Michael Herck

Michael Herck
Michael Herck
	Michael Herck at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round
Nationality	Romanian; Belgian; via dual nationality
Born	4 August 1988 (age 36); Bucharest (Romania)
Previous series
2008–2011; 2008–2011; 2007, 2009; 2006–07; 2005; 2005; 2005; 2005; 2004; 2004; 2004; 2003	GP2 Series; GP2 Asia Series; Formula Renault 3.5 Series; Formula 3 Euro Series; Austrian Formula Three; British Formula 3; German Formula Three; Formula Renault 2.0 Italia; FR1600 Belgium; Formula Junior 1600 Spain; Formula Renault Monza; FRenault Monza W. Series
Championship titles
2005; 2004; 2004	Austrian F3; Formula Junior 1600 Spain; Formula Renault Monza

Michael Herck (born 4 August 1988 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian-Belgian retired racing driver.^[1]^[2]

Career

Early life

Herck was adopted at the age of one and a half years by millionaire André Herck, a Belgian citizen born in Bucharest.^[3] Herck grew up in Monaco, and began his racing career in karting in France where he won the French national titke in the Minime category in 2000.

Formula Renault

After karting, Herck moved to the Formula Renault Monza Winter Series in 2003 and competed in the full series the next year. He won the 2004 championship with five wins and 375 points. He also competed in the Belgian and Spanish 1.6-litre series in 2004, winning the latter championship.

In 2007 he drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the Comtec Racing team, but failed to score any points.

Formula Three

Herck moved to Formula Three for 2005, winning the Austrian championship. He also made selected appearances in that year's British and German championships. In 2006 he competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series with backing from compatriot Bas Leinders, scoring twelve points to finish fifteenth in the championship.

GP2 Series

Herck competed in the first eight races of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series in 2008 for the FMS International team before breaking his wrist in an accident, missing the last round of the season.^[4]

He was scheduled to drive in the main GP2 Series for 2008 as well, but was initially replaced by Giacomo Ricci in the David Price Racing team until his wrist healed.^[5] After two rounds of the championship, Ricci was dropped in favour of Andy Soucek as Herck continued to recover.^[6] He finally made his GP2 début at Magny-Cours. He continued with DPR for the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season,^[7] and also the 2009 GP2 Series season. At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Herck finished sixth on the road during the feature race. However, his first GP2 points were stripped from him due to irregularities with his DPR machine. His first points eventually came during the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series, finishing seventh in the feature race of the second Abu Dhabi round. After overtaking Max Chilton at the start of the sprint race, Herck was heading to his first podium and victory in the series, but Davide Valsecchi passed him just before the race's conclusion. Herck ultimately finished thirteenth in the championship standings.

Herck continued his improved form in the 2010 main series, finishing in the points on a number of occasions. He also qualified on pole position for his "home" race in Belgium, but lost it due to an infringement.^[8] He finished sixteenth in the drivers' championship.

Following the withdrawal of DPR from GP2, Herck switched to the Coloni team for 2011. In the Asia series, he was partnered variously by James Jakes and Luca Filippi, and finished eighth in the championship after scoring points in three of the four races. In the main series, he scored only a single point and finished 21st in the standings.

Retirement

Following a disappointing 2011 season in the main GP2 Series, Herck decided not to compete in the 2011 GP2 Final non-championship race in Abu Dhabi, and retired from professional motor racing in order to focus on his studies, as later confirmed by adoptive parent André Herck.^[2]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
2003	Formula Renault Monza Winter Series	Dynamic Engineering	2	0	0	18	8th
2004	Formula Renault Monza	Dynamic Engineering	16	3	5	375	1st
	Formula Junior 1600 Spain	?	9	6	4	119	1st
	Formula Renault 1600 Belgium	?	4	0	1	65	11th
2005	Austrian Formula Three Championship	Junior Racing Team	7	6	3	75	1st
	British Formula 3		5	0	0	0	NC
	Formula Renault 2.0 Italia		0	0	0	0	NC
	Recaro Formel 3 Cup	Jama Investments	3	1	0	0	NC
2006	Formula 3 Euro Series	Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team	19	0	0	12	15th
	British Formula 3		2	0	0	0	NC
	Masters of Formula Three		1	0	0	N/A	13th
2007	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Comtec Racing	14	0	0	0	NC
2007	Formula 3 Euro Series	Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team	2	0	0	0	NC
2008	GP2 Asia Series	FMS International	8	0	0	0	23rd
2008	GP2 Series	DPR	13	0	0	0	30th
2008–09	GP2 Asia Series	David Price Racing	11	0	0	0	33rd
2009	GP2 Series	DPR	19	0	0	0	23rd
2009	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Interwetten.com	6	0	0	7	23rd
2009–10	GP2 Asia Series	David Price Racing	8	0	0	7	13th
2010	GP2 Series	DPR	20	0	0	12	16th
2011	GP2 Asia Series	Scuderia Coloni	4	0	0	9	8th
2011	GP2 Series	Scuderia Coloni	18	0	0	1	21st

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2007	Red Devil Team Comtec	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	NÜR 1 21	NÜR 2 20	MON 1 DNQ	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 18	SPA 1 Ret	SPA 2 12	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 16	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 Ret	EST 1 16	EST 2 16	CAT 1 24	CAT 2 16	31st	0
2009	Interwetten.com Racing	CAT 1	CAT 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	MON 1	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 5	SIL 1 20	SIL 2 18	BUG 1	BUG 2	ALG 1 19	ALG 2 Ret	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	ALC 1	ALC 2	23rd	7
2011	Pons Racing	ALC 1	ALC 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MON 1	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 21	HUN 1	HUN 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	LEC 1	LEC 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	36th	0

Complete GP2 Series results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2008	DPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	MAG FEA Ret	MAG SPR 15	SIL FEA 23	SIL SPR DNS	HOC FEA 17	HOC SPR Ret	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 17	VAL FEA 12	VAL SPR 14	SPA FEA 14	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 17	30th	0
2009	DPR	CAT FEA 13	CAT SPR Ret	MON FEA 16	MON SPR 16	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR Ret	SIL FEA 9	SIL SPR 8	NÜR FEA 14	NÜR SPR 12	HUN FEA 15	HUN SPR DNS	VAL FEA 13	VAL SPR Ret	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 9	MNZ FEA 20†	MNZ SPR 13	ALG FEA DSQ	ALG SPR Ret	23rd	0
2010	DPR	CAT FEA 17	CAT SPR 21	MON FEA 16	MON SPR Ret	IST FEA 6	IST SPR 5	VAL FEA 8	VAL SPR 3	SIL FEA 22	SIL SPR 14	HOC FEA 9	HOC SPR 8	HUN FEA 7	HUN SPR Ret	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 13	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR Ret	YMC FEA 16	YMC SPR 10	16th	12
2011	Scuderia Coloni	IST FEA 14	IST SPR 12	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR Ret	MON FEA 13	MON SPR 15	VAL FEA 10	VAL SPR 6	SIL FEA 24	SIL SPR 18	NÜR FEA 11	NÜR SPR 10	HUN FEA 12	HUN SPR Ret	SPA FEA 16	SPA SPR 15	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR DNS			21st	1

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
2008	FMS International	DUB1 FEA Ret	DUB1 SPR 17	SEN FEA 9	SEN SPR 12	SEP FEA 11	SEP SPR 11	BHR FEA 15	BHR SPR 14	DUB2 FEA	DUB2 SPR			23rd	0
2008–09	David Price Racing	SHI FEA 16	SHI SPR 16	DUB FEA 15	DUB SPR C	BHR1 FEA 18	BHR1 SPR 18	LSL FEA 15	LSL SPR Ret	SEP FEA 13	SEP SPR Ret	BHR2 FEA 13	BHR2 SPR Ret	33rd	0
2009–10	David Price Racing	YMC1 FEA 13	YMC1 SPR 9	YMC2 FEA 7	YMC2 SPR 2	BHR1 FEA 23	BHR1 SPR 13	BHR2 FEA 18	BHR2 SPR Ret					13th	7
2011	Scuderia Coloni	YMC FEA 13	YMC SPR 5	IMO FEA 4	IMO SPR 5									8th	9

References

^ "Michael Herck: Biography". michaelherck.com. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
^ ^a ^b Dumitru, Mihai (August 2012). "Michael Herck s-a retras din motorsport". rallyeracing.wordpress.com (in Romanian). Rally Racing. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
^ Dumitru, Mihai. "Omul nostru din GP2". topgear.ro (in Romanian). MSG Romania. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
^ "Injury blow for Herck". crash.net. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
^ "Ricci to replace Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
^ "Soucek to stand in for Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
^ "Sekiguchi joins DPR for Asia campaign". crash.net. 15 October 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
^ Beer, Matt (27 August 2010). "Herck penalty gives D'Ambrosio pole". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 August 2010.