Asmer joins Williams as test driver

WilliamsF1 today formally announced that Estonian Formula Ford driver, Marko Asmer, has been retained for Formula One testing duties.

Marko Asmer is another notable amabassador for the growing prominence of Estonia in international motor racing.

Born on July 30, 1984, the 19 year old developed a strong pedigree in his homeland with a string of national karting titles from 1995 onwards. By 1999, the 15 year old was regularly competing overseas, in Scandinavia and as far afield as the FA Asia Pacific Championship. Prior to his graduation to single-seaters, Marko completed two seasons of racing with the Tony Kart Team, and on one occasion partnered Michael Schumacher.

For the 2003 season, Asmer made the step to Team JLR to contest the Formula Ford Championship Class, based on single-seater tubular chassis racing cars powered by 1800cc Ford Zetec engines. All cars conform to stictly-policed technical regulations and run on Avon control racing tyres with a minimum weight of the car without the drivers set at 450kg.

Asmer has progressed confidently in the FFord Championship, not least claiming two notable back-to-back wins at the Croft meeting.

His progress has not gone unnoticed, and the BMW WilliamsF1 Team invited the young Estonian to Vairano to assist with straight line testing to develop the WilliamsF1 BMW FW25.

Impressed with his competence, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team extended Marko's testing duties to circuit duties at the Circuit de Catalunya in early July 2003. Chief Operations Engineer for WilliamsF1, Sam Michael commented, "Marko proved himself to be a keen and competent worker in the car providing us with some great feedback."

While continuing his racing programme with Team JLR, Marko has been retained by the BMW WilliamsF1 Team for future testing duties in 2003, while holding an option to extend his contribution to the test programme into 2004.

-williams-