Mirko Bosevic

Mirko Bosevic From Formula1RejectsAlternateChampionshipsDatabase Jump to: navigation, search Mirko Bosevic Nationality Croatian Born 12 April, 1976 Zadar, Croatia Formula One Debut Season 1999 Latest Season 1999 Current Team Car Number Former Teams TWR Arrows Races 5 (5 starts) Championships 0 Victories 0 Podiums 0 Points 0 Pole Positions 0 Fastest Laps 0 First Race 1999 Australian Grand Prix First Victory Last Victory Last Race 1999 Canadian Grand Prix Best Finish NC F1RWRS Debut Season 2014 Latest Season 2014 Current Team ArrowTech ART Car Number 10 Former Teams Races 16 (16 starts) Championships 0 Victories 0 Podiums 0 Points 9 Pole Positions 1 Fastest Laps 0 First Race 2014 Tasman Grand Prix First Victory Last Victory Last Race 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (ongoing) Best Finish =15th (2014)

Mirko Bosevic (born April 12, 1976 in Zadar, Croatia) is a 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's the co-founder and shareholder of Hydook Racing Team. Contents

   1 Racing career
       1.1 1987-1990: Karting
       1.2 1991-1997: Lower formulae
       1.3 1999: Formula One, NASCAR
       1.4 2000: STCC
       1.5 2013-Present: F1RWRS
   2 Personal
   3 Results
       3.1 Complete International Formula 3000 results
       3.2 Complete Formula One Grand Prix results
       3.3 Complete F1RWRS results
   4 External links

[edit] Racing career [edit] 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. [edit] 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. [edit] 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. [edit] 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". [edit] 2013-Present: 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. [edit] 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, competing in 2014 F2RWRS season with self-funded Hydook Racing Team. [edit] Results [edit] 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 [edit] 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 [edit] 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 [edit] External links

A deeper look into Bosevic's career