Paul di Resta
| Paul di Resta | |
|---|---|
 di Resta at 2008 German Grand Prix, as a guest of Mercedes-Benz | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Related to | Dario Franchitti (cousin) Marino Franchitti (cousin) |
| DTM career | |
| Debut season | 2007 |
| Current team | AMG Mercedes |
| Car number | 7 |
| Former teams | Persson Motorsport |
| Starts | 42 |
| Wins | 6 |
| Poles | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 6 |
| Best finish | 1st in 2010 |
| Previous series | |
| 2005–06 2003–04 | Formula Three Euroseries Formula Renault UK |
| Championship titles | |
| 2010 2006 2006 | DTM Formula Three Euroseries Formula Three Masters |
| Awards | |
| 2004 | McLaren Autosport Award |
Paul di Resta (born April 16, 1986 in Uphall, West Lothian) is a British racing driver. He is the current DTM champion, and the test driver for the Force India F1 Team.
Career
Karting
He started his career in karting, racing in various competitive series of karts from 1994 until 2001.
Formula Renault
He stepped up to the British Formula Renault Winter Series in 2002, joining British Formula Renault full-time in 2003. He stayed there in 2004, also driving some races of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 due to his impressive performances.
Formula Three
Paul moved up to race for the Manor Motorsport team in the Formula Three Euroseries in 2005, winning the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of The Year Award (won by his cousin Dario Franchitti in 1992) that year, and the championship in the next year beating team mate and current Formula One World Drivers Champion, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel. Di Resta also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Circuit Park Zandvoort.
DTM
In 2007, di Resta raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), for Mercedes. In the Championship he finished 5th overall behind drivers: Mattias Ekstrom (who won his second DTM title), Bruno Spengler, Martin Tomczyk and Jamie Green. He was the highest driver in the standings to drive a non-2007 car. His performances earned him a 2008 Mercedes C Klasse for the 2008 season, as a reward for his exceptional debut season in the DTM championship. Di Resta raced a strong championship, winning two races and finishing second in points, just four points behind eventual champion Timo Scheider of Audi. In 2009, he finished third overall, behind Scheider and compatriot Gary Paffett. In 2010, he won three races in a row on the way to winning the championship.
Formula One
Di Resta has tested for the McLaren Formula One team, and was in the frame for a drive with the Force India team for the 2009 season due to the teams' shared engine supplier, Mercedes-Benz. However, Force India chose to retain Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, with Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver.[1]
In December 2009, with Fisichella having moved to Ferrari and Liuzzi being promoted to the race team, di Resta took part in a test with the team at the Jerez circuit in December 2009, alongside J. R. Hildebrand.[2] At the Autosport International show in January 2010, he was said to have been close to securing a deal to become the team's test and reserve driver for the 2010 season, and aims to race for the team in 2011.[3] The deal was duly announced on February 2.[4] Di Resta made his Formula One race meeting début at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix, where he took part in the first free practice session in place of Sutil.[5] Following completion of the session, Di Resta was placed 11th.[6] He then drove in the first practice sessions of all the following races up to the Monaco Grand Prix, where he did not take part. He resumed driving for the team at the European Grand Prix and the following British Grand Prix. After sitting out the German Grand Prix he returned for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Di Resta subsequently sat out the Belgian Grand Prix as Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil needed as much track-time as possible to get the feeling of the new parts. He participated in practice for the Italian Grand Prix, but did not participate in the Singapore or Japanese Grands Prix. The team elected that di Resta should miss the Korean Grand Prix because Liuzzi and Sutil will need to get used to the new track for the race.[7]
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Formula Renault UK | Eurotek Motorsport | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 233 | 7th |
| Team JVA | |||||||||
| 2004 | Formula Renault UK | Manor Motorsport | 20 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 415 | 3rd |
| Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC† | ||
| Bahrain Superprix | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC | ||
| 2005 | Formula Three Euroseries | Manor Motorsport | 19 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 10th |
| Masters of Formula 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 4th | ||
| 2006 | Formula Three Euroseries | ASM Formule 3 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 86 | 1st |
| Masters of Formula 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1st | ||
| Macau Grand Prix | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC | ||
| 2007 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | Persson Motorsport | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 32 | 5th |
| 2008 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | HWA Team | 11 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 71 | 2nd |
| 2009 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | HWA Team | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 3rd |
| 2010 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | HWA Team | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 71 | 1st |
* - Season in progress
† – As di Resta was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
Complete Formula Three Euroseries record
(key)
| Yr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Manor Motorsport | HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 17 |
PAU 1 14 |
PAU 2 DNS |
SPA 1 DSQ |
SPA 2 5 |
MCO 1 8 |
MCO 2 6 |
OSC 1 4 |
OSC 2 4 |
NOR 1 3 |
NOR 2 8 |
NÜR 1 23 |
NÜR 2 Ret |
ZAN 1 14 |
ZAN 2 5 |
LAU 1 Ret |
LAU 2 DSQ |
HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 DSQ |
10th | 32 |
| 2006 | ASM Formule 3 | HOC 1 3 |
HOC 2 Ret |
LAU 1 2 |
LAU 2 3 |
OSC 1 1 |
OSC 2 14 |
BRH 1 1 |
BRH 2 5 |
NOR 1 1 |
NOR 2 18 |
NÜR 1 2 |
NÜR 2 13 |
ZAN 1 1 |
ZAN 2 14 |
CAT 1 10 |
CAT 2 6 |
BUG 1 1 |
BUG 2 6 |
HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 6 |
1st | 86 |
Complete DTM results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Persson Motorsport | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005 | HOC1 5 |
OSC 2 |
LAU 2 |
BRH Ret |
NOR 15 |
MUG 3 |
ZAN 14 |
NÜR 6 |
CAT 3 |
HOC2 8 |
5th | 32 | |
| 2008 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008 | HOC1 13 |
OSC 4 |
MUG 2 |
LAU 1 |
NOR 5 |
ZAN 7 |
NÜR 2 |
BRH 2 |
CAT 1 |
BUG 2 |
HOC2 2 |
2nd | 71 |
| 2009 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009 | HOC1 5 |
LAU 4 |
NOR 7 |
ZAN 6 |
OSC 4 |
NÜR Ret |
BRH 1 |
CAT 7 |
DIJ 2 |
HOC2 3 |
3rd | 45 | |
| 2010 | HWA Team | AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009 | HOC1 4 |
VAL 5 |
LAU 2 |
NOR 10 |
NÜR 2 |
ZAN 2 |
BRH 1 |
OSC 1 |
HOC2 1 |
ADR 9 |
SHA 2 |
1st | 71 |
Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Force India F1 Team | Force India VJM03 | Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 | BHR |
AUS TD |
MAL TD |
CHN TD |
ESP TD |
MON |
TUR |
CAN |
EUR TD |
GBR TD |
GER |
HUN TD |
BEL |
ITA TD |
SIN |
JPN |
KOR |
BRA |
ABU |
– | – |
Personal life
Di Resta is the cousin of fellow racing drivers Dario Franchitti and Marino Franchitti.[8] In February 2010, di Resta was made a director of his family's leisure firm, which owns several establishments in West Lothian, including The Twig nightclub in Bathgate.[8]
References
- ^ English, Steven (2008-12-14). "Force India keep Fisichella and Sutil". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ Strang, Simon (2009-11-24). "Force India to test di Resta, Hildebrand". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan (2010-01-16). "Di Resta close to Force India role". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ Elizalde, Pablo (2010-02-02). "Force India signs di Resta as reserve". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan (2010-03-24). "Di Resta ready for Formula 1 chance". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ "Australian Grand Prix - Practice Results". BBC Sport. BBC. 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ Elizalde, Pablo (2010-10-18). "Di Resta will not drive in Korea either". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
- ^ a b McPherson, Lynn (2010-02-07). "Racing driver takes over family's property empire". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
External links
- Paul di Resta career statistics at Driver Database
- Official website
