Tomas Scheckter
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Tomas Scheckter (born September 21, 1980) is a South African racing driver, born in Monte Carlo, currently competing in the Indy Racing League and the A1 Grand Prix series. He is the son of 1979 Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter.
Tomas contested several F3000 races in 2000, finishing second at Hockenheim behind future IRL team-mate Tomas Enge. After being fired from his testing role with the Jaguar Racing Formula 1 team in 2001 for off-track misdemeanours, he raced in the Open Telefonica by Nissan, finishing as championship runner-up.
Tomas was signed to drive for Eddie Cheever's Red Bull Cheever Racing for the 2002 IRL season. He was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year after leading 85 laps of the race and won his first career race in his rookie season at Michigan International Speedway. In 2003 he moved to Target Ganassi Racing with mixed results, often being criticized for his inconsistency and frequency of crashing, finishing well behind title-winning team-mate Scott Dixon.
In 2004 he moved to Panther Racing to replace double champion Sam Hornish, Jr.. In 2004 and 2005 Scheckter and Panther were the dominant Chevrolet powered team, greatly outpacing other teams powered by what many considered the weakest engine in the series. Scheckter broke through a horrendous string of bad luck, defeating Sam Hornish Jr. to win the Bombardier Learjet 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in June 2005 for his second career IRL victory.
In mid-2005, Scheckter was announced as one of the drivers for Team South Africa in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series. He raced in the rounds at EuroSpeedway Lausitz and Estoril.
In 2006, Scheckter drove for Tony George and Patrick Dempsey's Vision Racing alongside teammate Ed Carpenter and finished 10th in points.
IndyCar career results
| Year | Team | Wins | Points | Championship Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Cheever Racing | 1 | 210 | 14th |
| 2003 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 0 | 356 | 7th |
| 2004 | Panther Racing | 0 | 230 | 19th |
| 2005 | Panther Racing | 1 | 390 | 9th |
| 2006 | Vision Racing | 0 | 298 | 10th |
2 wins, 0 championships
Indy 500 results
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Dallara | Infiniti | 10th | 26th |
| 2003 | G-Force | Toyota | 12th | 4th |
| 2004 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 10th | 18th |
| 2005 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 11th | 20th |
| 2006 | Dallara | Honda | 11th | 27th |