Frank Zimmer

Frank Zimmer is an Australian racing driver (born 11th January 1983 in Orange, NSW), who was a V8 Supercar champion in 2005, as well as a Formula One frontrunner and F1RWRS race winner.

Racing career

Zimmer's racing helmet.

Frank Zimmer had a late start to racing, making a debut in Australian Formula Ford in 2003 for his brother John's team, ZimSport. John, 14 years Frank's senior, had just been given his second test driver role at Minardi, after testing in 1997 for Precision Motorsports. Despite being his first time in a race car, he showed his skill by winning the first round of the year at Phillip Island. He also won the next round at Eastern Creek, where he gained the attention of V8 Supercar team owner Garry Rogers. Rogers owned two Formula Ford cars, a pair of Van Diemen RF01s that were driven by Glen Hastings and Tony Pugliese, and he started to work together with ZimSport, creating an unstoppable 3-car entry. Garry helped organise an entry into the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series, making a deal with Matthew White to run Zimmer in a VX Commodore for the year. He dominated the series, with round wins at Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek and Mallala, as well as podiums at all other events.

From there, a drive full time for GRM in the V8 Supercar Championship Series was a given, especially as Rogers needed someone to replace the outgoing Garth Tander in the #34. Zimmer had a slow start, retiring from both races at the Clipsal 500, but recovered to take his first race victory at Eastern Creek. He would then take his first round win at Shanghai, also winning at Queensland and Oran Park. The enduros, driving alongside Cameron McConville, were tough events, although they managed to finish 6th at Sandown and 4th at the Bathurst 1000. From there, two more round wins at Symmons Plains and the finale Phillip Island were enough to seal the championship, in just his first year of main game competition.

2006 was a more difficult year, but Davies managed to secure victory at the Clipsal 500, as well as winning both the Sandown 500 with Lee Holdsworth. However, during the off-season, Zimmer received an offer from F1 team owner Aguri Suzuki to drive for his F1 team, Super Aguri. He accepted the drive since he would have nothing to lose, and had already won in the V8s. He and Garry Rogers parted on good terms, and Zimmer spent the year driving for Super Aguri, doing fairly well for himself despite not scoring any points. In fact, he was signed to drive for Honda in 2008, where he was often in front of teammate Jenson Button. He did however get into strife at the Brazilian GP for setting his car on fire.

In 2009, he stuck with the Honda team as they were sold and bought by Ross Brawn, becoming Brawn GP. Zimmer scored the occasional podium, but Button was the better driver for the Brawn team, although both were taken to the cleaners by Daniel Melrose. Zimmer did not drive at the Japanese Grand Prix that year, as he was preparing himself for a return to Bathurst. This angered his team, who promptly sacked him. Zimmer didn't care however, as he won his first Bathurst 1000, again teaming up with Lee Holdsworth. He spent the remainder of 2009 setting up a rival series to F1, and called it the F1RWRS

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	17	18	WDC	Points
2007	Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri SA07	Honda RA807E	AUS 19	MAL 19	BHR 11	ESP 14	MON Ret	CAN 19	USA 12	FRA 14	GBR 18	GER 17	HUN Ret	TUR 13	ITA 21	BEL 16	JPN 18	CHN 13	BRA 15		26th	0
2008	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA108	Honda RA808E	AUS 6	MAL 7	BHR 9	ESP Ret	TUR 8	MON 8	CAN 9	FRA Ret	GBR 13	GER 13	HUN 14	EUR 12	BEL Ret	ITA 9	SIN Ret	JPN 17	CHN 10	BRA Ret	14th	7
2009	Virgin Brawn GP F1	Brawn BGP 001	Mercedes FO 108W	AUS Ret	MAL 3	CHN 6	BHR 5	ESP 2	MON Ret	TUR 3	GBR 4	GER 4	HUN 4	EUR 2	BEL 7	ITA 5	SIN 12	JPN	BRA	ABU		5th	56

F1RWRS Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Pts
2010	Rosenforth Engineering	GER 15	LUX 4	SAX 2	CHN 3	TAS 3	BHR 8	BEL 10	GBR 6	AUS 1								2nd	51
2011	Rosenforth Engineering	BAV 6	GER 9	SAX 3	LUX Ret	BEL 14												=4th	44
	NAB-Holden Racing Team						GBR 10	ENG Ret	KEN 3	NED 17	TAS 2	AUS DNPQ	NSW 3	SUR Ret	CHN 9	USA 4
2012	NAB-Holden Racing Team	BAV Ret	SAX 13	GER 15	LUX DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	NED DNPQ	GBR 3	KEN 7	ENG 6	TAS 2	SUR	NSW	AUS	CHN	USA		=15th	27
	O'Lauchlan Motorsport																500 7
2013	Shell Horizon Motorsport	TAS DNPQ	AUS DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	MON DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR										11th	14
	Garry Rogers Motorsport								GER 2	NED 7	BEL Ret	POR 5	MED 2	MAC Ret	CHN 12	JPN 20*	BRA
2014	Garry Rogers Motorsport	TAS Ret	AUS 4	BRA	MEX 7	USA Ret	MON 5	FRA 4	GBR 9	GER 16	BEL EX	ITA EX	MED Ret	SEA 11	MAC Ret	CHN 9	JPN 17	17th	8
2015	Valvoline Holden Racing Team	TAS 7	AUS Ret	MED 7	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	GBR	GER	BEL	AUT	ITA	SEA	CHN	JPN	BRA	NC*	0*

IRDU Rejects Cup Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	DC	Pts
2011 (as F1RLFS)	Rosenforth Engineering	SCL 18	KRO 7	WES 19	AST 11	BLA 10	FER 17	17th	3

REECCS Results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	DC	Pts
2011	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Skoda 110R	BSP 6	TGT 9	KNO 4	LRN 3	LYD 4	ROC 6	F8T Ret	SAN 6	SAO 22	ORA	LYN Ret	MON 26	PAU 13	BKM 4	MNZ 19	LIE 5	NOR 21	BAT 35		11th	107
2012	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Dacia 1300	BSP	ARM	TGT	VAN	MON	LIE	KIC	VAR	USC	MIS	BAT	RAB	OPA	LYN	NOR	ADE	SUR	MIA	F8T	??	0

Career summary

Year	Series	Team	Position
2003	Australian Formula Ford	ZimSport/GRM	1st
2004	Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series	Matthew White Motorsport	1st
2005	V8 Supercars Championship Series	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1st
2006	V8 Supercars Championship Series	Garry Rogers Motorsport	4th
2007	Formula One	Super Aguri	26th
2008	Formula One	Honda F1	14th
2009	Formula One	Brawn GP	??
	V8 Supercars Championship Series	Garry Rogers Motorsport	35th
2010	F1RWRS	Rosenforth Engineering	2nd
2011	F1RWRS	Rosenforth Engineering	5th
		NAB-Holden Racing Team
	F1RLFS	Rosenforth Engineering	17th*
	REECCS	Garry Rogers Motorsport	??
2012	F1RWRS	NAB-Holden Racing Team	15th
		O'Lauchlan Motorsport
2013	F1RWRS	Shell Horizon Motorsport	12th*
		Garry Rogers Motorsport