Mihai Marinescu

Mihai Marinescu
Nationality	Romanian
Born	January 25, 1989 (1989-01-25) (age 22) Braşov (Romania)
2011 FIA Formula Two Championship
Debut season	2010
Current team	MotorSport Vision
Car no.	9
Starts	34
Wins	1
Poles	1
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	5th in 2011
Previous series
2005 2005 2005, 2007 2005 2006–07 2006 2006 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008	Formula Junior 1600 Italy Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 FRenault Italy Winter Series Formula Renault 2.0 Italy Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Formula Renault 2.0 France British F3 Formula BMW Europe Formula BMW Americas International Formula Master Formula BMW Pacific

Mihai Marinescu (born January 25, 1989 in Braşov, Romania) is a professional Romanian racing driver currently competing in Formula Two.

Career

Formula Junior & Formula Renault 1.6

After securing several Romanian national karting titles, Marinescu began his racing career in 2005, driving in the Italian Formula Junior 1600 and Belgian Formula Renault 1.6 series. He took six podium places to finish runner-up in the Italian championship, behind Pasquale Di Sabatino, and took three race wins to finish third in the Belgian standings.

Formula Renault

In 2005, Marinescu also took part in selected Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 races and the end-of-season Italian Formula Renault 2.0 winter series, in which he finished thirteenth.

In 2006, he drove a full season in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship, finishing eleventh, and in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, where he finished sixth overall. He also drove in three French Formula Renault 2.0 races, failing to score a point.

In 2007, Marinescu dovetailed two championships once again, racing full seasons in both Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian Formula Renault 2.0. In the former, he secured a single podium finish at the Hungaroring to be classified in eleventh place, whilst in the latter he took three podium places to finish fifth in the championship.

British Formula Three

At the end of the 2007 season, Marinescu also contested two British Formula Three Championship races for Räikkönen Robertson Racing at Rockingham Motor Speedway, taking a National Class podium during the weekend.

Formula BMW

For 2008, Marinescu joined Fisichella Motor Sport to race in the newly-formed Formula BMW Europe championship, which supported the Formula One World Championship at each European race meeting. He finished eleventh in the championship. In November, 2008, he took victory in the Formula BMW Pacific race that supported the annual Formula Three Macau Grand Prix.^[1] He also took part in selected races in the Formula BMW Americas championship.

International Formula Master

In October 2008, Marinescu competed in the final round of the International Formula Master season at Monza. Driving for Pro Motorsport, he finished third in the first race before retiring from the second event.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

In March 2009, Marinescu took part in Formula Renault 3.5 Series pre-season testing for the Austrian Interwetten.com team before signing with them a few days before the first round of the season in Barcelona.^[2] However, he was replaced by Tobias Hegewald after the first championship event,^[3] but this was only for Hegewald to gain experience of the circuit for his forthcoming F2 campaign, with Marinescu returning to the team for the following round in Monaco.

However, before the next round in Hungary, Marinescu left Interwetten.com and signed for the Italian RC Motorsport team to partner Pasquale Di Sabatino.^[4] He returned to Interwetten at Le Mans, but failed to break into the points.

Formula Two

In 2010, Marinescu joined the FIA Formula Two Championship^[5]. He consistently finished in the midfield, and signed up to race in the series again in 2011^[6]. În October 1st 2011, Marinescu won his maiden race in Formula 2 at Monza^[7].

Racing record

Career Summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2005	Italian Formula Junior 1600	AP Motorsport	12	2	0	0	6	200	2nd
	Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series		4	0	0	?	0	9	13th
	Belgian Formula Renault 1.6	District Racing	10	3	1	?	7	142	3rd
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Prema Powerteam	4	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2006	Italian Formula Renault 2.0	AP Motorsport	14	0	0	0	1	50	11th
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC	Petrom District Racing	14	0	1	0	3	175	6th
	French Formula Renault 2.0		3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2007	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Petrom District Racing AP	14	0	0	0	1	37	11th
	Italian Formula Renault 2.0		13	0	1	0	3	206	5th
	British F3 National Class	Räikkönen Robertson Racing	2	0	0	0	1	22	13th
2008	Formula BMW Europe	FMS International	16	0	0	0	0	118	11th
	Formula BMW Americas	Integra Motorsports	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	International Formula Master	Pro Motorsport	2	0	0	0	1	6	22nd
	Formula BMW Pacific	Motaworld Racing	1	1	1	0	1	N/A	N/A
2009	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Interwetten.com	11	0	0	0	0	0	30th
		RC Motorsport
2010	FIA Formula Two Championship	MotorSport Vision	18	0	0	1	0	68	11th
2011	FIA Formula Two Championship	MotorSport Vision	16	1	1	2	4	138	5th

* Season in progress
† As Marinescu was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points

Complete Formula Two results

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

Year	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Points
2010	9	SIL 1 7	SIL 2 8	MAR 1 Ret	MAR 2 14	MON 1 5	MON 2 16	ZOL 1 8	ZOL 2 6	ALG 1 12	ALG 2 4	BRH 1 12	BRH 2 6	BRN 1 16	BRN 2 11	OSC 1 13	OSC 2 6	VAL 1 13	VAL 2 6	11th	68
2011	9	SIL 1 4	SIL 2 5	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 5	SPA 1 8	SPA 2 5	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 11	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 4	SPL 1 3	SPL 2 3	MON 1 1	MON 2 Ret	CAT 1 5	CAT 2 3			5th	138

* Season in progress

References

1. ^ "Teams hail brilliant Formula BMW Pacific season.". bmw-motorsport.com. 2008-12-18. http://bmw-motorsport.com/ms/en/races/fbmw/news/current/2008_12/2008_12_18_1.html. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
2. ^ "Zaugg, Marinescu in for Interwetten". crash.net. 2008-04-16. http://www.crash.net/Renault+WS/News/145406/1/zaugg_marinescu_in_for_interwetten.html. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
3. ^ Mills, Peter (2009-04-24). "Hegewald joins Interwetten for Spa". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74746. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
4. ^ "Mihai Marinescu with RC Motorsport in Budapest". rcmotorsport.it. 2009-06-11. http://www.rcmotorsport.it/news.asp?idcategoria=1&id=205. Retrieved 2009-06-24. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Silverstone testing gets underway". FIA Formula Two Championship (MotorSport Vision). 2010-04-12. http://www.formulatwo.com/news/silverstone-testing-underway.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-15. "Romanian Mihai Marinescu and Briton Tom Gladdis again join the test, as both drivers finalise arrangements to be on the grid for the 2010 season." 
6. ^ "Mihai Marinescu commits to F2 for 2011". FIA Formula Two Championship (MotorSport Vision). 12 April 2011. http://www.formulatwo.com/news/mihai-marinescu-commits-to-f2-for-2011.aspx. Retrieved 12 April 2011. 
7. ^ http://www.automarket.ro/stiri/victorie-romaneasca-in-formula-2-marinescu-a-castigat-la-monza-40876.html

External links

• Official site
• Career statistics from Driver Database

Persondata
Name	Marinescu, Mihai
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 25, 1989
Place of birth	Braşov (Romania)
Date of death
Place of death