Mirko Bosevic
Mirko Bosevic (born April 12, 1976 in Zadar, Croatia) is a retired Croatian racing driver and so far the only Croat to compete in Formula One to date as well as the first driver from Balkans, currently competing in F1RWRS. He was the co-founder and shareholder of Hydook Racing Team.
Racing career
1987-1990: Karting
Mirko was born in Croatia but most of his childhood he spent in Mogyoród, Hungary - where the Hungaroring track is situated, and where his father was running a successful shoe store. He saw his first Grand Prix in 1986 and from this time he wanted to become a racing driver. He began karting in 1987, and the following year he was runner-up for the Hungarian Karting Championship, winning the title in 1990. Thanks to the backing from Croatian ice-cream and frozen food company Ledo he could easily progress to single-seaters in 1991.
1991-1997: Lower formulae
In his first season in British Formula Three Mirko finished 4th, but the following year he finished second to last as he took part in only one race - he had to struggle with a rare disease that left him deaf in his left ear and partially disabled his facial muscles. Fortunately enough Mirko got better and continued his starts in F3 for next two seasons (respectively 8th and 3rd overall) and had to take a year off because of his violent crash with Dino Morelli in Snetterton in which he broke both legs. However Mirko did a fast recovery from the injuries and returned to racing in 1996, joining Pacific Racing in International Formula 3000. His first season was marred by mechanical failures, resulting in a highest finish of 5th on Estoril, but when he left Pacific Racing for RSM Marko, Mirko did a great job and won first four races, starting from pole position. Although the last two races of the season weren't fortunate (throttle linkage problems on the last lap in Mugello while battling with Ricardo Zonta and multiple spins during the biggest downpour Jerez has seen in decades) Mirko won the title, with his teammate Juan-Pablo Montoya as a runner-up.
1999: Formula One, NASCAR
Thanks to his results in lower formulae Mirko caught Frank Williams' attention and was signed as a test driver for 1998 - so was his F3000 teammate, JPM. In 1999 he was given his chance, when Diniz left Arrows for Sauber and Salo was filling in for other drivers in different teams. Mirko joined the team alongside the Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, becoming the first Croat and first Balkan Formula One driver. Unfortunately he couldn't prove his talent and was booted out of the team due to poor results.
Shortly after announcing his dismissal, Bosevic - along with some North American and European investors - decided to fund himself a start in NASCAR Winston Cup. It was announced, that a new team - CroAm Racing, with Bosevic as a driver - will take part in Pepsi 400, buying two Chevrolets (Monte Carlo) from Richard Childress Racing. The team was struggling from the beginning - with very little staff and experience, they arrived using rental trucks. They had no parts and too few tools to service their car. Team's further existence was in Bosevic's hands. His first outing in practice session was quite promising - he was 42nd out of 43 drivers with a lap time of 39.450 seconds. As Mirko was feeling more confident in the car, he decided to take a risk and make last-minute adjustments before his one-lap qualifying. These, though, didn't improve his laptime and - what's more - led to smashing his car shortly after crossing the line with a laptime of 41.332 seconds. However, he was allowed to start the race as the provisional qualifier. Race was Mirko's (and his team's) moment of truth. Started off promisingly, when he jumped into 35th after the green flag. Thanks to yellow flags and driving behind the pace car he could maintain his position and prepare himself to a good restart. He was as high as 22nd when suddenly a gearbox failure blown his engine and forced him to retire after 30 laps. After that performance it became clear that CroAm Racing was done. With most of his own money wasted he had to take a break from racing. Mirko secured his future, though, and was prepared to hit the road again in 2000, this time starting in Swedish Touring Car Championship.
2000: STCC
In 2000 Bosevic decided to try something new and from the funds left over after the disastrous attempt to NASCAR bought a BMW 320i and joined the Swedish Touring Car Championship. First race in Karlskoga saw him battling with the best drivers of this series, including current champion Mattias Ekstrom. After just one race Bosevic took the lead in championship by finishing 4th and 1st in his first two races.
A few races later, after scoring some disappointing results, he missed most of the season after what was later revealed by Bosevic himself as a curation in in a health resort in Switzerland, and shortly after he announced his retirement. However, he said it is not definite and his comeback to racing is "more than possible".
2013-2016: F1RWRS
Bosevic is a frequent guest and spectator of all the F1RWRS races since the series was found, and recently he expressed his will to return to professional racing. After much negotiation he finally drove his first race after 13 years - 2013 F1RWRS Indianapolis 500 for Tropico GP, where he finished 20th after putting in a simply superlative qualifying effort to put his car solidly in the midfield.
During the 2013 season, Daniel Melrose had left ArrowTech ART for Jones Racing after a spar with new team owner Prince Falik, leaving a place at the Canadian team alongside Daniel Martins. Bosevic is one of six drivers competing for the drive, next to Kay Lon, Daniel Martins, Saeed Al Faisal, Issac Evans and Dave Simpson. Eventually, Mark Dagnall decided to stay at his father's team, and Daniel Martins was subsequently confirmed as first driver after speculation he may have lost his drive, Lon signing for Sunshine Infiniti, Simpson deciding to stay at Prospec and Al-Faisal joining new team Mecha. This left Evans and Bosevic to fight over the second driver spot. The Fox eventually decided to give Bosevic the seat, becoming the first driver from the Balkans to secure a full-time drive in the series.
His first races weren't very succesful - although he never had any problems with qualifying thanks to his car, he was consistently finishing in the lower half of the field, out of the points. Bosevic proved his talent at Long Beach, where he finished 5th and scored his first two points in the season. In Monaco he scored his first pole position on the drying track, but finished 4th after spinning earlier in the race. He finished 5th at Paul Ricard thanks to the high attrition rate and flawless drive. First season resulted in 9 points and 15th place in the WDC, tied with Pippa Mann.
2015 saw a rapid improvement in Bosevic's driving, with ArrowTech's decision to turn for Renault engines being a key factor. His first race of the season resulted in sixth place and one point, but as the series progressed towards European rounds, ArrowTech couldn't keep up the momentum and it took nearly half a season to score another point at the British Grand Prix. After that another sudden drop in performance happened as Bosevic finished 13th in Germany and then failed to qualify in Belgium. A miraculous return came on the very next Grand Prix, when Mirko finished 3rd in Austria, and after another mediocre performance in Italy, Bosevic capped it with another 3rd place finish at the North Sea Grand Prix, that turned out to be his final podium and points scored in F1RWRS. By the end of the season Mirko had 10 points, giving him 12th place in the WDC, once more tied - this time with Nicolas Steele.
Bosevic's last season in F1RWRS was much tougher - after being the main man in 2015, he was put to the test alongside Phillippe Nicolas. In comparison with a former vice-champion Croatian driver had very little to do, but still put on some strong performances: 2nd place in Great Britain after a steady drive, two 3rd place finishes in Italy and Belgium and to top that - another pole position in Monaco. With a strong run in New South Wales Bosevic finished 8th in the championship, with 19 points, tied with Fredo Mestolio.
Retirement
Some days after the final race of the 2016 season Bosevic announced his definite retirement from racing. As no reason for that decision was presented in the official statement, it is rumoured that a possible return of now-defunct Hydook Racing Team is possible.
Personal
Bosevic lives in Malmö, Sweden, with his wife Andrea Bosevic (née Kovács, born 19 December 1979 in Budapest). Mirko's younger brother, Anton Bosevic, also makes his first steps in professional racing. Both brothers ran the Hydook Racing Team from 2014 to 2015.
Results
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Pacific Racing | NÜR Ret |
PAU 12 |
PER Ret |
HOC Ret |
SIL 10 |
SPA 17 |
MAG 10 |
EST 5 |
MUG 13 |
HOC 9 |
16th | 2 |
| 1997 | RSM Marko | SIL 1 |
PAU 1 |
HEL 1 |
NÜR 1 |
PER 11 |
HOC 5 |
A1R 3 |
SPA Ret |
MUG 6 |
JER 11 |
1st | 47 |
Complete Formula One Grand Prix results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Repsol Arrows | Arrows A20 | Arrows V10 | AUS Ret |
BRA Ret |
SMR Ret |
MON | ESP 21 |
CAN Ret |
FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | EUR | MAL | JPN | NC | 0 |
Complete F1RWRS results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | ArrowTech ART | ArrowTech AT-04 | Peugeot A7 | TAS 14 |
AUS Ret |
BRA 10 |
MEX 14 |
USA 5 |
MON 4 |
FRA 5 |
GBR 6 |
GER Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA 8 |
MED 8 |
NED 6 |
MAC Ret |
CHN 10 |
JPN 12 |
=15th | 9 |
| 2015 | ArrowTech ART | ArrowTech AT-05 | Renault RS1 | TAS 6 |
AUS 8 |
MED 13 |
MON 16† |
MEX Ret |
USA Ret |
CAN 7 |
GBR 6 |
GER 14 |
BEL DNQ |
AUT 3 |
ITA 14 |
NED 3 |
CHN Ret |
JPN 11 |
BRA Ret |
15th | 10 |
| 2016 | ArrowTech ART | ArrowTech AT-06 | Gillet GV11 | AUS Ret |
NSW 5 |
GBR 2 |
ITA 3 |
AUT 9 |
CAN Ret |
USS Ret |
USN Ret |
GER 7 |
SEA 11 |
MON 8† |
BEL 3 |
MEX 7 |
ARG Ret |
CHN Ret |
JPN Ret |
8th | 19 |