Alex Lloyd (racing driver)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alex Stewart Lloyd | |
| Nationality |  United Kingdom |
| Date of Birth | December 28, 1984 |
| Place of Birth | Manchester, England |
| 2008 IndyCar Series | |
| Debut season | 2006 |
| Current team | Chip Ganassi Racing/Rahal Letterman Racing |
| Car No. | 7 |
| Former teams | Sam Schmidt Motorsports AFS Racing |
| Starts | 22 |
| Wins | 10 |
| Poles | 4 |
| Best finish | 1st in 2007 |
| Previous series | |
| 2004 2002-2003 |
Euro Formula 3000 Formula Renault |
| Championship titles | |
| 2007 | Indy Pro Series champion |
| Awards | |
| 2003 | McLaren Autosport BRDC Award |
Alex Stewart Lloyd (born 28 December 1984 in Manchester, England) is a Manx motor racing driver. He currently takes part in the IndyCar Series.
[edit] Early career
At the age of nine Lloyd began driving in karts in the British Super One Championship also driving in the European championship. He became British Open Champion in the category in 1999. In 2000, he began testing Formula Ford cars.
In 2001, he moved into Formula Ford racing achieving a 2nd place at a European Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps. He also finished in 13th place in the highly prestigious Formula Ford Festival. Over the winter he raced in the Formula Renault UK Winter Series reaching 3rd place in the championship. He graduated to the main Formula Renault series in 2002 finishing 9th in the championship.
During 2003 Lloyd received wider recognition for his ability earning the BRCD McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award. This was after finishing 2nd in the Formula Renault UK championship to Lewis Hamilton, after recording 2 wins.
[edit] Racing around the world
In 2004 Lloyd conducted his first Formula One test in a McLaren as part of his prize for winning the award the previous year. He also took part in the final seven rounds of the European Formula 3000 series recording 1 win and 3 pole positions.
During 2005 Lloyd had a limited racing program, taking in 2 races in Italian Formula 3000 for the GP Racing in order to help with car development and a one-off ride in a World Series by Renault event. For the winter of 2005-06 he was signed up to drive in A1 Grand Prix for Team Great Britain, however he only ever undertook limited testing and was never to able race the car, with Darren Manning drafted in for the one event that lead driver Robbie Kerr was unavailable.
For the 2006 season, he signed with AFS Racing part way through the year to race the remainder of the whole season in the Indy Pro Series - his parents sold their house in Port Soderick to facilitate this, and the gamble paid off. He qualified 2nd for his first race with the team at St. Petersburg and finished his second race that weekend in 3rd place. In July, he won the road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the day before the United States Grand Prix. Later in the season he won the Valley of the Moon 100 held at Infineon Raceway and went on to finish 7th in the final standings.
For the 2007 IPS season, he drove for Sam Schmidt Motorsports and won each of the first five races in the season. He clinched the series championship with his eighth win of the season at Infineon Raceway with two races remaining in the season. During the season he shattered all league records for consecutive wins (5), wins in a season (8), career wins (10) and most points scored (652).
On October 17, 2007, Lloyd was signed as a driver in Chip Ganassi Racing's driver development program. In 2008 he will participate in a schedule that includes IndyCar Series and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype races and significant amounts of testing.
On April 10, 2008, it was announced that Chip Ganassi Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing will work together to field an entry for Alex, for the 2008 Indianapolis 500 on 25th May 2008. Alex qualified in 19th place, after having been briefly hospitalized following a heavy accident at 223mph in testing. In the race he crashed heavily, sliding down the pit road and across several teams' pit bays, all of which were empty.
[edit] External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jay Howard |
Indy Pro Series Champion 2007 |
Succeeded by current |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Jamie Green |
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 2003 |
Succeeded by Paul di Resta |
| Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates | |
| Sprint Cup Drivers | Dario Franchitti (#40) | Reed Sorenson (#41) | Juan Pablo Montoya (#42) |
| Nationwide Series Drivers | Bryan Clauson (#40) | Kyle Krisiloff (#41) |
| IRL Drivers | Scott Dixon (#9) | Dan Wheldon (#10) |
| Grand-Am Telmex #01 team drivers | Scott Pruett | Memo Rojas |
| Other Development Drivers | Brady Bacon | Kevin Hamlin | Alex Lloyd |
| Other | Chip Ganassi | Felix Sabates |
