Markus Niemelä
# Markus Niemelä

Markus Niemelä (born 20 March 1984 in Rauma) is a Finnish former race car driver. He was the 2008 series champion after winning the final round at Road Atlanta. His international racing career has been volatile due to a number of injuries he has sustained during his career.

## Career

### Karting

In 1998, Niemelä won the Finnish junior karting championship with maximum points. In 2001, injury of left arm in a snowboarding accident before the start of season prevented participation in the Formula A European/World Championship. He won the one race where he participated, driving practically one-handed against top Finnish karters (ICA).

The following year, Niemelä was the Finnish champion in Formula A. He set the fastest laptime in at least one heat of every European Championship round. He also qualified in World Cup final but technical problems caused a retirement in pre-final and final. In 2003, because of an accident in a European championship race, Niemelä could not drive for three months. He returned for the World Championships to finish fifth.

### Single-seaters

**2004**

Markus became the Finnish and Swedish Champion and the winner of STCC Formula Ford championship. Led Scandinavian Championship before the last round but finished 2nd overall because did not participate on the last round. Nominated as a ”Young Champion” by Finnish ASN. Tested for Formula BMW and was fastest at several unofficial tests.

**2005**

Markus finished 7th in championship points with one victory and one pole position. Many crashes resulting to damaged car during the season (12 out of 20 races). He was also 5th in UK Formula Renault Winter Championship, 3rd best qualifier of the championship (3rd, 4th, 9th and 3rd in qualifyings). Markus drove Formula Renault first time ever in free practice of first race meeting.

**2006**

One victory, fastest lap and pole position. Multiple Driver Of The Day Awards - awarded by Renault Sport. Markus finished 7th in the final standings with best positions 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2x4th.

**2007**

In Formula Renault Eurocup, he did 6 starts with best result of second at Hungaroring, while in the Asian series, he did 4 starts with 2 wins and one second place. His 3rd win of the 4 races was later penalized from jumping the start. He joined BCN Competicion in the GP2 Series to replace Sakon Yamamoto who moved to F1 during the season. During his first race, also at the Hungaroring, he was forced to retire when his left shoulder unexpectedly dislocated after 11 laps, which also prevented him from taking part in the second race of the meeting.

**2008**

In the 2008 season, Niemelä won the Atlantic Championship with Brooks Associates team, after winning the last two rounds of the season.

**2009**

Niemelä returned to the series to defend his Atlantic Championship title, this time driving for Newman Wachs Racing. He struggled through the first five races failing to score a podium finish. He switched teams to Jensen MotorSport for the remainder of the season, but failed to find any more success and finished 6th in points.

**2010**

Niemelä started racing Sprint Cars on dirt ovals. The best result of his depute season was 2nd in a VRA race at Ventura Raceway.

**2011**

Niemelä raced in selected races in different Sprint Car Championships (USAC West Coast, USAC CRA, VRA, USAC Midget) with an average A Main finish of 4.5 over the season. He also scored his first Sprint Car win.

**2014**

In November 2014, Niemela suffered a severe accident at Perris Auto Speedway in a sprint car, flipping end over end into the catch fence after an axle broke on his car. While he initially was believed to have suffered only a concussion, he later revealed he had suffered severe brain injuries in the accident, resulting in the end of his career.

## Racing record

### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Points | Position |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Formula Ford Zetec Finland | Team Söderman | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 119 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula Ford Zetec Sweden | Team Söderman | ? | ? | ? | ? | 106 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula Ford Zetec Nordic | Team Söderman | 10 | 3 | 0 | ? | 115 | 2nd |
| 2005 | Formula BMW ADAC | Team Rosberg | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 85 | 7th |
| 2005 | Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series | Manor Motorsport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 6th |
| 2006 | Formula Renault 2.0 UK | Mark Burdett Motorsport | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 274 | 7th |
| 2007 | Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup | BVM Minardi Team | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 16th |
| 2007 | Asian Formula Renault Challenge | March 3 Racing | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 87 | 11th |
| 2007 | GP2 Series | BCN Competición | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31st |
| 2008 | Atlantic Championship | Brooks Associates Racing | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 245 | 1st |
| 2009 | Atlantic Championship | Newman Wachs Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 98 | 6th |
| 2010 | AMSOil USAC National Sprint Car Series | Kruseman Motorsport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 2012 | NASCAR K&N Pro Series West | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 69th |

### Complete GP2 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 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2007 | BCN Competición | BHR FEA | BHR SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MAG FEA | MAG SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR DNS | IST FEA | IST SPR | MNZ FEA 9 | MNZ SPR 11 | SPA FEA 11 | SPA SPR Ret | VAL FEA 14 | VAL SPR Ret | 31st | 0 |

### American open–wheel racing results

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

**Atlantic Championship**

| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2008 | Brooks Associates Racing | LBH 7 | LS 4 | MTT 2 | EDM1 2 | EDM2 6 | ROA1 6 | ROA2 6 | TRR Ret | NJ 2 | UTA 1 | ATL 1 | | 1st | 245 |
| 2009 | Newman Wachs Racing | SEB Ret | UTA Ret | NJ1 4 | NJ2 4 | | | | | | | | | 6th | 98 |
| 2009 | Jensen MotorSport | | | | | LIM 9 | ACC1 Ret | ACC2 6 | MDO 4 | TRR 5 | MOS 5 | ATL 5 | LS 5 | 6th | 98 |
