Fabio Leimer
Leimer in 2013
Born	(1989-04-17)17 April 1989 (age 36) Rothrist, Switzerland
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Racing Engineering
Car number	8
Former teams	Ocean Racing Technology Rapax
Starts	63
Wins	5
Poles	2
Fastest laps	4
Best finish	1st in2013
Previous series
2009–10–2011 2008–09 2008 2007 2007 2006	GP2 Asia Series International Formula Master Formula Master Italia Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula BMWADAC
Championship titles
2013 2009	GP2 Series International Formula Master

Fabio Leimer (born 17 April 1989) is a former professionalracing driver fromSwitzerland. He is best known for winning the2013 GP2 Series.

Like many of today's racing drivers,Rothrist-born Leimer started his career inkarting back in 2003, when he won the Swiss Junior Championship. He finished runner-up in the same category the following season before finishing second in the Swiss ChampionshipICA in 2006.

In 2006, Leimer graduated tosingle-seater racing, competing in theFormula BMWADAC series inGermany. He started the year withTeam Rosberg, but finished the season with a different team, Matson Motorsport. During the year, he accumulated four points to be classified eighteenth in the standings. He also competed in the end-of-season Formula BMW World Final, held inValencia, where he finished in nineteenth place.

The following year, Leimer moved up toFormula Renault, racing in both theEurocup Formula Renault 2.0 andItalian Formula Renault 2.0 championships forJenzer Motorsport.

In the Eurocup series, he scored points in three races and took a singlefastest lap atDonington Park to end the year in seventeenth place.^[1]

In the Italian championship, Leimer scored points in eleven of the fourteen races and took two podium places (atSpa-Francorchamps and Valencia) to be classified eleventh in the standings.^[2]

In2008, Leimer progressed to theInternational Formula Master series, once again racing with Jenzer Motorsport. In a very successful debut season, he finished as runner-up to championChris van der Drift, taking three race wins atEstoril,Imola andMonza along with five other podium places. He also helped Jenzer Motorsport finish third in the teams' standings.^[3] In the accompanying Formula Master Italia series, Leimer finished in fourth place with one race win (atMugello) from two starts.

In October 2008, Leimer took part in a three-dayIndy Lights prize test withSam Schmidt Motorsports. The prize test was originally awarded to German driverMichael Ammermüller, but he declined it for personal reasons.^[4]

Leimer continued in the series for2009, partneringPål Varhaug, the reigning Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion.^[5] During the first six rounds of the season, he took race wins inPau, Valencia,Brno,Brands Hatch andSpa-Francorchamps, the latter event supporting the2009 Belgian Grand Prix.^[6] Leimer then sealed the title with his sixth win of the season, at the seventh round inOschersleben.^[7]

As a result of finishing championship runner-up in the 2008 Formula Master season, in November of that year, Leimer took part in a prizeGP2 test withItalian teamTrident Racing at thePaul Ricard circuit inFrance,^[8] and a year later he tested with theDAMS team at the same venue as a prize for winning the Formula Master title.^[9]

In October 2009, Leimer tested withTiago Monteiro'sOcean Racing Technology team atJerez and later that month he was confirmed as a driver for the team in the2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, racing alongside fellow Formula Master graduateAlexander Rossi,^[10] and formerBritish Formula 3 driverMax Chilton. Leimer continued with the team into the2010 GP2 Series, and was partnered by Chilton.^[11] At the first round of the season inBarcelona, Leimer finished eighth in the feature race, a result which gave himpole position for the reverse grid sprint event which he won from theRapax Team entry ofLuiz Razia.^[12] However, he did not score any further points, limiting himself to nineteenth place in the drivers' championship.

For 2011, Leimer moved to the Rapax team alongsideJulián Leal. He finished fifth overall in theAsia series, and then proceeded to take his second category win in themain series. As was the case the previous year, the victory came in the sprint race at theCatalunya circuit, and he again set the fastest lap in the process, although on this occasion he owed his reverse-grid pole position toRomain Grosjean's disqualification from the feature race. Another haul of points atMonza saw him improve to 14th position in the championship standings. He also won the feature race of thenon-championship event held at theYas Marina Circuit. Leimer switched to theRacing Engineering team for2012, where he partneredNathanaël Berthon. Despite failing to win a race during the season, his improved consistency, consisting of six podium finishes, saw him improve to seventh place in the drivers' championship. Leimer took the GP2 driver's championship title in2013, with seven podium finishes and three wins.

In 2014, Leimer joined the Swiss teamRebellion Racing for theFIA World Endurance Championship after testing for the team at the pre-season "Prologue".^[13] This was Leimer's first experience driving sports cars.

Leimer planned to race at the JapaneseSuper Formula in2015, driving aTeam Mugen'sHonda-powered car.^[14] However, on 7 March 2015, it was announced that Leimer's contract with Mugen had been prematurely terminated due to financial issues.^[15]

On 3 June 2015 theManor Marussia F1 Team announced that they have signed Leimer as the official team reserve for2015 and will participate in FP1 sessions at Grand Prix throughout the season. He participated in only one FP1 session, at theHungarian Grand Prix.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 June 2015Virgin Racing announced Leimer to be their driver to replaceJaime Alguersuari for the final two rounds, 10 and 11, at London after Alguersuari was suspended from racing due to minor health issues.^[16] Race 10 saw him qualify 19th and finish the race in 14th position.^[17] The final round saw him qualify 17th, but he crashed out of the race.^[18] Leimer finished the season without scoring a point and finished 32nd out of 35 in the championship.^[19]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Rebellion Racing	Dominik Kraihamer Andrea Belicchi	Rebellion R-One-Toyota	LMP1-L	73	DNF	DNF
Sources:[21][25]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	Car	Circuit	Pos.	Ref
2016	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo	Daytona International Speedway	20th	[28]
2017	Trofeo Pirelli Pro	Octane126	Ferrari 488 Challenge	Mugello Circuit	1st	[29]

• Official website
• Fabio Leimer career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1989 births
• Living people
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• People from Zofingen District
• Swiss racing drivers
• International Formula Master drivers
• Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
• Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
• Formula BMW ADAC drivers
• GP2 Asia Series drivers
• GP2 Series drivers
• GP2 Series Champions
• FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
• Formula E drivers
• 24H Series drivers
• Swiss Formula One drivers
• Sportspeople from Aargau
• Team Rosberg drivers
• Jenzer Motorsport drivers
• Ocean Racing Technology drivers
• Rapax Team drivers
• Racing Engineering drivers
• Rebellion Racing drivers
• Envision Virgin Racing drivers
• Ferrari Challenge drivers

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017