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Kyffin Simpson
Caymanian racing driver (born 2004) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kyffin Simpson (/ˈkɪ.fən/ KIH-fən; born 9 October 2004) is a Caymanian racing driver competing in the IndyCar Series with Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the 2023 European Le Mans Series championship with Algarve Pro Racing.
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Personal life
Simpson was born in Bridgetown, Barbados; the son of Caymanian businessman David Simpson.[1] Simpson competes as Caymanian,[2] saying, "I really feel connected with the people of Cayman. It’s cool to fly the flag on the side of my car."[3]
Junior career
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Formula 4 United States Championship
Simpson made his car racing debut in 2020 for Velocity Racing Development in the 2020 Formula 4 United States Championship after 9 years of karting across the Caribbean and United States.[4]
Formula Regional Americas Championship
Simpson would dovetail a season in the Formula 4 United States Championship with a season in the Formula Regional Americas Championship in 2020, and dominated the championship in his second season with podiums in all but five races.[5]
Winning the FR Americas title awarded Kyffin with a Honda Performance Development scholarship fund worth $600,000 towards a Super Formula campaign in 2022, but Japan’s ongoing travel restrictions due to COVID-19 prevented these plans coming to fruition.[6]
Indy Pro 2000 Championship
Parallel to his Regional F3 campaign, Simpson also entered the Road to Indy ladder with IndyCar team Juncos Racing, competing in 16 of the 18-race Indy Pro 2000 Championship season, scoring three podiums.[7]
Indy Lights / Indy NXT
In 2022, Simpson signed a multi-year deal as a development driver with Chip Ganassi Racing, whilst also progressing to Indy Lights, partnering James Roe Jr. at TJ Speed Motorsports.[8] Following eight races with the team, Simpson moved to HMD Motorsports.[9] He finished ninth in the Indy Lights standings with a best result of fifth in Barber and Detroit.
Simpson confirmed a return to the newly rebranded Indy NXT series in 2023 with HMD Motorsports.[10][11]
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SportsCar racing career
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IMSA SportsCar Championship
2022
Alongside his Indy Lights duties, Simpson made his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut with Gradient Racing at the wheel of an Acura NSX GT3 EVO II at the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona. He, along with his teammates Mario Farnbacher and Till Bechtolsheimer, won the 2022 Petit Le Mans in the GTD class.[12]
2023
Simpson joined Tower Motorsports for a part-time role in the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship competing in LMP2.[13] After finishing fifth at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Simpson, along with teammates Scott McLaughlin and John Farano, won the LMP2 class of the 12 Hours of Sebring, marking the Barbadian's second triumph in IMSA.[14]
Asian Le Mans Series
2023
Alongside his duties in junior formulae, Simpson would compete full-time in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series together with James Allen and John Falb as part of Algarve Pro Racing[15] in preparation for a campaign in that year's European Le Mans Series.[16] The season opener in Dubai yielded a perfect start, as the trio took victory despite a spin from Falb.[17] Simpson played a major role in said victory, taking second place from Indy NXT rival Christian Bogle near half-distance, before closing the gap between himself and leader Ayhancan Güven from 25 to mere seven seconds by the end of their stints.[18] The following day, a puncture prevented the #25 from battling for a win; they eventually settled for fourth.[19] Race one at the Yas Marina Circuit saw Simpson battling the experienced Oliver Jarvis for a podium spot, however he would take himself out of contention owing to a spin into the turn 16 wall mere minutes before the end.[20][21] On Sunday, fourth place meant that Simpson, Allen and Falb would end up third in the LMP2 classification.[22]
European Le Mans Series
2023
Simpson would stay with Algarve Pro Racing to compete in the 2023 European Le Mans Series, where Simpson once again partnered James Allen, the pair being joined by Cadillac Hypercar driver Alex Lynn.[23] An unspectacular maiden race in Barcelona was followed by a markedly improved showing at the Circuit Paul Ricard, where Simpson's ability to stay close to leader Vladislav Lomko throughout the opening stints - exemplified by the Bajan setting the race's fastest lap - enabled teammates Lynn and Allen to get embroiled in the battle for victory, with the latter executing a late-race pass on Louis Delétraz to bring first place to APR.[24] Prior to the third race, held at Aragón, Simpson received praise from Lynn, the Brit stating that "Kyffin is a fast learner" and praising him for his pace, whilst remarking that Simpson needed more experience.[25] The team finished the race in third.[26] In a chaotic Spa event a month later, Simpson and his APR teammates drove an error-free race to claim victory, putting them into the championship lead.[27] Thanks to a pair of second places at the 4 Hours of Algarve and Portimão, the APR crew won the ELMS title.[28][29] Simpson struggled for pace in wet conditions during the latter, but held the car on track whilst others did not.[30]
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IndyCar
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Chip Ganassi Racing
2023–24
In January 2023, Kyffin completed his first NTT IndyCar Series test with Chip Ganassi Racing at Sebring International Raceway.[31] Following the end of the 2023 IndyCar season, Chip Ganassi announced that Simpson, who had been the team's development driver over the past two years, would be stepping up to IndyCar in 2024.[32][33] He started his season at St. Petersburg with a 12th place finish, ending up ahead of all other rookies and setting the fastest lap of the race.[34] Following three further top-20 finishes, Simpson ended up 21st in his first appearance at the Indy 500, having qualified a then-record 18th.[35][36] The Caymanian soon experienced two retirements, being spun into the barriers by Christian Rasmussen at Road America early on and getting spun by Agustín Canapino in Monterey.[37][38] Two top 20 results at Iowa were followed by a retirement in Toronto, where Simpson crashed at turn 8 with 17 laps to go.[39] Another mistake came at Gateway: Simpson spun into the wall on lap 86, having struggled for pace during the weekend.[40] After 16th at Portland, Simpson took 13th in the second Milwaukee race and finished 22nd at Nashville.[41][42] Though Simpson finished 21st in the drivers' standings — behind all four of his teammates, and with the second-worst grid position average of all full-time drivers - though he was retained by Ganassi for the 2025 season, moving to the No. 8.[43][44]
2025
Simpson started the season with 18th place at St. Petersburg and 15th at Thermal Club.[45][46] He then claimed his maiden top ten result in IndyCar, finishing tenth at Long Beach after using the alternate strategy.[47] Having qualified tenth at Barber, Simpson finished one lap down in 21st; this preceded another tenth place in qualifying for the Indy Road Course race, one which Simpson could not start after suffering mechanical trouble on his way to the grid.[48][49][50] He qualified 13th for the Indy 500 but got taken out mid-race after being clipped by a spinning Kyle Larson.[51] During the next weekend in Detroit Simpson posted the fastest lap alongside a fifth place, one achieved after going on the alternate strategy.[52] A 15th place finish at Gateway preceded a sixth place at Road America.[53][54] After qualifying 3rd at Mid-Ohio, the Caymanian disappointingly crossed the line 10th after stalling in pit lane and then receiving a penalty after running over the foot of a crew member for Rinus Veekay's pit crew.[55][56] The Iowa double header saw him finish 18th and 13th respectively.[57][58] Simpson charged through the field with a well-executed two stop strategy in Toronto, qualifying 14th and starting 13th, making up 10 places to finish 3rd for his best ever result and first podium in the Indycar series.[59][60][61]
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Racing record
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Career summary
* Season still in progress.
Complete Formula 4 United States Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula Regional Americas Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
American open-wheel results
Indy Pro 2000
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)
Indy Lights / Indy NXT
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)
IndyCar Series
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Indianapolis 500
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete European Le Mans Series results
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
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References
External links
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