Markus Niemelä

Markus Samuli Niemelä (born 20 March 1984 in Rauma) is a Finnish former race car driver. He was the 2008 series champion after winning the final round at Road Atlanta. His international racing career has been volatile due to a number of injuries he has sustained during his career.

Career

Karting In 1998, Niemelä won the Finnish junior karting championship with maximum points. In 2001, injury of left arm in a snowboarding accident before the start of season prevented participation in the Formula A European/World Championship. He won the one race where he participated, driving practically one-handed against top Finnish karters (ICA).

The following year, Niemelä was the Finnish champion in Formula A. He set the fastest laptime in at least one heat of every European Championship round. He also qualified in World Cup final but technical problems caused a retirement in pre-final and final. In 2003, because of an accident in a European championship race, Niemelä could not drive for three months. He returned for the World Championships to finish fifth.

Single-seaters

2004 Niemelä became the Finnish and Swedish Champion and the winner of STCC Formula Ford championship. He led Scandinavian Championship before the last round but finished second overall because he did not participate on the last round. Niemelä was nominated as a ”Young Champion” by Finnish ASN, and tested for Formula BMW and was fastest at several unofficial tests.

2005 Niemelä finished seventh in championship points with one victory and one pole position. Many crashes resulting to damaged car during the season (12 out of 20 races). He was also fifth in UK Formula Renault Winter Championship, third best qualifier of the championship (third, fourth, ninth and third in qualifyings). Niemelä drove Formula Renault first time ever in free practice of first race meeting.

2006 Niemelä had pne victory, one fastest lap and one pole position. He earned Multiple Driver Of The Day Awards - awarded by Renault Sport, and finished seventh in the final standings with best positions first, second, third, and twice fourth.

2007 In Formula Renault Eurocup, Niemelä did six starts with best result of second at Hungaroring, while in the Asian series, he did four starts with two wins and one second place. His third win of the four races was later penalized from jumping the start. He joined BCN Competicion in the GP2 Series to replace Sakon Yamamoto who moved to F1 during the season. During his first race, also at the Hungaroring, he was forced to retire when his left shoulder unexpectedly dislocated after 11 laps, which also prevented him from taking part in the second race of the meeting.

2008 In the 2008 season, Niemelä won the Atlantic Championship with Brooks Associates team, after winning the last two rounds of the season.

2009 Niemelä returned to the series to defend his Atlantic Championship title, this time driving for Newman Wachs Racing. He struggled through the first five races failing to score a podium finish. He switched teams to Jensen MotorSport for the remainder of the season, but failed to find any more success and finished sixth in points.

2010 Niemelä started racing Sprint Cars on dirt ovals. The best result of his depute season was second in a VRA race at Ventura Raceway.

2011 Niemelä raced in selected races in different Sprint Car Championships (USAC West Coast, USAC CRA, VRA, USAC Midget) with an average A Main finish of 4.5 over the season. He also scored his first Sprint Car win.

2014 In November 2014, Niemelä suffered a severe accident at Perris Auto Speedway in a sprint car, flipping end over end into the catch fence after an axle broke on his car. While he initially was believed to have suffered only a concussion, he later revealed he had suffered severe brain injuries in the accident, resulting in the end of his career.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Points Position 2004 Formula Ford Zetec Finland Team Söderman 2 1 2 2 119 1st Formula Ford Zetec Sweden ? ? ? ? 106 1st Formula Ford Zetec Nordic 10 3 0 ? 115 2nd 2005 Formula BMW ADAC Team Rosberg 20 1 1 0 85 7th Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series Manor Motorsport 3 0 0 0 61 6th 2006 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Mark Burdett Motorsport 20 1 1 1 274 7th 2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup BVM Minardi Team 6 0 0 0 20 16th Asian Formula Renault Challenge March 3 Racing 4 2 1 1 87 11th GP2 Series BCN Competición 7 0 0 0 0 31st 2008 Atlantic Championship Brooks Associates Racing 11 2 1 0 245 1st 2009 Atlantic Championship Newman Wachs Racing 12 0 0 1 98 6th 2010 AMSOil USAC National Sprint Car Series Kruseman Motorsport 3 0 0 0 0 - 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Bill McAnally Racing 1 0 0 0 29 69th

Complete Formula BMW ADAC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2005 Team Rosberg HOC11 HOC12 LAU1 LAU2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR11 NÜR12 BRN1 BRN2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR21 NÜR22 ZAN1 ZAN2 HOC21 HOC22 7th 85

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2006 Mark Burdett Motorsport BHI1 BHI2 OUL1 OUL2 THR1 THR2 KNO1 KNO2 CRO1 CRO2 DON1 DON2 SNE1 SNE2 DGP1 DGP2 BHI1 BHI2 SIL1 SIL2 7th 274

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Asian Formula Renault Challenge results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2007 BCN Competición BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEARet HUNSPRDNS ISTFEA ISTSPR MNZFEA9 MNZSPR11 SPAFEA11 SPASPRRet VALFEA14 VALSPRRet 31st 0

American open–wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship