Jeffrey Schmidt (born 23 March 1994) is a Swiss racing driver who last competed in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for Sky â Tempesta Racing.
Schmidt made his single-seater debut in 2011, racing for HAITECH Racing in ADAC Formel Masters. Taking a best result of fourth at both Zolder and Red Bull Ring with them, before switching to Mücke Motorsport for the final three rounds, as he closed out the year 14th in points. Remaining in the series for 2012, Schmidt switched to Lotus for his sophomore season. Schmidt scored his only series win in race three at Lausitzring, before taking four more podiums to finish third in points in his last season in single-seaters.
In 2013, Schmidt switched to Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, joining Project 1 for his first season in sports car racing. In his rookie season in the series, Schmidt took his maiden series podium by finishing third at the Lausitzring, helping him end the year tenth in points. Schmidt remained in the series for 2014, as he switched to Lechner Racing for his sophomore season in Carrera Cup competition. Schmidt scored two podiums, both at the Nürburgring by finishing third in both races, on his way to 12th in the A-class standings. During 2014, Schmidt also took his first Porsche Supercup podium with the same team by finishing second at the Red Bull Ring in his second and final start of the season.
Staying with Lechner Racing for 2015, Schmidt returned to full-time competition in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and made his full-season debut in Porsche Supercup. In the former, Schmidt took two wins at Red Bull Ring and Hockenheimring to secure third in points. In the latter meanwhile, Schmidt took a best result of fourth at the season-ending round at Circuit of the Americas on his way to tenth in points. At the end of the year, Schmidt raced in the 2015âÂÂ16 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East for Al Nabooda Racing, in which he took nine wins and the series title in early 2016.
For the rest of 2016, Schmidt returned to Lechner Racing to once again race in both Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and Porsche Supercup. In the German series, Schmidt took two wins, both at the Hockenheimring albeit in different rounds, and scored four more podiums to end the year fourth in the standings. In Supercup, Schmidt scored three podiums in the ten-race season, finishing third at the Red Bull Ring, Hockenheimring and Monza as he closed out the year sixth in points.
Schmidt then transitioned to GT3 competition for 2017, racing for Audi-affiliated Land-Motorsport in ADAC GT Masters. In his rookie season in the series, Schmidt took four podiums with a best result of second at Zandvoort and ended the year ninth in points. During 2017, Schmidt also competed for the same team in the 24 Hours of Daytona in class, finishing second in class in his maiden race in GT3 machinery.
Remaining in ADAC GT Masters for 2018, Schmidt switched to Audi-fielding Mücke Motorsport for his second season in the series. In the second round of the season at Most, Schmidt qualified on pole and took his maiden series win in race one. Four rounds later, Schmidt took what turned out to be his final podium of the season, finishing third in race two at Sachsenring, en route to an eighth-place points finish. During 2018, Schmidt also drove for Land-Motorsport in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Spa, finishing seventh in the latter and third at Spa.
In 2019, Schmidt stayed with Mücke Motorsport to race in ADAC GT Masters alongside Christopher Haase. In his sophomore season with the team, Schmidt scored a lone podium in the season-opening race at Oschersleben, which helped him finish 19th at the end of the season. In 2020, Schmidt remained in ADAC GT Masters, albeit switching to Corvette-fielding Callaway Competition alongside Markus Pommer. In his fourth season in the series, Schmidt took his only win of the season at Sachsenring, which helped him finish 15th in points.
Schmidt remained with Callaway Competition for 2021, alongside Marvin Kirchhöfer in his second season with the team and the Corvette C7 GT3-R. The duo took their only win of the season in race two at the Red Bull Ring, a weekend where they also took their only other podium of the season by finishing third in race one. However, their early-season form ended following a fire during race two at Lausitzring, as the pair finished no higher than ninth in the remaining races on their way to tenth in points.
After Callaway ended their GT3 programme in early 2022, Schmidt announced his retirement from racing, to focus on Novexus AG, a company he founded in 2017 after graduating from the University of Basel. A year later, Schmidt made a one-off appearance in the 24 Hours of Spa for Sky â Tempesta Racing following an invitation to test the McLaren 720S by Marvin Kirchhöfer. Driving alongside Eddie Cheever III, Jonathan Hui and Chris Froggatt, the Swiss finished third in the Bronze class in his only race of the season.
<sup>â </sup> As Schmidt was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
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() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
<sup>â¡</sup> As Schmidt was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.<br/> <sup>â </sup> Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 75% of the race distance.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)