Robin Frijns

Robin Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch motor racing driver. He is the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, and the first driver to have won the series in his debut season since Robert Kubica in 2005.[1] Frijns is currently competing in Formula E driving for Envision Virgin Racing and in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi Sport Team Abt. Frijns achieved his first Formula E podium finish in his second outing in the category, and claimed his maiden victory at the 2019 Paris E-Prix.

Robin Frijns
Frijns in 2012.
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1991-08-07) 7 August 1991 Maastricht, Netherlands
Blancpain Sprint Series career
Debut season	2015
Current team	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
Car number	4
Starts	33
Championships	1 (2017)
Wins	8
Poles	3
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	1st in 2017
Previous series
2013 2012 2011 2010–11 2009–10	GP2 Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Formula BMW Europe
Championship titles
2017 2015 2012 2011 2010	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Blancpain GT Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula BMW Europe
Formula E career
Debut season	2015–16
Current team	Envision Virgin Racing
Car number	4
Former teams	MS Amlin Andretti
Starts	45
Wins	2
Podiums	6
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	4th in 2018–19
Finished last season	12th

Career

Karting

Born in Maastricht, Netherlands, Frijns has been an active kart racer in Belgium and France. In 2008, he finished third in the KF2 European Championship category and runner-up in the French Championship, at the same level.

Formula BMW

Frijns began his formula racing career in the 2009 Formula BMW Europe season with Josef Kaufmann Racing.[2] He finished third overall in the championship, with a win at Silverstone and six podiums. He also finished as the highest-placed rookie in the championship.

Formula Renault

Formula Renault 2.0

Frijns made his first attempt at Formula Renault 2.0, racing at the Spa-Francorchamps round of the 2010 Northern European Cup. Driving for Josef Kaufman Racing once more, Frijns finished second in the first race of the meeting, fifth in the second race, and won the third.

In 2011, Frijns joined the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship full-time, continuing to drive for Josef Kaufman Racing.[3] He won the title on his first attempt, winning five races over the course of the season – including both races at Silverstone – and finishing forty-five points ahead of his nearest rival, Carlos Sainz Jr..

Frijns also competed in the Northern European Cup, finishing the season fourth overall, despite missing the Oschersleben, Most and Monza rounds of the championship. Over the course of the season, he won one race and finished on the podium seven times.

Formula Renault 3.5

In 2012, Frijns made the transition to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series – the highest tier of the World Series by Renault – this time racing for British team Fortec Motorsports.[4] As in 2011, Frijns won the title on his first attempt,[5] winning races at Motorland Aragón, the Moscow Raceway and the Hungaroring, and scoring five podiums and four poles over the course of the season.

Frijns' title came amidst controversy when he was involved in a collision with rival driver Jules Bianchi in the final race of the season in Barcelona.[1] Bianchi passed Frijns at the start of lap 21, and he quickly came under more pressure from Carlin driver Kevin Magnussen. Magnussen made an attempt to pass Frijns at the Repsol corner, but Frijns moved to block him. The move forced Bianchi wide, and he skirted across the gravel trap and into the wall and retirement. Frijns went on to finish the race in seventh place, but race stewards decided that he had caused an avoidable collision and twenty-five seconds were added to his race time, demoting him to fourteenth place.[6] As Bianchi had failed to score, and fellow title rival Sam Bird had failed to score enough points, Frijns' title remained intact. In the days following the meeting, Bianchi accused Frijns of intentionally running him off the road,[7] a charge which Frijns denied.[8]

GP2 Series

After the end of 2012, Frijns announced that he would not compete in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013 and after his announcement at Sauber as test driver, his new team expressed their desire for Frijns to be racing in 2013 as he would not be testing for them full-time in 2013.

After an impressive test with Mercedes' DTM team, Frijns was not offered a drive with the manufacturer. Frijns instead opted to try for a GP2 seat, and tested with veteran team Trident Racing and new team Russian Time. Frijns showed impressive pace and Trident's team principal Maurizio Salvadori praised him and stated his intentions to have Frijns race for the team. However a lack of funding put him on the sidelines for the start of 2013 in Malaysia.

Before the second race in Bahrain, Frijns announced that he would race with new-for-2013 team Hilmer for the second event of the season, replacing Conor Daly and partnering Pål Varhaug. Frijns qualified in a very respectable 10th position ahead of pre-season favourite James Calado, but struggled to adapt to the new Pirelli tyres in the races, before a collision in the first race with Stéphane Richelmi whilst in a points-scoring position compromised his weekend. Team principal Franz Hilmer however was impressed with Frijns and hoped he could compete full-time with the team in 2013.

In only his second weekend, Frijns took a win and a second place at Circuit de Catalunya supporting the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

Formula One

On 18 October 2012, Sauber announced that Frijns will be driving their car during the third round of Young Drivers Test in Abu Dhabi alongside the team's testing and reserve driver Esteban Gutiérrez.[9] As the highest-placed Formula Renault driver not attached to any established Formula One team, Frijns was also added to Red Bull Racing's line-up for the test.[10]

Reflecting on Frijns' 2012 season, ESPN commentator Ben Evans opined that "anything less than a Formula One race seat next year would be a travesty".[11]

On 23 November 2012, it was announced that Robin Frijns would become part of Sauber, and would serve as test and reserve driver in 2013.[12]

On 21 January 2014, Frijns confirmed that he will be a reserve driver for Caterham in the 2014 season.

Sports car racing

In 2015, Frijns joined Belgium Belgian Audi Club Team WRT to drive an Audi R8 at the Blancpain GT Series, partnering with Laurens Vanthoor and Jean-Karl Vernay.

Formula E

On 24 August 2015, it was announced that Frijns would partner fellow former Sauber test driver Simona de Silvestro at Andretti for the 2015–16 Formula E season. He came 10th in his first race and scored a podium in Putrajaya. Frijns finished in the points in the following two races making him the first Formula E rookie to finish his first four races in the top 10. After four races, Frijns had scored all of Andretti's points tally of 21. He finished 12th in the standings.

Frijns was retained by Andretti for the 2016-17 Formula E season and partnered Antonio Felix da Costa.

2018-19

Frijns joined Envision Virgin Racing for the 2018-2019 Formula E season, partnered by Sam Bird. The Envision Virgin Racing team, suffered a difficult start to the season in Ad Diriyah, with Frijns starting from 20th position on the grid, just behind teammate Bird. Frijns managed to make his way up to 12th. He took his first podium for the team at the Marrakesh E-Prix, coming very close to overtaking Mahindra Racing's Jérome d'Ambrosio, but ultimately finishing second. Frijns drove a controlled race in Santiago, finishing in fifth, whilst Bird took the race victory. A forgettable weekend came next in Mexico City, starting 20th, after both Envision Virgin Racing cars hit problems in qualifying, battling his way up to 11th. Teammate Sam Bird, took the chequered flag first in Formula E's 50th ePrix in Hong Kong, but was denied the win after being found guilty of hitting André Lotterer, dropping Bird down to 6th place. Venturi's Edoardo Mortara inherited the race victory, promoting Lucas di Grassi into second and crucially Frijns to third, for his second podium finish of the 2018-19 season. For the next race in Sanya, Frijns had run in the top 10 for the entirety of the race and was set for big points, until a tangle with Sébastien Buemi on the penultimate lap, ended Frijns' race after crashing heavily into Lucas di Grassi. Frijns finished P4, for the Rome ePrix, making use of Attack Mode to pass Buemi and Oliver Rowland. For the Paris ePrix, Frijns started from 3rd on the grid, behind Buemi and Rowland, but when both drivers hit trouble, he took the lead and dominated in tricky conditions, mastering torrential rain and hailstones. André Lotterer closed in on Frijns, who had a damaged front wing, towards the end of the race, but the Dutch driver did enough to hold on and win the ePrix. On the cool-down lap, Frijns stopped at a marshall's post to pick up a Dutch flag, which he revealed had been pre-agreed. At the next race in Monaco, Frijns had started towards the back of the grid, but made several overtakes, most notably one on Alex Lynn at Tabac, to get him into a top 10 position. He pushed his luck with the overtaking however and tried an ambitious move on Alexander Sims into Ste. Devote. It didn't pay off and it ended Frijns' race. In Berlin, Frijns had technical issues in the group qualifying stages and started plum-last in 22nd. Whilst he made progress, it wasn't enough for points and he languished in 13th. At the next race in Bern, Frijns was hit by Jérome d'Ambrosio, before they even got to the first corner. Frijns speared across the track and into Alex Lynn and was forced to retire with broken suspension. d'Ambrosio would receive a penalty for the collision. For the finale weekend in New York, Frijns would be challenging for the title, however in race 1, he was victim to the bumper-car style driving of his Formula E counterparts and was forced to retire from the race. For the second race, Frijns made it into the Superpole shootout and qualified second behind Alexander Sims. At the start of the race, Frijns lost second to Sébastien Buemi, but overtook the Nissan and the BMW i Andretti drivers to take his second ever Formula E victory. The win put him 4th in the drivers championship after a last-lap crash between Mitch Evans and Lucas di Grassi, also helping the Envision Virgin team take 3rd in the constructors championship from Nissan e.Dams.

2019-20

Frijns started the season well taking 5th place after driving through the field in the first race of the 2019 Diriyah ePrix, but crashed out of the second race to record a DNF. During qualifying at the next race at Santiago, Frijns spun spectacularly whilst on his fast lap & consigned himself to the back of the grid. He struggled in the race & finished a lowly 15th. He returned to form at Mexico City & was running high up in the points & in podium contention until he was wiped out by the Mercedes EQ car of Nyck De Vries who was using Fanboost to attack Antonio Felix Da Costa. Frijns continued, albeit well down the order & was eventually disqualified having finished out of the top 10 anyway. In the next race in Marrakesh, Frijns made progress up the field but only finished 12th. He currently sits 15th in the drivers championship standings having scored a very disappointing 10 points.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Frijns in DTM.

On 29 January 2018, it was announced that Frijns will drive for Audi Sport in the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, replacing Mattias Ekström, who elected to focus solely on the FIA World Rallycross Championship.[13]

2019

Frijns partnered Nico Müller for the 2019 season at Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline & finished 5th overall in the drivers championship down to his consistency more than results, having stood on the podium 5 times without a win.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2009	Formula BMW Europe	Josef Kaufmann Racing	16	1	1	1	6	265	3rd
2010	Formula BMW Europe	Josef Kaufmann Racing	16	6	3	3	13	383	1st
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		3	1	0	1	2	70	14th
2011	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Josef Kaufmann Racing	14	5	1	0	9	245	1st
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		12	1	1	2	7	238	4th
2012	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Fortec Motorsport	17	3	4	1	8	189	1st
2013	GP2 Series	Hilmer Motorsport	10	1	0	0	2	47	15th
	Formula One	Sauber F1 Team	Test driver
2014	Formula One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver
2015	Blancpain Sprint Series	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	11	5	2	0	7	127	2nd
	Blancpain Endurance Series		5	0	0	0	2	48	6th
	Blancpain GT Series		19	5	2	0	9	175	1st
2015–16	Formula E	Amlin Andretti	10	0	0	0	1	45	12th
2016	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	8	1	0	2	2	33	10th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		5	0	0	0	0	4	42nd
	ADAC GT Masters	kfzteile24 APR Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi	1	1	0	0	1	25	7th
2016–17	Formula E	MS Amlin Andretti	12	0	0	0	0	24	13th
2017	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Team WRT	8	2	1	0	4	82	1st
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		2	0	1	0	1	28	13th
	FIA GT World Cup		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi	2	0	0	0	0	8	12th
2018	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	20	0	0	1	2	84	13th
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	6	0	0	1	0	13	15th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		2	0	0	0	0	14	29th
		Audi Sport Team WRT	1	0	0	0	0
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi	3	1	1	0	2	55	5th
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship	Jackie Chan DCR JOTA	1	0	0	0	0	20	55th
	FIA GT World Cup	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
	Stock Car Brasil	Full Time Bassani	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2018-19	Formula E	Envision Virgin Racing	13	2	0	0	4	106	4th
2019	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	18	0	0	3	5	157	5th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Audi Sport Team WRT	1	0	0	0	0	3	32nd
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2019-20	Formula E	Envision Virgin Racing	10	0	0	0	2	58	12th
2020	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	2	0	1	0	1	22	4th*

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

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
2012	Fortec Motorsports	ALC 1 3	ALC 2 1	MON 1 Ret	SPA 1 7	SPA 2 3	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 5	MSC 1 1	MSC 2 17	SIL 1 2	SIL 2 9	HUN 1 1	HUN 2 5	LEC 1 7	LEC 2 9	CAT 1 3	CAT 2 14	1st	189

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	22	DC	Points
2013	Hilmer Motorsport	SEP FEA	SEP SPR	BHR FEA 21	BHR SPR 23	CAT FEA 1	CAT SPR 2	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 15	SIL FEA 13	SIL SPR Ret	NÜR FEA 6	NÜR SPR Ret	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA 9	SPA SPR Ret	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	MRN FEA	MRN SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR	15th	47

Complete Formula One participations

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2014	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham CT05	Renault Energy F1‑2014 1.6 V6 t	AUS	MAL	BHR TD	CHN	ESP	MON	CAN	AUT	GBR TD	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	RUS	USA	BRA	ABU	-	-

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Points
2015	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR DNS	NOG CR DNS	BRH QR 1	BRH CR 1	ZOL QR 1	ZOL CR 1	MOS QR Ret	MOS CR 5	ALG QR 2	ALG CR 1	MIS QR Ret	MIS CR DNS	ZAN QR 15	ZAN CR 2	2nd	127
2016	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	MIS QR 4	MIS CR 22	BRH QR 6	BRH CR 12	NÜR QR	NÜR CR	HUN QR 11	HUN CR 7	CAT QR 1	CAT CR 3					10th	33
2017	Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	MIS QR	MIS CR	BRH QR 7	BRH CR 2	ZOL QR 1	ZOL CR 3	HUN QR 5	HUN CR 4	NÜR QR 6	NÜR CR 1					1st	82
2018	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	ZOL 1 5	ZOL 2 5	BRH 1	BRH 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 16	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 9					15th	13

Complete Formula E results

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

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Points
2015–16	Amlin Andretti	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI 10	PUT 3	PDE 10	BUE 8	MEX 5	LBH 15	PAR 7	BER 6	LON Ret	LON Ret				12th	45
2016–17	MS Amlin Andretti	Spark SRT01-e	Andretti ATEC-02	HKG 6	MRK 11	BUE 14	MEX 11	MCO 12	PAR 6	BER 17	BER 18	NYC 9	NYC 9	MTL 8	MTL 13		13th	24
2018–19	Envision Virgin Racing	Spark SRT05e	Audi e-tron FE05	ADR 12	MRK 2	SCL 5	MEX 11	HKG 3	SYX 14	RME 4	PAR 1	MCO 17†	BER 13	BRN Ret	NYC Ret	NYC 1	4th	106
2019–20	Envision Virgin Racing	Spark SRT05e	Audi e-tron FE06	DIR 5	DIR Ret	SCL 15	MEX DSQ	MRK 12	BER Ret	BER 4	BER 2	BER DNS	BER 2	BER Ret			12th	58

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year	Car#	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2018	37	Audi Sport Team WRT	Stuart Leonard Dries Vanthoor	Audi R8 LMS	APP	271	1st	1st

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2018	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	HOC 1 18	HOC 2 12	LAU 1 13	LAU 2 10	HUN 1 7	HUN 2 8	NOR 1 12	NOR 2 8	ZAN 1 5	ZAN 2 Ret	BRH 1 12	BRH 2 12	MIS 1 2	MIS 2 4	NÜR 1 17	NÜR 2 10	SPL 1 11	SPL 2 13	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 5	13th	84
2019	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 Turbo DTM	HOC 1 3	HOC 2 3	ZOL 1 12	ZOL 2 Ret	MIS 1 Ret	MIS 2 4	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 4	ASS 1 Ret	ASS 2 6	BRH 1 4	BRH 2 3	LAU 1 2	LAU 2 5	NÜR 1 DSQ	NÜR 2 2	HOC 1 4	HOC 2 7			5th	157
2020	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 Turbo DTM	SPA 1 9	SPA 2 3	LAU 1	LAU 2	LAU 1	LAU 2	ASS 1	ASS 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2			4th*	22*

^* Season still in progress.

References

1. "Frijns gets title in clash, da Costa wins". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
2. "Josef Kaufmann Racing — Formula BMW Europe Season 2009". jk-racing.de. Josef Kaufmann Racing. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2009. Josef Kaufman Racing will compete in the 2009 Formula BMW Europe Championship with the drivers Robin Frijns, Kazeem Manzur and Facu Regalia
3. "Frijns e Tunjo si affidano a Kaufmann" [Frijns and Tunjo join Kaufmann]. ItaliaRacing.net (in Italian). Inpagina. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
4. "Frijns completes Fortec Formula Renault 3.5 line-up". Fortec Motorsports. Fortec Motorsport Ltd. 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
5. Collantine, Keith (21 October 2012). "One to Watch — Robin Frijns". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
6. "Frijns penalised but keeps title". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
7. "Bianchi says Frijns pushed him out". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
8. "Frijns: Bianchi clash a racing incident". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
9. Collantine, Keith (18 October 2012). "Frijns gets Sauber test chance". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
10. Freeman, Glenn (19 October 2012). "Robin Frijns says Sauber Formula 1 test crucial for career". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
11. Evans, Ben (19 October 2012). "F1 hopefuls battle for Formula Renault 3.5 title". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collatine. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
12. "Sauber F1 Team signs Esteban Gutiérrez as its race driver, Robin Frijns becomes test and reserve driver". Sauber F1 Team. 23 November 2012. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
13. Beer, Matt (29 January 2018). "Frijns replaces Ekstrom in Audi's DTM line-up". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 29 January 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Robin Frijns career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Felipe Nasr	Formula BMW Europe Champion 2010	Succeeded by None (Series ended)
Preceded by Kevin Korjus	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Champion 2011	Succeeded by Stoffel Vandoorne
Preceded by Robert Wickens	Formula Renault 3.5 Series Champion 2012	Succeeded by Kevin Magnussen
Preceded by Laurens Vanthoor	Blancpain GT Series Champion 2015	Succeeded by Dominik Baumann Maximilian Buhk
Preceded by Enzo Ide	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Champion 2017 With: Stuart Leonard	Succeeded by Raffaele Marciello Michael Meadows
Preceded by Craig Lowndes Toni Vilander Jamie Whincup	Winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour 2018 With: Stuart Leonard & Dries Vanthoor	Succeeded by Matt Campbell Dennis Olsen Dirk Werner