Jack Christopherson

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Canon.png This is the canon ASMF character. For the 18MMF non-canon career, see Jack Christopherson (non-canon).

Jack Christopherson
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png British
Born January 2, 1968
Birmingham, England
Formula One
Debut Season 1989
Final Season 2004
Teams
Races 0
Championships 0
Victories 0
Podiums 0
Points 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
First Race 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
First Victory
Final Victory 2001 San Marino Grand Prix
Final Race 2004 Japanese Grand Prix
Best Finish 2nd (2001)
F1RWRS
Debut Season 2014
Final Season 2014
Teams Flag of the Isle of Man svg.png Foxdale
Races 8 (8 starts)
Championships 0
Victories 0
Podiums 0
Points 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
First Race 2014 Tasman Grand Prix
First Victory
Final Victory
Final Race 2014 British Grand Prix
Best Finish 33rd (2014)


Jack Christopherson (born January 2, 1968) is a former racing driver born in Birmingham, England. He competed in Formula 3000 for Eddie Jordan Racing in 1988, coming 2nd in the championship. He is also a multiple winner of the non-chamionship F1RWRS Indianapolis World 800 in both 2013 and 2014, plus the winner of F1RICS' 2016 USA 500.


Early Career

Christopherson first rosed to prominence in British Formula 3 with Eddie Jordan Racing, where he jockeyed for success with fellow Brit Johnny Herbert. Having narrowly edged Herbert for the championship title in 1987, he moved up to Formula 3000 with the Irish squad, while rival Herbert moved to Madgwick International.

Formula 3000

Despite his inexperience at the second-highest rung of motorsport going into the 1988 season, he was immediately on the pace, storming to victory in the opening race of the season at Jerez. He followed this up during the course of the season with second places at Pau and Pergusa, and finished the year with a third place at Dijon-Prenois. However, five retirements during the course of the year hindered his progress, including at Monza where he scored both pole and fastest lap. In total, he scored two pole positions (Jerez, Monza) and three fastest laps (Imola, Pau, Monza), but it was not enough to fend off another former F3 rival, Martin Donnelly, whose winning streak was impossible to suppress. He ended the year with 31 points, giving him 2nd in the championship.

Formula One

1989-1990: AGS

Christopherson made his Formula One debut in 1989, driving for the tiny AGS team alongside his former Eddie Jordan Racing teammate Olivier Grouillard. Christopherson opened the season showing strong pace, and was quickly rewarded by a 7th place finish in the San Marino Grand Pix. Crippling reliability issues meant that despite further finishes would be hard to come by, nevertheless Christopherson scored his first ever point at the United States Grand Prix, taking sixth place in a race beset with attrition. This would prove to be his only points haul of the season, with his best finish in the latter half of the season being another 7th place finish in the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The following season, Christopherson remained with the French outfit when no better offers came calling - this time joined by Formula 3000 graduate Fabrizio Giovanardi. Christopherson and AGS struggled in the initial stages of the season, dropping into pre-qualifying after a series of DNFs.

1998-1999: Jordan

By 1998, Christopherson was driving for the Jordan team alongside German driver Ralf Schumacher. Jordan at this point were a consistant midfield team battling for the 'best of the rest' honours with Williams and Benetton Arrows. Christopherson scored two podiums in this season, his best being a second place finish at the Portuguese Grand Prix - enough for seventh in the standings.

The following year saw a marked improvement for Jordan, with Christopherson and new teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen able to fight for wins all season. Christopherson finished on the podium seven times in 1999, including a win in the Austrian Grand Prix. Christopherson finished the year in fifth place - with Jordan finishing the season in a best-ever second place in the constructor's standings.

F1RWRS

Jones Racing (2013-2015)

After many years on the racing sidelines, Christopherson was signed on as a guest driver for Jones Racing to participate in the Budweiser 500, run by another former F1 driver in the form of Sammy Jones. Christopherson wasn't in contention for a full time drive at Jones Racing next year as the team has just completed a deal with Daniel Melrose. Despite that Christopherson did well against competitors that were many years younger than himself and having never drove the car before. Christopherson qualified 11th on the grid for the race before a fantastic drive on race day meant he became the first winner of the Dan Wheldon Memorial trophy after leading the last 50 laps when the Foxdale cars hit problems.

Foxdale (2014)

The win immediately put the Brit on the map for several drives up and down the grid despite facing the potential of being the oldest driver on the grid with the retirement of Chris Dagnall. While Jones Racing had a test contract with Christopherson for 2014, he was free to drive for another team for the foreseeable future unless Jones took out his option on him for 2014. After much debate, Christopherson eventually signed on for Foxdale, the very team he beat for the Bud 500 win a few months before. Foxdale entered the season as one of the championship favourites with a new Renault engine replacing the old Hart engine which game the team so many problems in 2013. However it soon became evident that the car, whilst more reliable, was nowhere near the blistering pace being set by DGNgineering and MRT up front. As a result Christopherson struggled for pace, suffering numerous mechanical failures, and only finished one race before being fired by Foxdale mid-way through the year, following the British Grand Prix. His only race finish was ninth in Mexico.

Christopherson returned to his role as Jones Racing's test driver, and was credited by Jones himself for helping drive development forward on the CJR-103 car as the team finished fifth overall in the championship. Once again he featured in the non-championship races in the off-season and led a Jones 1-2-3 at the Bud 800 race, securing himself the Dan Wheldon Trophy for the second year in succession. Christopherson stayed on at Jones for 2015, once again assuming his test and development role, albeit replaced by Terry Hawkin as offical reserve driver.

Results

Career Summary

Year Series Team Overall
1987 British Formula 3 Eddie Jordan Racing 1st
1988 International Formula 3000 Eddie Jordan Racing 2nd
1989 Formula One Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives 19th
1990 Formula One Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives NC
1998 Formula One Jordan Grand Prix 7th
1999 Formula One Jordan Grand Prix 5th
2000 Formula One West McLaren Mercedes 2nd
2001 Formula One West McLaren Mercedes 5th
2002 Formula One DHL Jordan Honda Test Driver
2003 Formula One Panasonic Toyota Racing 10th
2004 Formula One Panasonic Toyota Racing 13th
2014 F1R World Race Series Foxdale Auto Racing Team 33rd
2016 F1R Indy Championship Series Mastercard Lola 3rd
2018 International Pro Car Infiniti All Stars
Tide Infiniti Voeckler
24th

F3000

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pts DC
1988 Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard 88D Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 JER
1
IMO
4
PAU
2
SIL
Ret
MNZ
Ret
PER
2
BHA
4
BIR
Ret
BUG
Ret
ZOL
Ret
DIJ
3
31 2nd

F1RWRS

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Pts
2014 Foxdale Auto Racing Team Foxdale 001 Renault RS01 TAS
Ret
AUS
Ret
BRA
Ret
MEX
9
USA
Ret
MON
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER BEL ITA MED NED MAC CHN JPN 33rd 0

Non-championship Races

Year Team Event Result
2013 Castrol Jones Racing F1RWRS Indianapolis World 800 1st
2014 Castrol Jones Racing F1RWRS Indianapolis World 800 1st

F1RICS

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Pts
2016 Mastercard Lola Lola B16/00 Honda V6T SAO
9
ARG
13
HOM
3
GAT
1
LBH
1
CAM
15
POR
2
INDY
1
MIL
17
DON
4
EUR
8
WGI
9
NHA
1
MIC
17
TOR
18
ROA
8
KEN
1
POC
32
MON
25
LAG
4
SUR
2
SUZ
24
TEX
21
FON
23
188 3rd

IPC

Class A

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Pts
2018 Infiniti All Stars Infiniti G35 AUS1 AUS2 BAT ITA FRA SPA GBR
2
EUR1 EUR2 95 24th
Tide Infiniti Voeckler ILL
2
WIS NY1 NY2 CAN RSA1 RSA2

Class B

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Pts
2018 Infiniti All Stars Infiniti G35 AUS BAT ITA FRA SPA GBR
6
EUR ILL WIS NY CAN RSA 31 37th