Thomas Schie (born 1 December 1975, in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

) is a former racing and rally driver. He previously competed in the

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 to ...

Swedish Touring Car Championship Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) was a touring car racing series based in Sweden, but also with rounds in Norway. They began operating in 1996, heavily influenced by the British Touring Car Championship and the success of BTCC racing on ...

and

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

Career

Racing

Schie started his autoracing career in the Swedish

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 have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

Junior championship. Schie, as the only foreigner in the championship, finished third. Moving up the ladder Schie moved into the Scandinavian Formula Opel Lotus championship. After finished seventh in the season he joined Team Norway at the Formula Opel Lotus Nations Cup. At

Circuit Park Zandvoort Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coas ...

Schie finished eighth with this teammate

Tommy Rustad Tommy Rustad (born 3 September 1968) is a Norwegian racing driver. He currently drives in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and occasionally in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Tommy is the son of former well known Norwegian racer O ...

. For the 1995 season the Norwegian driver moved to the United States of America to race in the

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was an American open-wheel auto racing series promoted by the Skip Barber Racing School from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were prima ...

. After a tough start of the season, in which he had a number of retirements, Schie finished strong. Due to two third-place finishes at the end of the season the Norwegian finished his inaugural season in the Barber Dodge Pro Series seventh in the standings. The following season was more successful. Schie won both races at

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

. The driver from Oslo finished second in the standings second to fellow Scandinavian

Fredrik Larsson Fredrik Larsson may refer to: * Fredrik Larsson (racing driver) (born 1976), Swedish racing driver * Fredrik Larsson (golfer) (born 1968), Swedish golfer * Fredrik Larsson (born 1974), bassist for Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall HammerF ...

. Following his success he returned to Europe to race in the

for Bob Salisbury Engineering. The team was in their second year of F3000, Schie was joined by

Oliver Gavin Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972) is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, six 12 Hours of Sebring class wi ...

as his teammate. Gavin was replaced by

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

as of round four. All three drivers struggled to qualify for the races. Schie qualified for five out of ten rounds. The first race Schie participated in was the 1997

Pau Grand Prix The Pau Grand Prix () is a motor race held in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France. The French Grand Prix was held at Pau in 1930, leading to the annual Pau Grand Prix being inaugurated in 1933. It was not r ...

. Eleven drivers failed to qualify. The Norwegian finished fourteenth out of 22 drivers. His best result came at Spa where he finished tenth. After failing to gain enough sponsorship for another F3000 season Schie returned to the Barber Dodge Pro Series. Since he left the series the original car was replaced by the state-of-the-art

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

98E. Schie returned to the series where he left of, as a frontrunner. Schie finished third in the first round at

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the Southeastern United States, southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S ...

, behind Todd Snyder and Victor Gonzalez, Jr. The Norwegian won the races 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, Connecticut, Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's thi ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. He eventually finished third in the final standings. The Norwegian driver focused on his touring car career following his strong Barber Dodge Pro Series season. Schie raced an Alfa Romeo 156 TS in the very competitive

. Despite missing a number of races Schie finished eighth in the championship, the first placed Alfa Romeo. His best result was a second place at

Mantorp Park Mantorp Park is a motor racing circuit near the town of Mantorp in Mjölby Municipality, Sweden. The circuit was built in 1969 with finance from BP Sweden as a permanent road course and a drag strip. Mantorp Park is capable of four different ...

. Schie returned to the STCC in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

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 ...

. He joined Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden achieving a second place in the 2008 Göteborg City Race. In 2009 Schie left the series after the first Göteborg race. Schie claimed that the team did not live up to his professional expectations. Team boss Nicklas Karlsson claims however that Schie did not fulfill his financial obligations.

Rally

Following the 1999 STCC season Schie focused on his rally ambitions. After racing in national rallies and in the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champion ...

the Norwegian made his

debut in 2002. He entered a

Toyota Corolla WRC The Toyota Corolla WRC is a World Rally Car built for the by Toyota Motorsport GmbH to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the E110 version of Toyota Corolla road car. The car was debuted at the 1997 Rally Finland, and re ...

in the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden (), formerly the KAK-Rally, the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, as a ...

. After running in the top fifty Schie had to retire from the rally following a broken transmission after special stage nine. Schie won his first international rally in 2003. Schie won the Uno-X Saaremaa Rally near Kuressaare, Estonia. Schie beat Mats Jonsson among other international rally drivers. Thomas Schie won the Norwegian Rally Championship in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He won nine rallies to collect his three titles. Schie made his last WRC outing at the 2007 Rally Catalunya. He scored his best result in a WRC rally finishing twelfth.

Current life

Currently Schie is a manager at a workwear retailer and is a Formula One analyst for

Viasat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) ** Viasat hack, a cyberattack on the Viasat KA-SAT network that happened in February 2022 *Viasat (Nordic television service) Viasat is a direct broadcast satellite, satellite and pa ...

. He is also still based in Oslo.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

American open–wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Partial Barber Dodge Pro Series results

Complete Swedish Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete WRC results

Czech Rally Championship results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schie, Thomas 1975 births Sportspeople from Oslo Norwegian rally drivers Norwegian racing drivers World Rally Championship drivers European Rally Championship drivers Swedish Touring Car Championship drivers Barber Pro Series drivers Formula Ford drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Motorsport announcers Living people EFDA Nations Cup drivers