Nick Cassidy

Nick Cassidy
File:Nick Cassidy.png
Driver Details
Nationality	New Zealander
P.o.B.	Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
D.o.B.	19 August 1994
D.o.D.
Début	2021 Norisring Race 1
Best Finish	16th (2021)
Previous Teams
DTM Career
Entries	0 (0 Starts)
Wins	0
First Win
Poles	0
F.L.s	0
Points	0
Current Season
Team	Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse
Car	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo
Number	Standings	Points
37	–	'

Nick Cassidy (born 19 August 1994 in Auckland, North Island, New Zealand) is a New Zealand born racing driver, who competed in the final two races of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for AF Corse. Renowned as a Champion of the DTM's former sister series the Super GT series, Cassidy joined the DTM roster in place of Alexander Albon, after the Thai racer was unable to attend the finale in Nuremberg.

Previously, Cassidy had appeared as a guest driver in the DTM at the end of the 2019 season, when the New Zealander shared a Lexus Super GT GT500 car with Ryō Hirakawa.

Background

Cassidy began his career in karting at the age of six and by the age of fourteen, had claimed multiple karting titles in the North Island and New Zealand championships.

Formula Ford Firestorm

In 2008, Cassidy graduated to car racing, competing in the Formula First Manfeild Winter Series which saw him claim three wins and seal the title in his first year out of karting. He would follow them up with two vice champion honours in the New Zealand Formula First and Formula Ford championships of 2009 and 2010 as well as rookie of the year honours.

Toyota Triumphs

In 2011, Cassidy joined Giles Motorsport to contest the Toyota Racing Series. He claimed multiple podiums and took two wins and an overall round win at Taupo to finish as best rookie and championship runner-up to teammate Mitch Evans. The following season, Cassidy returned to contest the series once again with Giles, this time taking five victories and three overall round wins as well as consistent top ten finishes which saw him clinch the title. In 2013, Cassidy returned to defend his title, this time switching to M2 Competition. Though he had a less dominant performance than the previous year, he claimed two wins at Hampton Downs and Fielding and a string of top five finishes to take his second consecutive title ahead of teammates Alex Lynn, Lucas Auer and Steijn Schothorst.

Joyous in Japan

In 2014, after contesting selected rounds of the European Formula 3 championship with them, Cassidy partnered with Japanese outfit ThreeBond with T-Sport to contest the Macau Grand Prix. There he qualified seventh and finished fifth in the qualification race and third in the main event behind Felix Rosenqvist and Lucas Auer. In 2015, Cassidy moved to Japan to contest in the country's Formula 3 championship with Petronas Team TOM'S and the GT300 class of the Super GT championship with Up Garage Bandoh. In the former, he achieved seven victories and claimed the title ahead of rivals Kenta Yamashita and Mitsunori Takaboshi, thus becoming the first non-Japanese driver to win the championship since Marcus Ericsson in 2009.

The following year, Cassidy moved to TOM'S's GT500 division in the Super GT championship as well as contesting the European Formula 3 championship with Prema Powerteam. Claiming a win in the European Formula 3 round at Zandvoort, Cassidy finished fourth in the overall standings while finishing fifth in the Super GT championship. In 2017, Cassidy remained with TOM'S for that year's Super GT season while also joining Super Formula with Kondo Racing, finishing tenth in the latter and taking his maiden pole position at Sportsland SUGO. In Super GT, Cassidy and teammate Ryō Hirakawa claimed two victories at Okayama and Chang and scored consistent points to claim that year's title.

Cassidy repeated both duties the following year, reuniting with both teams. Claiming race victories in the Super Formula round at Fuji and Super GT round at Autopolis, Cassidy ended the year as championship runner-up to Naoki Yamamoto (and Jenson Button in Super GT) in both disciplines.

In 2019, Cassidy remained with TOM'S in Super GT and switched to their Super Formula division for the forthcoming season. In Super GT, Cassidy repeated his second place in the championship last year, including a victory at the season finale in Motegi. In the Super Formula championship, Cassidy took victory in the opening round at Suzuka and, through a string of consistent performances, clinched the title in the season finale at the same venue ahead of Yamamoto and rookie Alex Palou.

International Recognition: 2020 - 2021

Cassidy returned to defend his Super Formula title in the 2020 season as well as reunite with TOM'S for a fourth season of Super GT. 2020 also saw Cassidy secure a seat in the FIA Formula E World Championship with Envision Virgin Racing, finishing the season in fifteenth with two podium finishes.

DTM History

Cassidy's first appearance in the DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship came at the end of the 2019 season, when the New Zealander was selected by Lexus to race their #37 GT500 car at the season finale in Hockenheim. Unfortunately for Cassidy his DTM debut as a guest entrant would end in the barriers, after contact with Jonathan Aberdein saw the #37 Lexus spin across the circuit in heavy rain. Cassidy subsequently returned to Super GT in 2020, with the DTM-Super GT partnership ultimately falling apart as the Class One ruleset lacked manufacturer interest in Europe.

Red Bull Route: 2021

Cassidy would return to the DTM fold during the 2021 season, as Red Bull partnered with AF Corse to enter the series after the switch to running GT3 cars. The initial plan was for Cassidy to share the #23 Ferrari with Alexander Albon, although with Albon emerging as a title pretender mid-season, Cassidy's hopes of making a DTM appearance were increasingly slim. However, once Albon's title hopes faded at the penultimate round in Hockenheim, Red Bull and AF Corse opted to put the New Zealander in the #23 car for the finale in Nuremberg.

Cassidy's debut saw the New Zealander claim eighth on the grid, before a barnstorming start saw the New Zealander run in third in the opening stages only to slip back to Cassidy after the stops. The second race saw Cassidy qualify right behind teammate and title pretender Liam Lawson on the second row, although both Ferraris were delayed by an overly aggressive lunge from Kelvin van der Linde in the first corner. Lawson's car was severely hobbled while Cassidy lost a lot of ground, running around at the back of the field and ending up a lap down, although the New Zealander did set the fastest lap of the race.

Full DTM Record

Nick Cassidy's full results from his 0 starts in the DTM are outlined in a series of tables below.

DTM Entries

The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Nick Cassidy during their DTM career:

Nick Cassidy's Overall DTM Record
Year	Entrant	No.	Car	Pos.	Pts.	Livery
2021	Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse	23	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo	16th	11

Career Results

Below is a table showing Nick Cassidy's full DTM record:

Nick Cassidy's DTM Championship Record
Year	Rounds																Pos.	Pts.
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
2021																	16th	11
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
															5th	13th1

Results Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Second		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Third		DNS	Did Not Start
7th	Points Scorer		NC	Not Classified
Italics	Fastest Lap		CAN	Race Cancelled
16th	Non-points finish		†	Non-Championship Race
Bold	Pole Position		3	Points for Qualifying

References

Images and Videos:

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