Sean Edwards (racing driver)

Sean Lawrence Guy Edwards (6 December 1986 − 15 October 2013) was an English professional racing driver, whose career highlight was winning as co-driver the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hours.[1] He died as a passenger in a private testing incident in October 2013, at Queensland Raceway in Australia.[1][2]

Sean Edwards
Edwards at the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany on the Nürburgring in 2013.
Nationality	British
Born	(1986-12-06)6 December 1986 London, England
Died	15 October 2013(2013-10-15) (aged 26) Willowbank, Queensland, Australia
Related to	Guy Edwards (father)
Porsche Supercup
Years active	2008, 2010–13
Teams	Konrad Motorsport Tolimit Motorsport
Starts	50
Wins	8
Poles	6
Fastest laps	7
Best finish	2nd in 2013
Previous series
2006–09 2007–09 2010–12 2011–12 2012–13	FIA GT3 European Championship FIA GT Championship Porsche Carrera Cup Germany American Le Mans Series Rolex Sports Car Series
Championship titles
2006	FIA GT3 European Championship

Edwards at the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup on the Hockenheimring in 2010.

Early and personal life

Edwards was born in London on 6 December 1986, the son of racing driver Guy Edwards. He was educated at Wellington College and Cherwell College in Oxford. He lived and was based in Monaco.[3]

Career

Edwards started racing at the age of eleven taking part in karting competitions.[3]

After gaining fourth place in the 2003 British Formula Ford Championship, he gained 5th in the 2004 Formula Renault UK, and fifth in the 2005 British GT Championship.[1]

Moving to Monaco, he then undertook drives in various years of the FIA GT3 European Championship, the Porsche Supercup (latterly with Team Allyouneed) and the American Le Mans Series (with MOMO NGT Motorsport).[4] In 2006 he won the FIA European GT3 championship driving a Tech9 Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup Car. In May 2013 he won the Nurburgring 24 Hours, his first major victory in endurance racing, driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 alongside Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Nicki Thiim.[1]

One of the first professional racing drivers to embrace Sim racing as a means of development and training, in 2012 he assisted with the racing scenes in Ron Howard's film Rush, about the battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the 1976 Formula One season. The younger Edwards also portrayed his father in several scenes of the film, the latter being among the drivers who pulled Lauda from the burning wreckage of his formula one racing car during the 1976 German Grand Prix.[2]

Death

On 15 October 2013, Edwards was killed in a crash during a private session at Queensland Raceway in Willowbank, Queensland, Australia as a passenger whilst instructing Will Holzheimer of Dellow Racing in a Porsche 996 Supercup car.[1][2][5] Holzheimer was treated at Royal Brisbane Hospital for injuries and burns.[5]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2003	British Formula Ford		12	1	–	–	4	–	4th
2004	Formula Renault UK		20	–	–	–	–	–	5th
2005	British GT		4	–	–	–	–	–	5th
2006	FIA GT3 European Championship	Tech9 Motorsport	10	3	–	–	7	54	1st
2007	FIA GT Championship (GT2)	Tech9 Motorsport	10	0	–	–	1	24.5	15th
2008	Porsche Supercup	Konrad Motorsport	11	2	–	–	4	96	5th
	FIA GT Championship (Citation Cup)	ARC Bratislava	2	0	0	0	0	0
2009	FIA GT3 European Championship	Mühlner Motorsport/Trackspeed Racing	4	0	0	–	–	1	56th
	Le Mans Series	ARC Bratislava	1	0	0	–	–	–	–
2010	Porsche Supercup	Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit	10	1	1	–	3	95	6th
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Team Deutsche Post by tolimit	7	0	0	–	1	68	8th
2011	Porsche Supercup	Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit	11	1	1	–	4	140	4th
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Team Deutsche Post by tolimit	9	2	1	–	6	130	2nd
	American Le Mans Series	NGT Motorsport	2	0	1	1	2	41	13th
2012	Porsche Supercup	Konrad Motorsport	10	1	1	–	5	107	5th
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Team Deutsche Post by tolimit	17	5	8	–	11	233	2nd
	American Le Mans Series	MOMO NGT Motorsport	1	0	1	1	0	6	31st

Complete Porsche Supercup 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	DC	Points
2008	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 997 GT3	BHR 1	BHR 1	ESP 1	TUR Ret	MON 1	FRA 13	GBR 1	GER 10	HUN Ret	ESP 12	BEL 1	ITA 6	5th	96
2010	Team Abu Dhabi by Tolimit	Porsche 997 GT3	BHR 8	BHR 15	ESP 12	MON 10	TUR 5	GBR 12	GER 19	HUN 2	BEL 1	ITA 2			6th	95
2011	Team Abu Dhabi by Tolimit	Porsche 997 GT3	TUR 4	ESP 1	MON 3	NNS 4	GBR 10	NÜR 3	HUN 3	BEL 6	ITA Ret	UAE 6	UAE 4		4th	140
2012	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 997 GT3	BHR 2	BHR 14	MON 1	VAL 2	GBR 3	GER Ret	HUN 3	HUN DSQ	BEL 5	ITA DSQ			5th	107
2013	Team Allyouneed by Project	Porsche 991	ESP 1	MON 1	GBR 4	GER 4	HUN 1	BEL 2	ITA 5	UAE	UAE				2nd	118

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	Tech9 Motorsport	Sascha Maassen Leo Machitski	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	GT2	501	11th	3rd

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	Prospeed Competition	Abdulaziz al Faisal Bret Curtis	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	GTE Am	180	DNF	DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Dubai results

Year	Class	No	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2010	A6	4	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR Porsche 4.0L Flat-6	ARC Bratislava	Miro Konôpka Oliver Morley Richard Cvörnjek	87	DNF	DNF
2011	A6	18	Porsche 997 GT3 R Porsche 4.0L Flat-6	tolimit Arabia	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jeroen Bleekemolen Sascha Maassen	583	4th	4th
2012	A6	3	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG 6.3L V8	Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jeroen Bleekemolen Thomas Jäger	628	1st	1st
2013	A6-Pro	1	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG 6.3L V8	Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jeroen Bleekemolen Bernd Schneider	600	1st	1st

Complete Nürburgring 24 Hours results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	SP9	15	D	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG 6.3L V8	Black Falcon	Jeroen Bleekemolen Manuel Metzger Ralf Schall	4	DNF	DNF
2013	SP9	9	D	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG 6.3L V8	Black Falcon	Bernd Schneider Jeroen Bleekemolen Nicki Thiim	88	1st	1st

References

1. "British racing driver Sean Edwards killed in crash in Australia". Retrieved 16 October 2013.
2. "English race driver Sean Edwards killed in Queensland Raceway crash at Willowbank". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
3. "Biography". Retrieved 18 June 2011.
4. "Edwards Takes Lights-To-Flag Win at Barcelona". Retrieved 18 June 2011.
5. "Race car driver Sean Edwards on coaching trip in fatal crash at Queensland Raceway". Brisbane Times. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Sean Edwards driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Sean Edwards's channel on YouTube (official)