Alexander Sims (racing driver)


Alexander George Oliver Sims is a British professional racing driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. He previously drove for Whelen Engineering Racing in IMSA where he won the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship. Previously Sims has driven in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship for Mahindra Racing and BMW i Andretti Motorsport, winning one race in Diriyah.
Sims was the winner of the 2008 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for promising young British drivers.

Career

Karting

Sims' kart racing career started in 1998 when he started competing in club competitions. In 2000, Sims had a successful campaign, he won the Super 1 MSA Cadet Championship, the Kartmasters Grand Prix, the 5 Nations Cup and came second in the Champions of The Future British Cadet Championship. Sims latterly added the JICA British Championship, the Monaco Kart Cup, three British Grands Prix and the Formula A World Championship, before moving into single-seaters in 2006.

Formula Renault

Having started his car racing career in late 2006, Sims scored a second place in his first ever car race in the Formula Renault UK 2.0 Winter Series, before finishing ninth in the championship standings. In 2007, Sims raced in the main series with Manor Competition. He finished eighth overall, after taking one win at Donington Park, and second places at Brands Hatch and Thruxton. He also forayed into the French and Northern European Cup championships during the season and added his first pole position in the category, at Val de Vienne during the French championship. Sims also contested the 2007 UK Winter Series, but failed to finish in three of the four races.
Sims remained with Manor Competition in Formula Renault UK for 2008, and challenged for the championship. Finishing every race, Sims actually scored the most points over the course of the championship, with 473. However, Formula Renault UK employs a points system that means that a driver must drop their two worst scores over the season. Unfortunately for Sims, his worst scores were a pair of ninths worth 24 points, and Adam Christodoulou, his main championship rival dropped two retirements. Thus, a 24-point swing resulted in Christodoulou turning a one-point deficit into a 23-point championship win. He also contested the final round of the Formula BMW Pacific in Macau, finishing eighth with the fastest lap. In December 2008, Sims won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.

Formula Three

At the 2008 Autosport Awards ceremony, Sims announced his plans to race with German team Mücke Motorsport in the Formula 3 Euro Series. In a season dominated by Jules Bianchi, Sims took fourth place in the championship, with a win at the Nürburgring and four second places. He also took part in two rounds of the International Formula Master series, with two fourth places at the Hungaroring being his best results. For 2010, Sims would move to ART Grand Prix.
In 2013, Sims competed in a partial GP3 season. He first raced at the Nürburgring for Status Grand Prix in place of Adderly Fong. He then competed in the final three rounds for Carlin, replacing Eric Lichtenstein. Despite only participating in half of the races, he finished the season in eighth place, with one win and two further podiums.

Sports car racing

In 2012, Sims drove a Lola-Judd LMP2 for Status Grand Prix at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two rounds of the European Le Mans Series.
Sims joined Hexis Racing in 2013 to compete at the Blancpain Endurance Series with a McLaren MP4-12C, partnering with Álvaro Parente and Stef Dusseldorp.
In 2014 and 2015, Sims raced at the British GT Championship for Ecurie Ecosse with a BMW Z4.
Sims competed at the 2016 Blancpain GT Series for Rowe Racing with a BMW M6, winning the 24 Hours of Spa.
In 2017, Sims competed at the GT Le Mans class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship with a factory BMW M6.
Sims competed in two races of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship for BMW Team MTEK.

Formula E

In May 2017, Sims was present at the Monaco ePrix as a stand-by option for Robin Frijns. Later that month, he was announced as a development driver for MS Amlin Andretti for the 2017-18 season. He would join BMW for Season 5, partnering Antonio Felix Da Costa. At the final race of the season at the 2019 New York City ePrix, Sims claimed pole position and the first podium of his Formula E career finishing second. Returning with BMW for the 2019–20 Formula E season, Sims won his first race in Formula E at race 2 of the 2019 Diriyah ePrix.
In August 2020, it was announced that Sims would replace Jérôme d'Ambrosio at Mahindra Racing for the 2020–21 Formula E season, who retired from competitive racing to become deputy team principal at Venturi Racing. Sims ended the season with a podium in the 2021 Rome ePrix, five point scoring finishes, and 54 points, enough for 19th at the end of the year standings. For 2022, Sims would stay with Mahindra, but this time partnered by Oliver Rowland. Sims departed from Formula E after the end of the 2021-22 season.

Racing record

Career summary

As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516DCPoints
2007Manor CompetitionZAN
1

ZAN
2

OSC
1

OSC
2

ASS
1

ASS
2

ZOL
1

ZOL
1

NUR
1

Ret
NUR
2

5
OSC
1

OSC
2

SPA
1

SPA
2

HOC
1

HOC
2

37th16

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314DCPoints
2008SG FormulaSPA
1

SPA
2

SIL
1

SIL
2

HUN
1

HUN
2

NÜR
1

NÜR
2

LMS
1

6
LMS
2

9
EST
1

EST
2

CAT
1

CAT
2

19th7

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

YearEntrantChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718192021222324DCPoints
2009Mücke MotorsportDallara F308/005MercedesHOC
1

17
HOC
2

8
LAU
1

Ret
LAU
2

22
NOR
1

2
NOR
2

16
ZAN
1

13
ZAN
2

9
OSC
1

5
OSC
2

4
NÜR
1

7
NÜR
2

1
BRH
1

4
BRH
2

2
CAT
1

2
CAT
2

2
DIJ
1

8
DIJ
2

4
HOC
1

6
HOC
2

14†
4th54
2010ART Grand PrixDallara F308/048MercedesLEC
1

3
LEC
2

1
HOC
1

Ret
HOC
2

8
VAL
1

3
VAL
2

5
NOR
1

4
NOR
2

4
NÜR
1

4
NÜR
2

3
ZAN
1

4
ZAN
2

5
BRH
1

5
BRH
2

8
OSC
1

2
OSC
2

8
HOC
1

4
HOC
2

5
4th63
2012ThreeBond with T-SportDallara F312/008ThreeBond NissanHOC
1
HOC
2
HOC
3
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
RBR
1
RBR
2
RBR
3
NOR
1
NOR
2
NOR
3
NÜR
1

8
NÜR
2

1
NÜR
3

12
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
ZAN
3
VAL
1
VAL
2
VAL
3
HOC
1
HOC
2
HOC
3
NC‡0‡

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete Auto GP results

YearEntrant123456789101112PosPoints
2010Charouz-Gravity RacingBRN
1
BRN
2
IMO
1
IMO
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MAG
1
MAG
2
NAV
1

11
NAV
2

Ret
MNZ
1

9
MNZ
2

15
25th0

Complete GP3 Series results

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516DCPoints
2011Status Grand PrixIST
FEA

8
IST
SPR

1
CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

Ret
VAL
FEA

6
VAL
SPR

2
SIL
FEA

2
SIL
SPR

3
NÜR
FEA

12
NÜR
SPR

2
HUN
FEA

DSQ
HUN
SPR

9
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

Ret
MNZ
FEA

21†
MNZ
SPR

Ret
6th34
2013Status Grand PrixCAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA

8
NÜR
SPR

2
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
8th77
2013CarlinSPA
FEA

5
SPA
SPR

1
MNZ
FEA

5
MNZ
SPR

6
YMC
FEA

2
YMC
SPR

7
8th77

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

YearEntrantEngine123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233DCPoints
2012ThreeBond with T-SportThreeBond NissanHOC
1
HOC
2
PAU
1
PAU
2
BRH
1
BRH
2
RBR
1
RBR
2
NOR
1
NOR
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
NÜR
1

8
NÜR
2

12
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
VAL
1
VAL
2
HOC
1
HOC
2
NC‡0‡
2013ThreeBond with T-SportThreeBond NissanMNZ
1
MNZ
2
MNZ
3
SIL
1
SIL
2
SIL
3
HOC
1
HOC
2
HOC
3
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
RBR
1
RBR
2
RBR
3
NOR
1

14
NOR
2

4
NOR
3

5
NÜR
1

2
NÜR
2

3
NÜR
3

Ret
ZAN
1

Ret
ZAN
2

10
ZAN
3

9
VAL
1

2
VAL
2

2
VAL
3

3
HOC
1
HOC
2
HOC
3
10th112
2015HitechGPMercedesSIL
1
SIL
2
SIL
3
HOC
1
HOC
2
HOC
3
PAU
1
PAU
2
PAU
3
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
MNZ
3
SPA
1
SPA
2
SPA
3
NOR
1
NOR
2
NOR
3
RBR
1
RBR
2
RBR
3
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
ZAN
3
ALG
1

25
ALG
2

15
ALG
3

13
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
NÜR
3
HOC
1

5
HOC
2

DSQ
HOC
3

4
NC‡0‡
2016HitechGPMercedesLEC
1
LEC
2
LEC
3
HUN
1
HUN
2
HUN
3
PAU
1
PAU
2
PAU
3
RBR
1
RBR
2
RBR
3
NOR
1
NOR
2
NOR
3
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
ZAN
3
SPA
1
SPA
2
SPA
3
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
NÜR
3
IMO
1
IMO
2
IMO
3
HOC
1

9
HOC
2

11
HOC
3

5
NC‡0‡

As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete British GT Championship results

YearTeamCarClass12345678910DCPoints
2014Ecurie Ecosse
powered by Black Bull
BMW Z4 GT3GT3OUL
1

Ret
OUL
2

1
ROC
1

2
SIL
1

3
SNE
1
SNE
2
SPA
1

4
SPA
2

1
BRH
1

4
DON
1

Ret
3rd129.5
2015Ecurie Ecosse
powered by Black Bull
BMW Z4 GT3GT3OUL
1

6
OUL
2

3
ROC
1

1
SIL
1

3
SPA
1

4
BRH
1

1
SNE
1

8
SNE
2

10
DON
1

Ret
2nd143.5
2016Barwell MotorsportLamborghini Huracán GT3GT3BRH
1
ROC
1
OUL
1
OUL
2
SIL
1

Ret
SPA
1

8
SNE
1

9
SNE
2

Ret
DON
1

5
14th23
2022Century MotorsportBMW M4 GT3GT3OUL
1
OUL
2
SIL
1
DON
1
SNE
1
SNE
2
SPA
1
BRH
1

3
DON
1

1
11th60

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula E results

YearTeamChassisPowertrain12345678910111213141516PosPoints
2018–19BMW i Andretti MotorsportSpark SRT05eBMW iFE.18ADR
18
MRK
4
SCL
7
MEX
14
HKG
Ret
SYX
Ret
RME
17
PAR
Ret
MCO
13
BER
7
BRN
11
NYC
4
NYC
2
13th57
2019–20BMW i Andretti MotorsportSpark SRT05eBMW iFE.20DIR
8
DIR
1
SCL
Ret
MEX
5
MRK
Ret
BER
9
BER
19
BER
10
BER
13
BER
11
BER
13
13th49
2020–21Mahindra RacingSpark SRT05eMahindra M7ElectroDIR
7
DIR
15
RME
Ret
RME
2
VLC
DSQ
VLC
23
MCO
Ret
PUE
4
PUE
Ret
NYC
Ret
NYC
6
LDN
Ret
LDN
16
BER
17
BER
5
19th54
2021–22Mahindra RacingSpark SRT05eMahindra M8ElectroDRH
14
DRH
Ret
MEX
Ret
RME
12
RME
Ret
MCO
11
BER
9
BER
18
JAK
15
MRK
14
NYC
14
NYC
4
LDN
13
LDN
11
SEO
Ret
SEO
12
17th14