Nico Bastian

Nico Bastian is a racing driver from Germany who has competed in various championships, most recently as Mercedes GT driver with different teams.

In 2018, he won Silver Cup category in the Blancpain GT Series and then, in 2019, he was Silver Cup champion both in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe.

Nico Bastian

Successful kart racing career

Nico Bastian was born in April 1990 in Heidelberg and at the age of five, he began to drive a kart. Three years later Nico made a debut in kart-slalom events and over the years progressed through the ranks of kart racing.

Until 2006, Bastian won many regional and national trophies. He was Indoor Superkart Club Championship winner in 2003, while in the following two years Nico was first in the GTT Langstreckecup for juniors. In 2004 and 2006 he was also the GTT Langstreckecup overall champion.

Beginning of the sports cars racing career

Unlike most of his colleagues which are progressing to the lower ranks of formula racing, Bastian switched to sports cars racing in 2007. He raced in Volkswagen Polo Cup and finished 8th overall. The same year, Nico had a NASCAR test with Jeff Gordon Racing Team.

Nico Bastian celebrates 2011 MINI Challenge title

From 2008 to 2011, Bastian competed in the MINI Challenge Germany and also appeared as a guest in SEAT Leon Supercopa. After finishing 3rd in 2009 and 5th in 2010 MINI Challenge, Nico became the series champion in 2011. On the way to the title, he scored four wins and other seven podiums. The same year Nico also debuted in Nurburgring 24 hours.

Two podium finishes at Nurburgring 24 hours

In 2012, Nico Bastian became the BMW factory driver but just until the end of the season. He raced with a considerable success in the VLN championship and finished 8th in Nurburgring 24h, driving the Team Schubert’s BMW Z4 GT3 alongside Dirk Adorf, Claudia Hurtgen, and Dominik Schwager. The same year Nico also appeared in one round of Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

Nico Bastian

Nico’s progress continued in 2013 when he was a winner of Nurburgring 6-hour race what was his maiden victory in the VLN series. Bastian also finished 3rd in Nurburgring 24h driving Rowe Racing’s Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 alongside Thomas Jager, Klaus Graf, and Jan Seyffarth. The same result in one of the world’s most important endurance races, Bastian achieved in the following when he was driving the same car, this time alongside Michael Zehe, Christian Hohenadel, and Maro Engel.

ADAC GT Masters debut and Mercedes-AMG performance driver

In 2014 Nico also debuted with Rowe Racing in ADAC GT Masters. Unfortunately, the results weren’t impressive and Bastian was able to pick only 24 points out of 12 races what was enough just for the 29th place overall. With Fortec Motorsport, Nico also raced in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup and also finished 7th at Bathurst 12 hours, driving Erebus Motorsport’s Mercedes alongside Bernd Schneider and Maro Engel.

Nico Bastian, Rowe Racing, Mercedes

Since 2015 Bastian is the Mercedes-AMG Performance pilot and continued to race in various championships. He scored two podium finishes in VLN, appeared in one round of ADAC GT Masters and 24h Series, but most notable performance was in Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Driving Rowe Racing’s Mercedes alongside Stef Dusseldorp, Nico finished 6th in the standings.

VLN series also was the main duty for the Heidelberg-born racer in 2016 but the results weren’t as good as in the previous years. The same year he also appeared in Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT Asia but the best result was the 5th place at Bathurst 12 hours where he shared the seat of Erebus Motorsport’s Mercedes with David Reynolds and Thomas Jager.

Nico Bastian was Silver Cup Blancpain GT Series champion in 2018

The best Silver Cup driver for two years in a row

In 2017, Bastian joined the French team Akka ASP for the first time, driving Mercedes-AMG GT3 and scoring three podiums in the ProAm class of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

Then, in 2018, he raced with Akka ASP full season in the Blancpain GT Series, both in the Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup. Sharing the #90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Jack Manchester, he became Silver Cup class champion in the Sprint Cup but also in the overall standings of the Blancpain GT Series.

In 2019, he was again Silver Cup champion in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup but also the best Silver Cup driver in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, driving for Akka ASP in both competitions.

Photo: motorsport.com, bmwgroup.com, speedweek.com, blancpain-gt-series.com, speedhunters.com