Mikhail Karimov

Mikhail Karimov is a professional race driver from Uzbekistan.

Childhood

Mikhail was born in Tashkent, the capital of the then Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1975. He went to school in England which is where he became friends with Archibald March.

Career

LGPS

The young Karimov, along with March and a bunch of other friends decided to enter the Life Grand Prix Series under the banner of Team Of The Workers Party. The season got off to a brilliant start with Karimov winning on his and the teams debut causing wild celebrations at the track and back in the Soviet Union. However, the teams new car was a bit unreliable and it wasn't until the race in Italy, Karimov would record his next finish, albeit outside of the points in 11th. His next podium would come soon enough though as just 2 rounds after Italy, the young Uzbek recorded his next podium finish at Spa Francochamps. Things soon took a turn for the worse and this culminated in a 4 race ban after the race in Great Britain for causing a serious collision with Kim Jong-Sung. Still, the following season was a disaster as Rob Lomas Racing had barely any money for upgrades and as a result, the car was unreliable... when it qualified, which was frequently. He was allowed to move to the Ursus Racing team for the second half of the season after Fidrik Arnason was seriously injured in a collision with Kim Jong-Sung at the German round and was forced to miss the rest of the season. However, results did not improve at his new team and he ended up scoring no points come the end of the season.

Rejects-1

The 1994 season started well enough with a 5th place at the opening round in the USA but this soon turned into the usual result of the car braking down by the side of the track. It wasn't until the 10th round in Ireland where Karimov would score his next points finish with a creditable 4th. He went one better at the next round in the Netherlands where he got his first podium in 2 seasons. He DNF'ed at the British round but bounced back with a strong 2nd in Finland. People were soon asking if he could get a win before the year was out but these were dashed when he was one of 4 drivers to leave the round in New Zealand in the back of an ambulance. The other drivers in the medical center were Algernon Bell, Mike Stern and Geoff Donnelly. As a result, he missed the rest of the season and the start of the 1995 season. 1995 was a disappointing year with many retirements but there were some pieces of good news, a podium in Japan and another points score in Ireland but these were the only points scoring finishes of the year. The 1996 season started off strongly with a win in the opening round in the USA but there was also hideous unreliability with only 5 other point scoring finishes, the lowest of which was 3rd in Japan; he came 5th in the standings. It was this speed that caught the attention of the Ligier F1 team who signed him for the 1997 F1 season.

Results

LGPS Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Pts
1992	The Team of the Workers Party	ARG 1	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	AUT DNQ	CZE Ret	ITA 11	GER Ret	SUI Ret	BEL 3	NED Ret	ENG Ret	GBR Ret	CAN EX	USE EX	USW EX	JPN EX	AUS Ret		15th	14
1993	Rob Lomas Racing	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	VEN Ret	USA Ret	CAN Ret	IRE Ret	GBR Ret	NED Ret	GER Ret	POL DNQ	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	FRA DNQ	NAM Ret	JPM Ret	MAL Ret	INA Ret	NZL DNQ	AUS Ret	MAC Ret	49th	0

Rejects 1 Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	DC	Pts
1994	Rob Lomas Racing	USA 5	CAN Ret	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	AUT Ret	GER Ret	GBR Ret	IRE 4	NED 3	GBR Ret	FIN 2	JPN Ret	NZL Ret	AUS INJ	INA INJ	11th	45
1995	Rob Lomas Racing	USE INJ	USW INJ	CAN INJ	BRA Ret	NZL Ret	AUS Ret	JPN 2	ITA Ret	GBR 11	IRE 6	FRA 16†	GER Ret	BEL Ret	NOR 11†	POR Ret	MAL Ret	INA Ret	26th	22
1996	Rob Lomas Racing	USA 1	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	NZL Ret	AUS 2	JAP 3	ITA Ret	FRA S 2	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	NOR 2	BEL Ret	AUT Ret	SAF Ret	CAN Ret	INA 2	5th	85