Markus Niemelä

Markus Niemelä (born 20 March 1984 in Rauma, Satakunta, Finland) is a Finnish former racing driver, who competed in the 2007 FIA GP2 Series with BCN Competición. A former Formula Ford Champion in Scandinavia, Niemelä would fail to score in any of his seven GP2 appearances before leaving Europe for America at the end of 2007.

Niemelä made his GP2 debut in place of Sakon Yamamoto, who had been given a surprise promotion to Formula One midway through 2007. Unfortunately for Niemelä a dislocated shoulder on his debut at the Hungaroring ruled him out for the next three races, although upon his return the Finn rarely threatened the points.

After failing to score at all in seven races Niemelä was overlooked for a GP2 seat in 2008, prompting him to move to the United States and the Atlantic Championship. The Finn duly won the Atlantic Series in his rookie season, before engaging in a variety of American series through to 2014.

Niemelä's career would ultimately come to an end in November 2014, when the Finn suffered severe brain injuries in a Sprint Car accident at the Perris Auto Speedway.

Background
Beginning his career in karting in the early 1990s, Niemelä would claim numerous numerous titles and accolades, including winning the Finnish Junior Championship with maximum points in 1998. Overcoming injuries sustained in both karting and a snowboarding accident, Niemelä moved into racing cars in 2004, entering the Finnish, Swedish and Nordic Formula Ford Championships. An impressive campaign saw the Finn claim the honours in the former two series, while also finishing as runner up in the overall Nordic series.

Renault Rules: 2005 - 2007
For 2005 Niemelä would move south to the Formula BMW ADAC series in Germany, claiming one win en-route to seventh in the championship. He ended the season with a run in the Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series, finishing sixth overall, earning himself a seat in the full FR 2.0 UK series for 2006. The Finn would again claim a single victory en-route to seventh in that series, earning him seats in both the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and Asian Formula Renault Challenge for 2007.

After claiming two wins in the Asian Series, but no podiums in the Eurocup, Niemelä abandoned his FR programmes in order to take up a seat in the FIA GP2 Series.

Post GP2 Series Career
After being overlooked for a seat in GP2 for 2008, Niemelä moved out to America to compete in the Atlantic Championship, claiming the title in his rookie season. After failing to defend his crown in 2009, Niemelä moved into Sprint Cars for 2010, before making a series of one-off appearances in other grass-roots level series, as well as the NASCAR Pro Series - West. However, a heavy accident in a Sprint Car race at the Perris Auto Speedway in November 2014 would end his career, with the Finn suffering severe brain injuries.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.