Thomas Schie (born 1 December 1975) is a former racing and rally driver. He previously competed in the International Formula 3000, Swedish Touring Car Championship and World Rally Championship.

Career

Racing Schie started his autoracing career in the Swedish Formula Ford Junior championship. Schie, as the only foreigner in the championship, finished third. Moving up the ladder Schie moved into the Scandinavian Formula Opel Lotus championship. After he finished seventh in the season, Schie joined Team Norway at the Formula Opel Lotus Nations Cup. At Circuit Park Zandvoort Schie finished eighth with this teammate Tommy Rustad. For the 1995 season, he moved to the United States of America to race in the Barber Dodge Pro Series. After a tough start of the season, in which he had a number of retirements, Schie finished strong. Due to two third-place finishes at the end of the season, Schie finished his inaugural season in the Barber Dodge Pro Series seventh in the standings. The following season was more successful. Schie won both races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. He finished second in the standings second to fellow Scandinavian Fredrik Larsson.

Following his success Shcie returned to Europe to race in the International Formula 3000 for Bob Salisbury Engineering. The team was in their second year of F3000, Schie was joined by Oliver Gavin as his teammate. Gavin was replaced by James Taylor as of round four. All three drivers struggled to qualify for the races. Schie qualified for five out of ten rounds. The first race Schie participated in was the 1997 Pau Grand Prix. Eleven drivers failed to qualify. He finished fourteenth out of 22 drivers. His best result came at Spa where he finished tenth.

After failing to gain enough sponsorship for another F3000 season, Schie returned to the Barber Dodge Pro Series. Since he left the series the original car was replaced by the state-of-the-art Reynard 98E. Schie returned to the series where he left of, as a frontrunner. Schie finished third in the first round at Sebring International Raceway, behind Todd Snyder and Victor Gonzalez, Jr., He won the races at Lime Rock Park and Cleveland. He eventually finished third in the final standings.

Schie focused on his touring car career following his strong Barber Dodge Pro Series season. Schie raced an Alfa Romeo 156 TS in the very competitive Swedish Touring Car Championship. Despite missing a number of races Schie finished eighth in the championship, the first placed Alfa Romeo. His best result was a second place at Mantorp Park. Schie returned to the STCC in 2008 and 2009. He joined Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden achieving a second place in the 2008 Göteborg City Race. In 2009 Schie left the series after the first Göteborg race. Schie claimed that the team did not live up to his professional expectations. Team boss Nicklas Karlsson claims however that Schie did not fulfill his financial obligations.

Rally Following the 1999 STCC season, Schie focused on his rally ambitions. After racing in national rallies and in the European Rally Championship, he made his World Rally Championship debut in 2002. He entered a Toyota Corolla WRC in the Swedish Rally. After running in the top-fifty, Schie had to retire from the rally following a broken transmission after special stage nine. Schie won his first international rally in 2003. Schie won the Uno-X Saaremaa Rally near Kuressaare, Estonia. Schie beat Mats Jonsson among other international rally drivers. He won the Norwegian Rally Championship in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He won nine rallies to collect his three titles. Schie made his last WRC outing at the 2007 Rally Catalunya. He scored his best result in a WRC rally finishing twelfth.

Current life Currently, Schie is a manager at a workwear retailer and is a Formula One analyst for Viasat. He is also still based in Oslo.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points 1997 Bob Salisbury Engineering SILPAU HEL NÜR PER HOC A1RSPAMUG JER29th0

American open–wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Partial Barber Dodge Pro Series results

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 1998SEB3LRP1DET7WGI6CLE1GRA19MOH8ROA6LS123ATL5HMS5LS226 3rd 114

Complete Swedish Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1999 Picko Troberg Racing Alfa Romeo 156 TS MAN18 MAN25 KNU18 KNU2Ret KAR1Ret KAR2DNS AND116 AND2DNS FAL17 FAL2DNS AND1 AND2 ARC14 ARC25 MAN12 MAN2DSQ 8th 66 2008 Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden Chevrolet Lacetti KNU8 STURet MAN8 KAR4 GÖT2 STU8 FAL15 KARRet KNU4 VÅL7 MAN5 7th 26 2009 Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden Chevrolet Lacetti MAN18 MAN27 KAR19 KAR2Ret GÖT15 GÖT2DNS KNU1 KNU2 FAL1 FAL2 KAR1 KAR2 VÅL1 VÅL2 KNU1 KNU2 MAN1 MAN2 14th 7

Complete WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2002 Thomas Schie Subaru Impreza STi MON SWERet FRA ESP CYP ARG GRE KEN FIN GER ITA NZL AUS GBR NC 0 2003 Thomas Schie Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWERet TUR NZL ARG GRE CYP GER FIN AUS ITA FRA ESP GBR NC 0 2004 Thomas Schie Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWERet MEX NZL CYP GRE TUR ARG FIN GER JPN GBR ITA FRA ESP AUS NC 0 2005 Thomas Schie Ford Focus RS WRC '02 MON SWERet MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR GRE ARG FIN GER GBR JPN FRA ESP AUS NC 0 2006 Thomas Schie Ford Focus RS WRC '04 MONSWERet MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRE GERFINRet JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR NC 0 2007 Thomas Schie Ford Focus RS WRC '04 MON SWE14 NORRet MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GERRet NZL ESP12 FRA JPN IRE GBR NC 0

Czech Rally Championship results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MMČR Points 2003 Thomas Schie Toyota Corolla WRC ŠUM VAL KRU BOHRet BAR PŘÍ TŘE NC 0 2004 Thomas Schie Toyota Corolla WRC JÄN ŠUM TAT KRU BOH4 BAR PŘÍ TŘE NC 0 2005 Thomas Schie Toyota Corolla WRC JÄN ŠUM VAL TAT KRU BOHRet BAR PŘÍ TŘE NC 0

References