Alexander Sims

Alexander Sims is a British racing driver who competed in various open-wheels series before moving to GT racing category. He returned to open-wheelers in 2018 by joining BMW Andretti in the fifth season of the Formula E Championship.

His greatest success earlier in a career was the second place in GTLM class of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship in which he was driving for BMW Team RLL. Two years earlier, in 2015, he was a vice-champion in the British GT Championship.

Alexander Sims

Successful karting career

Alexander Sims was born in March 1988 in London where, at the age of 10, began to race karting. In the next couple of years, Sims won several titles, including 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. Before switching to single-seaters in 2006, Alex also won the JICA British Championship, the Monaco Kart Cup, three British Grands Prix and the Formula A World Championship.

British Formula Renault vice-champion

After a successful try with Manor Competition in the British Formula Renault Winter Series, Sims stayed with the team in 2007. In his first full-time season in the series, Sims did a solid job. He scored one win and other two podiums before finishing 8th in the final standings. That year Alex also raced as a guest in the French Formula Renault, as well as in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup but without any success.

In 2008, Sims stayed with Manor in the British Formula Renault and finished the season as a runner-up, losing to Adam Christodoulou. Actually, Alex scored most points that year and he was supposed to be a champion because he scored in every race, but due to an unusual scoring system, Sims lost 24 points which pushed him down to the 2nd place.

Alexander Sims is one of the most accomplished British racing drivers

Two years in Formula 3

As a member of Mucke Motorsport, Sims in 2009 debuted in Formula 3 Euroseries. The London-born racer won the race at Nurburgring and finished 2nd in the races at Norisring, Brands Hatch, and Catalunya Circuit before taking the 4th place in the Drivers’ Championship, behind Jules Bianchi, Christian Vietoris, and Valtteri Bottas. That year Sims also debuted in Macau Grand Prix and took the 18th place.

In 2010, Sims stayed in Formula 3 Euroseries, this time as a driver of ART Grand Prix. His only victory that year was at Circuit Paul Ricard but he had other four podiums, including the 2nd place in Masters of Formula 3, and for the second year in a row, he found himself at the 4th position in the final standings, behind Edoardo Mortara, Marco Wittmann, and Valtteri Bottas.

With the same squad, Alex also appeared in selected rounds of British Formula 3 and scored one win. At the same time, Sims raced part-time with Charouz-Gravity Racing in the Auto GP championship.

Alexander Sims, ART Grand Prix, 2010 Formula 3

Looking for the new opportunities

In the next couple of years, Sims shared his duties between various championships. In 2011, his main duty was racing in the GP3 Series with Status Grand Prix. He won the race in Istanbul, finished 2nd at Valencia and Nurburgring, while at Silverstone he scored two podium finishes before taking the 6th position in the standings.

In 2012, Alex raced with the same team in the European Le Mans Series and debuted in 24 Hours of Le Mans but failed to finish the race. At the same time, as a driver of T-Sport, Sims appeared as a guest in one round of Formula 3 Euroseries and also finished 15th in the Macau Grand Prix.

Sims driving the #17 Status GP Lola B12/80 Coupe - Judd HK, ELMS

Variety of competitions in 2013

The schedule in the next season was even fuller. With T-Sport, Sims finished 10th in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and 4th in the Macau Grand Prix, behind Alex Lynn, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Pipo Derani. In the GP3 Series, Alex drove part-time with Status Grand Prix and Carlin, winning one race before finishing 8th in the standings. Finally, he raced full time with Hexis Racing in the Blancpain GT Endurance Series. His best result in the newly-formed championship was the 3rd place in the race at Misano Circuit.

Good results in the British GT

In 2014, Sims debuted in the British GT Series. Driving for Ecurie Ecosse alongside Marco Attard, Sims won the races at Oulton Park and Spa before finishing 3rd overall but he helped his co-driver to win the title. Alexander missed one round at Snetterton and that’s why he wasn’t crowned as a champion together with Attard.

The same drivers continued their partnership in 2015. They won at Rockingham and Brands Hatch but had to settle for the 2nd place overall, behind Beechdean AMR’s pair Andrew Howard and Jonathan Adam.

The same year, Sims scored his best result in Macau Grand Prix – he finished 3rd behind Felix Rosenqvist and Charles Leclerc.

Alexander Sims at Macau Grand Prix

Victory at 24 Hours of Spa in 2016

Sims stayed in the British GT as a part-time driver of Barwell Motorsport but the results were relatively poor. However, British pilot had a fine season of 2016  in the Blancpain GT Series.

Driving Rowe Racing’s BMW alongside Philipp Eng and Maxime Martin, Sims won the 24 Hours of Spa and finished 4th in the Endurance Cup Drivers’ Championship.

Sims, Eng and Martin celebrating their win at Spa

2017 - IMSA GTLM vice-champion, podium at Nürburgring 24h

In 2017, Sims moved across the Atlantic to race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with BMW-backed RLL Racing. He was sharing the cockpit of the #19 BMW M6 GTLM with Bill Auberlen, scoring three wins and finishing second in the final standings of GTLM class.

In Europe, Sims continued to race with Rowe Racing, achieving the biggest success at 24 Hours of Nürburgring, finishing in the second place.

Podiums at Sebring 12h and Spa 24h in 2018

In 2018, he continued to race with BMW Team RLL in the US, driving a new BMW M8 GTE. He was sharing a car with Connor de Phillippi, scoring two wins and finishing sixth in the points. They were on a podium at Sebring 12 Hours (2nd place).

In 2018, Sims also returned to Le Mans 24 Hours but didn't finish the race in a BMW M8 GTE. On the other side, he was successful at Spa 24 Hours, finishing in the second place together with Nick Catsburg and Jens Klingmann in Rowe Racing's BMW M6 GT3.

Teammates in Formula E: Alexander Sims and Antonio Felix da Costa

New challenge in electric racing competition

At the end of 2018, Sims returned to open-wheel racing when he was recruited by BMW Andretti to race in the fifth season of the FIA Formula E Championship. He is driving the #27 car alongside Formula E veteran Antonio Felix da Costa as his teammate.

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