer) (born 1942), American comedy author and screenwriter *Chris Miller (animator) (born 1968), American voice actor and director * Christopher Miller (filmmaker) ( ...

in an

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport ...

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.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

References

A1 GP South Africa site
– Driver biography page

External links

Stephen Simpson web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Stephen 1984 births Living people Indy Lights drivers South African racing drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers A1 Team South Africa drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Alumni of South African College Schools Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers JDC Motorsports drivers Bryan Herta Autosport drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Durango drivers DAMS drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers