Zsolt Baumgartner (born 1 January 1981) is a Hungarian former racing driver who raced for the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...

teams in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

. He remains the only Hungarian driver to have competed and to have scored a point in Formula One.

Career

Baumgartner made his Formula One race debut at the

2003 Hungarian Grand Prix The 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the Marlboro Magyar Nagydíj 2003) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 August 2003 at the Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pest County, Pest, Hungary. It was the thirteenth round of the 2003 Formula One season. ...

, substituting for the injured Ralph Firman in the

team; he also took part in the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921 ...

that year. Plans were made for Baumgartner to drive for Jordan again in 2004 with sponsorship from oil company MOL Rt. However, he failed to agree terms with Jordan and was signed by Minardi instead. This caused MOL Rt. to decrease its sponsorship amount, leading Baumgartner and his management to set up a "Zsolt Baumgartner Supporter's Club", a plan similar to that employed by Justin Wilson in 2003. Baumgartner raced throughout the Formula One season, and after two near-misses (ninth in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

and 10th in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

) he managed to take Minardi's first point in over two years by finishing eighth (classified second last and the last car to take the chequered flag) in the

United States Grand Prix The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...

held at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

Champ Car World Series

In March 2007 he was confirmed as the test and reserve driver for Minardi Team USA, former boss Paul Stoddart's recently acquired

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), ...

team. Baumgartner only participated in a handful of tests for the team and made no race starts. Prior to the 2008 season, Champ Car unified with the rival

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

and Stoddart and the Minardi name left the sport.

Superleague Formula

In 2008 Baumgartner became the test driver for team

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

Superleague Formula Superleague Formula was an Open wheel car, open wheel single seater Formula racing, motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It u ...

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete German Formula Three Championship results

( key)

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key)

Complete Formula One results

( key)

References

External links

Official websiteZsolt Baumgartner Blue Flags Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumgartner, Zsolt 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Debrecen Hungarian racing drivers Danube-Swabian people Hungarian Formula One drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Jordan Formula One drivers Minardi Formula One drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Nordic Racing drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers