American driver Alexander Rossi goes into 2015 signed up for his third season of competition in the GP2 Series, this time with Racing Engineering.
As most racing drivers do, Rossi began his career in karting, winning the 2004 IKF Grand National Championship in the 100cc Yamaha class. In 2005, he reached the semi-finals of the Formula One American Driver Search run by Red Bull, a search that attracted over 2,000 candidates.
The following year, Rossi was presented with the Skip Barber National Scholarship, which allowed him to compete in the Skip Barber National Championship. He ended the year third in the championship and the new record of youngest race winner in the series at the age of 14.
This success allowed Rossi to move to the Formula BMW USA Series for 2007, where again he finished third in the standings with three wins and five podiums to his name. He stayed on in the series for 2008, this time easily taking the title with ten wins out of a possible 15. After also winning the 2008 Formula BMW World Final, Rossi was rewarded with a test from the BMW Sauber Formula 1 team.
In order to further his career, Rossi moved to Europe in 2009, and entered International Formula Master. Three wins and a further two podiums were enough to give the American fourth in the standings, and prompted a move to GP3 for 2010. That winter, Rossi also competed in the now-defunct GP2 Asia Series, but only scored a handful of points en route to ninth in the championship.
As well as the GP3 Series, 2010 also saw Rossi making his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, replacing Esteban Guerrieri for the Monaco round. Meanwhile in GP3, two wins and a total of seven podiums were enough for fourth in the championship, and the next season Rossi made his full time debut in Formula Renault 3.5.
In a near carbon copy of 2010, Rossi also took two wins and seven podiums in 2011, but better results elsewhere resulted in the American finishing third in the final standings. Consequently, this attracted the interest of the Caterham Formula 1 team, who signed him up as their test driver the following season.
2012 wouldn’t bear as much fruit for Rossi, as he toiled during his second season of Formula Renault 3.5 to finish 11th in the championship, with only a solitary podium to his name. 2013 saw him enter into GP2 for the first time, competing for Caterham’s GP2 team. A win and a handful of podiums provided a solid start to his GP2 career, and Rossi went into 2014 with his eyes set on the title.
However, a title challenge never materialised, as a combination of bad luck, a team change, and a near-F1 debut with Marussia meant he endured an interruption-filled campaign.
Despite these setbacks, Rossi joins Racing Engineering for 2015, determined to show he has what it takes to compete at the top levels of motorsport, and will be looking to add to his single GP2 victory.
“Racing Engineering is a multiple Championship winning GP2 team, and their passion and commitment to excellence reflects throughout the organization, where winning and performance is the sole focus.
“My ultimate goal has never wavered, and still remains F1. The GP2 Series with Racing Engineering is the perfect alignment for these career objectives. The team and I have a strong mutual belief in each other and believe we have the assets and the combination to win the Championship this year. We are prepared and I look forward to the Abu Dhabi test, commencing March 9th.”
Images courtesy of GP2 Media
