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Michael Herck

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Michael Herck
Michael Herck at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round
NationalityRomania Romanian
Belgium Belgian
via dual nationality
Born (1988-08-04) 4 August 1988 (age 36)
Bucharest (Romania)
Previous series
20082011
20082011
2007, 2009
200607
2005
2005
2005
2005
2004
2004
2004
2003
GP2 Series
GP2 Asia Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Formula 3 Euro Series
Austrian Formula Three
British Formula 3
German Formula Three
Formula Renault 2.0 Italia
FR1600 Belgium
Formula Junior 1600 Spain
Formula Renault Monza
FRenault Monza W. Series
Championship titles
2005
2004
2004
Austrian F3
Formula Junior 1600 Spain
Formula Renault Monza

Michael Herck (born 4 August 1988 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian-Belgian retired racing driver.[1][2]

Career

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Herck was adopted at the age of one and a half years by millionaire André Herck, a Belgian citizen born in Bucharest.[3] Herck grew up in Monaco, and began his racing career in karting in France where he won the French national titke in the Minime category in 2000.

Formula Renault

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After karting, Herck moved to the Formula Renault Monza Winter Series in 2003 and competed in the full series the next year. He won the 2004 championship with five wins and 375 points. He also competed in the Belgian and Spanish 1.6-litre series in 2004, winning the latter championship.

In 2007 he drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the Comtec Racing team, but failed to score any points.

Formula Three

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Herck driving for Comtec Racing at the Donington Park round of the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

Herck moved to Formula Three for 2005, winning the Austrian championship. He also made selected appearances in that year's British and German championships. In 2006 he competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series with backing from compatriot Bas Leinders, scoring twelve points to finish fifteenth in the championship.

GP2 Series

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Herck competed in the first eight races of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series in 2008 for the FMS International team before breaking his wrist in an accident, missing the last round of the season.[4]

He was scheduled to drive in the main GP2 Series for 2008 as well, but was initially replaced by Giacomo Ricci in the David Price Racing team until his wrist healed.[5] After two rounds of the championship, Ricci was dropped in favour of Andy Soucek as Herck continued to recover.[6] He finally made his GP2 début at Magny-Cours. He continued with DPR for the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season,[7] and also the 2009 GP2 Series season. At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Herck finished sixth on the road during the feature race. However, his first GP2 points were stripped from him due to irregularities with his DPR machine. His first points eventually came during the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series, finishing seventh in the feature race of the second Abu Dhabi round. After overtaking Max Chilton at the start of the sprint race, Herck was heading to his first podium and victory in the series, but Davide Valsecchi passed him just before the race's conclusion. Herck ultimately finished thirteenth in the championship standings.

Herck continued his improved form in the 2010 main series, finishing in the points on a number of occasions. He also qualified on pole position for his "home" race in Belgium, but lost it due to an infringement.[8] He finished sixteenth in the drivers' championship.

Following the withdrawal of DPR from GP2, Herck switched to the Coloni team for 2011. In the Asia series, he was partnered variously by James Jakes and Luca Filippi, and finished eighth in the championship after scoring points in three of the four races. In the main series, he scored only a single point and finished 21st in the standings.

Retirement

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Following a disappointing 2011 season in the main GP2 Series, Herck decided not to compete in the 2011 GP2 Final non-championship race in Abu Dhabi, and retired from professional motor racing in order to focus on his studies, as later confirmed by adoptive parent André Herck.[2]

Racing record

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Herck driving for David Price Racing at the Magny-Cours round of the 2008 GP2 Series season.

Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Poles Wins Points Position
2003 Formula Renault Monza Winter Series Dynamic Engineering 2 0 0 18 8th
2004 Formula Renault Monza Dynamic Engineering 16 3 5 375 1st
Formula Junior 1600 Spain ? 9 6 4 119 1st
Formula Renault 1600 Belgium ? 4 0 1 65 11th
2005 Austrian Formula Three Championship Junior Racing Team 7 6 3 75 1st
British Formula 3 5 0 0 0 NC
Formula Renault 2.0 Italia 0 0 0 0 NC
Recaro Formel 3 Cup Jama Investments 3 1 0 0 NC
2006 Formula 3 Euro Series Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team 19 0 0 12 15th
British Formula 3 2 0 0 0 NC
Masters of Formula Three 1 0 0 N/A 13th
2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Comtec Racing 14 0 0 0 NC
Formula 3 Euro Series Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team 2 0 0 0 NC
2008 GP2 Asia Series FMS International 8 0 0 0 23rd
GP2 Series DPR 13 0 0 0 30th
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series David Price Racing 11 0 0 0 33rd
2009 GP2 Series DPR 19 0 0 0 23rd
Formula Renault 3.5 Series Interwetten.com 6 0 0 7 23rd
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series David Price Racing 8 0 0 7 13th
2010 GP2 Series DPR 20 0 0 12 16th
2011 GP2 Asia Series Scuderia Coloni 4 0 0 9 8th
GP2 Series Scuderia Coloni 18 0 0 1 21st

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points
2007 Red Devil Team Comtec MNZ
1
MNZ
2
NÜR
1

21
NÜR
2

20
MON
1

DNQ
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

18
SPA
1

Ret
SPA
2

12
DON
1

Ret
DON
2

16
MAG
1

Ret
MAG
2

Ret
EST
1

16
EST
2

16
CAT
1

24
CAT
2

16
31st 0
2009 Interwetten.com Racing CAT
1
CAT
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MON
1
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

5
SIL
1

20
SIL
2

18
BUG
1
BUG
2
ALG
1

19
ALG
2

Ret
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
ALC
1
ALC
2
23rd 7
2011 Pons Racing ALC
1
ALC
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
MON
1
NÜR
1

Ret
NÜR
2

21
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
LEC
1
LEC
2
CAT
1
CAT
2
36th 0

Complete GP2 Series results

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Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2008 DPR CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
MAG
FEA

Ret
MAG
SPR

15
SIL
FEA

23
SIL
SPR

DNS
HOC
FEA

17
HOC
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA

Ret
HUN
SPR

17
VAL
FEA

12
VAL
SPR

14
SPA
FEA

14
SPA
SPR

11
MNZ
FEA

Ret
MNZ
SPR

17
30th 0
2009 DPR CAT
FEA

13
CAT
SPR

Ret
MON
FEA

16
MON
SPR

16
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

Ret
SIL
FEA

9
SIL
SPR

8
NÜR
FEA

14
NÜR
SPR

12
HUN
FEA

15
HUN
SPR

DNS
VAL
FEA

13
VAL
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

9
MNZ
FEA

20†
MNZ
SPR

13
ALG
FEA

DSQ
ALG
SPR

Ret
23rd 0
2010 DPR CAT
FEA

17
CAT
SPR

21
MON
FEA

16
MON
SPR

Ret
IST
FEA

6
IST
SPR

5
VAL
FEA

8
VAL
SPR

3
SIL
FEA

22
SIL
SPR

14
HOC
FEA

9
HOC
SPR

8
HUN
FEA

7
HUN
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

13
MNZ
FEA

Ret
MNZ
SPR

Ret
YMC
FEA

16
YMC
SPR

10
16th 12
2011 Scuderia Coloni IST
FEA

14
IST
SPR

12
CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

Ret
MON
FEA

13
MON
SPR

15
VAL
FEA

10
VAL
SPR

6
SIL
FEA

24
SIL
SPR

18
NÜR
FEA

11
NÜR
SPR

10
HUN
FEA

12
HUN
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

16
SPA
SPR

15
MNZ
FEA

Ret
MNZ
SPR

DNS
21st 1

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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(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 DC Points
2008 FMS International DUB1
FEA

Ret
DUB1
SPR

17
SEN
FEA

9
SEN
SPR

12
SEP
FEA

11
SEP
SPR

11
BHR
FEA

15
BHR
SPR

14
DUB2
FEA
DUB2
SPR
23rd 0
2008–09 David Price Racing SHI
FEA

16
SHI
SPR

16
DUB
FEA

15
DUB
SPR

C
BHR1
FEA

18
BHR1
SPR

18
LSL
FEA

15
LSL
SPR

Ret
SEP
FEA

13
SEP
SPR

Ret
BHR2
FEA

13
BHR2
SPR

Ret
33rd 0
2009–10 David Price Racing YMC1
FEA

13
YMC1
SPR

9
YMC2
FEA

7
YMC2
SPR

2
BHR1
FEA

23
BHR1
SPR

13
BHR2
FEA

18
BHR2
SPR

Ret
13th 7
2011 Scuderia Coloni YMC
FEA

13
YMC
SPR

5
IMO
FEA

4
IMO
SPR

5
8th 9

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Michael Herck: Biography". michaelherck.com. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b Dumitru, Mihai (August 2012). "Michael Herck s-a retras din motorsport". rallyeracing.wordpress.com (in Romanian). Rally Racing. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. ^ Dumitru, Mihai. "Omul nostru din GP2". topgear.ro (in Romanian). MSG Romania. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  4. ^ "Injury blow for Herck". crash.net. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  5. ^ "Ricci to replace Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  6. ^ "Soucek to stand in for Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  7. ^ "Sekiguchi joins DPR for Asia campaign". crash.net. 15 October 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
  8. ^ Beer, Matt (27 August 2010). "Herck penalty gives D'Ambrosio pole". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
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