Christijan Albers
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| Christijan Albers (born April 16, 1979 in Eindhoven, Netherlands) is a Dutch racing driver, currently competing in Formula One, having spent 2005 with Minardi. On 31 October 2005, it was announced that Albers has signed a two-year contract with the Midland F1 team. Christijan is the son of former rallycross ace and Porsche campaigner André Albers, whos best overall result ever was to win the 1979 Dutch International Rallycross Championship (GT Division). They are not related to Marcel Albers, who was killed in a Formula 3 accident. Albers began kart racing at a young age, winning the Dutch National championship in 1997. That same year, he was crowned Formula Ford 1800 champion in both Netherlands and Belgium. He also participated in the Renault Megane Marlboro Masters series. In 1998, he moved up to the German Formula 3 series, winning the championship in 1999 behind 6 wins and ten poles. In 2000, Albers raced in the Formula 3000 international championship as team-mate to Mark Webber. He failed to score a point, but team boss Paul Stoddart later signed him again. He also raced in European Formula Racing. Beginning in 2001, Albers raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes-Benz, and graduated from a privately run team to the works AMG outfit in 2003 after the departure from the series of Uwe Alzen. He was instantly a front-runner, finishing runner-up in 2003 with a season-high 4 wins, and challenging DTM veteran and multiple champion Bernd Schneider for the title all the way up to the final race. In 2004 he again challenged for the championship lead for the most of the season but eventually finished third. While racing in DTM he continued to be a test and reserve driver for Minardi's Formula One interests, and has also piloted the team's two-seater F1 cars. In November 2004, Albers easily set the fastest time at a Misano di Gera d'Adda Minardi test session, despite running a mere 20 laps. He was chosen by the team to drive in the Formula One World Championship in 2005. In the 2005 United States Grand Prix he gained his first championship points for a 5th place finish. On the 31st of October 2005, Albers was confirmed as Midland's first official Formula One driver. Midland, the re-badged Jordan team, would make their debut in the 2006 Formula One season. Albers started the 2006 season well, out-pacing Midland teammate Tiago Monteiro. However, during the first few races, Midland have found themselves battling with the Super Aguri team, particularly Takuma Sato. At the 2006 San Marino grand prix, Albers found himself being crashed into by Yuji Ide and sent into a series of spectacular rolls. Fortunately, he was unharmed. Ide was repremanded by the race stewards for his part in the incident. Christijan is engaged to Liselore Kooijman. He currently resides in Laren, Netherlands. Complete DTM resultsComplete Formula One results([key])
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