Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship.

Fredy Barth
Nationality  Swiss
Born (1979-12-05) 5 December 1979 (age 44)
Lucerne, Switzerland
World Touring Car Championship career
Debut season2010
Current teamWiechers-Sport
Racing licence FIA Silver
Car number77
Former teamsSEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED
Starts63
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps1
Best finish13th in 2010
Previous series
2012
2008–09
2007, 09
2007
2004–09
2005
2003
2002
2001
Blancpain Endurance Series
SEAT León Eurocup
VLN
SEAT León Supercopa Spain
SEAT León Supercopa Germany
Ford Fiesta Cup Germany
Formula Volkswagen Germany
Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup
Formula Renault Campus

Racing career edit

Early years edit

Barth started out in karting before stepping up to French Formula Renault Campus in 2001, where he finished fifth. In 2002 he moved to the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, although he scored no points in nine starts. In 2003 he competed in Formula Volkswagen Germany, where he finished tenth.

SEAT León Supercopa edit

In 2004 Barth moved to touring cars, when he raced in the German SEAT Leon Supercopa, finishing fifth in the standings. He finished third in the standings in 2006, behind champion Florian Gruber and René Rast. He raced in the Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa in 2007, finishing fifth in the standings. He moved to the new SEAT León Eurocup in 2008, finishing 17th in the championship. In 2009 he improved to finish third in the standings behind champion Norbert Michelisz and Massimiliano Pedalà.

World Touring Car Championship edit

SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED (2010–2012) edit

 
Barth driving for SEAT Swiss Racing at the 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan.

Barth made his World Touring Car Championship debut for Sunred Engineering at the 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil.[1] At the start of race one of the Race of Morocco he moved up from eighth to third but was demoted to fourth by Tiago Monteiro, a position which he finished in.[2] He started on the reversed grid pole position in Portugal but a slow start dropped him down to eighth at the end of the first lap. Barth finished the season thirteenth in the overall standings and third in the Rookie Challenge having led early on.

He returned for another season in 2011, racing under the SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED banner.[3] He was due to start on the reversed grid pole for the Race of Belgium but due to damage sustained in race one he was unable to take up his position on the grid. At the season finale in Macau, a major accident on the Friday ruled him out of the rest of the weekend. Barth was knocked unconscious by the impact before the car caught fire, he was extracted from the car and taken to hospital to treat smoke inhalation, back contusion and concussion.[4] He was discharged from hospital the following morning.

Barth was unable to secure a budget to continue in the WTCC for a full season in 2012, electing instead to race in the Blancpain Endurance Series.[5] He returned to the WTCC for the final two rounds of the season.[6] In his first race back at the Race of China he finished tenth in the provisional classification before a 30-second penalty dropped him out of the points, to fourteenth.[7]

Wiechers-Sport (2013–) edit

Barth joined Wiechers-Sport for the 2013 season, driving their BMW 320 TC which took Stefano D'Aste to two wins the previous season.[8] He collided with Robert Huff during qualifying for the Race of Italy, breaking the suspension on Huff's SEAT although neither driver were penalised. Barth went on to qualifying in 20th place.[9] He had originally planned to miss the Race of Portugal and the Race of Brazil due to clashes with his 24 Hours of Spa programme. He raced in Portugal. For the Race of Argentina he was replaced at Wiechers-Sport by local driver José María López, Barth would return to the seat for the rest of the season except the Race of Japan.[10]

Racing record edit

Complete World Touring Car Championship results edit

(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 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2010 SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León TDI BRA
1

9
BRA
2

14
MAR
1

4
MAR
2

5
ITA
1

6
ITA
2

14
BEL
1

10
BEL
2

18
POR
1

8
POR
2

8
GBR
1

11
GBR
2

Ret
CZE
1

12
CZE
2

8
GER
1

11
GER
2

20
ESP
1

7
ESP
2

Ret
JPN
1

Ret
JPN
2

13
MAC
1

Ret
MAC
2

Ret
13th 51
2011 SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI BRA
1

15
BRA
2

Ret
BEL
1

Ret
BEL
2

DNS
ITA
1

10
ITA
2

19
19th 7
SUNRED SR León 1.6T HUN
1

8
HUN
2

10
CZE
1

Ret
CZE
2

16
POR
1

NC
POR
2

10
GBR
1

13
GBR
2

11
GER
1

NC
GER
2

Ret
ESP
1

19
ESP
2

18
JPN
1

Ret
JPN
2

DNS
CHN
1

21
CHN
2

12
MAC
1

DNS
MAC
2

DNS
2012 SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León WTCC ITA
1
ITA
2
ESP
1
ESP
2
MAR
1
MAR
2
SVK
1
SVK
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
AUT
1
AUT
2
POR
1
POR
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
USA
1
USA
2
JPN
1
JPN
2
CHN
1

14
CHN
2

14
MAC
1

8
MAC
2

8
21st 8
2013 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC ITA
1

10
ITA
2

14
MAR
1

13
MAR
2

12
SVK
1

11
SVK
2

13
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

22†
AUT
1

6
AUT
2

13
RUS
1

Ret
RUS
2

DNS
POR
1

17
POR
2

21†
ARG
1
ARG
2
USA
1

17
USA
2

7
JPN
1
JPN
2
CHN
1

19
CHN
2

21
MAC
1

DNS
MAC
2

DNS
17th 15

* Season still in progress.

References edit

  1. ^ "SUNRED to field sixth Leon for Barth". Racer. Haymarket Publications. 27 February 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  2. ^ English, Steven (2 May 2010). "Tarquini wins shortened race one". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  3. ^ Hudson, Neil (17 February 2011). "Barth confirmed to complete six car SUNRED team". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  4. ^ Hudson, Neil (18 November 2011). "Barth and Dahlgren sustain injuries at Macau". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  5. ^ Hudson, Neil (2 March 2012). "No Fredy Barth for 2012 WTCC". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  6. ^ Mills, Peter (11 October 2012). "Fredy Barth takes Tiago Monteiro's seat at SUNRED". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  7. ^ Auger, Matt (4 November 2012). "Shanghai WTCC: Penalty Summary". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  8. ^ "FREDY BARTH TO RACE FOR WIECHERS-SPORT". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  9. ^ Tremayne, Sam (23 March 2013). "Monza WTCC: Yvan Muller dominates chaotic qualifying". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  10. ^ Tremayne, Sam (26 July 2013). "Jose Maria Lopez to make WTCC debut in Argentina". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

External links edit

  Media related to Fredy Barth at Wikimedia Commons