(born
20 May 1975 ) is a
Racing Driver from the
United Kingdom , who races under
Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is Irish) and an Irish-issued racing licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., founded the
Van Diemen racecar constructor. He won the 1996
British Formula Three Championship , on his second attempt. He then moved to
Japan , culminating in the 2002
Formula Nippon championship, before returning to
Europe . He participated in 14
Formula One grands prix, debuting on
March 9 ,
2003 . He scored a total of 1 championship point, in the
2003 Spanish Grand Prix . Firman has also competed in the
Le Mans 24 Hours , and was an official
Test Driver for the
A1 Grand Prix series in August 2004.
Ralph's sister
Natasha is also a racing driver.
In
August 2005 , it was announced that he would be the driver for
A1 Team Ireland . He had previously been seen to be in competition for the Great Britain seat.
(Note: grands prix in denote '''points scoring''' races.)
