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As is so often the case, Bjorn Wirdheim's first taste of motorsport was courtesy of Karting, the Swede competing in his first race at the age of 10.
He remained in Karts until the age of fifteen finishing 3rd, 2nd and 1st in successive years in the Southern Swedish Championships.
In 1996, aged 16, he progressed to single-seaters finishing 3rd in the Swedish Formula Ford 1600 Junior Championship, and sixth overall, with Team Itchi Ban.
For 1997 he remained in the Swedish Formula Ford Championship but moved to Team Brorssons, taking the title with a staggering 17 wins.
In 1998 and 1999 he competed in the Formula Palmer Audi Championship though it was a largely disappointing time with only two visits to the podium.
For 2000 he switched to the German F3 series joining Team Ghinzani, again the season was largely unrewarding other than one podium visit.
Bjorn remained in German F3 for 2001 this time driving for the Prema Powerteam. In addition to taking two wins (Nurburgring and A1-Ring) and two pole positions the young Swede took pole at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, finishing third, and subsequently taking pole at Pau for the F3 EuroCup.
In 2002 Bjorn moved up to F3000, joining Czech star Tomas Enge at Arden Motorsport. Enge, who had previously competed in F1 with Prost, and Wirdheim, made a great combination and it came as no surprise when Arden won both the team and driver titles, though Enge was later stripped of his title following a positive drugs test in Hungary.
In addition to a fine win at Monza, Bjorn was impressive at a number of other tracks including the A1-Ring, where he had previously won in German F3. The Swede finished fourth overall in addition to being named 'rookie of the year'.
For 2003 Wirdheim remained with Arden where he was joined by 2001 Indy Lights Champion and former Fedex CART Driver Townsend Bell.
The Swede got his season off to a winning start at San Marino, followed up by wins at Silverstone and Monza, a track he clearly likes. In addition to the three wins there were six second places, indeed the only time that Bjorn failed to score points was at the Nurburgring where a first lap incident necessitated a pit-stop for a new nose, though he battled on to finish thirteenth.
Another race that deserves a special mention is Monaco, an event that will haunt the Swede for the rest of his days. In much the same way as Nigel Mansell appeared to throw away certain victory at Canada in 1992, Wirdheim was cruising to an easy win on the streets of Monte Carlo under the eyes of all the F1 team bosses and their corporate guests.
So pleased was the youngster with his flag-to-flag 'win' he slowed down to wave to his pit-crew on his final lap, the chequered flag in sight. Second-placed Nicholas Kiesa saw that the race leader had slowed down before reaching the finish line and simply 'floored it' to take a remarkable win and leaving Bjorn with egg all over his face.
At Hockenheim, with two races remaining, Bjorn finished second to Ricardo Sperafico, but this was more than enough to secure the title. The twenty-three-year-old became the first Swede to win the championship in its 19-year history.
2003 was a special year for the ice-cool Swede, for his exploits had been noticed by several F1 team bosses and during the course of the year he tested with both Jordan and BAR. In addition, as part of his prize for winning the F3000 title, and following in the steps of Juan Pablo Montoya, he got to test a ChampCar.
With the 2003 F3000 title, together with a couple of F1 test drives, under his belt, you'd think that team bosses would be forming an orderly queue at Bjorn's door. Not so.
With teams such as Minardi, Jordan and even Jaguar looking for pay-drivers, and teams such as WilliamsF1 and Renault either relying on the 'old boy' network or retaining drivers on long contracts, proven winners such as Wirdheim seem to be out in the cold.
A return to F3000 would be a step backwards but at this time there don't appear to be too many other options for the talented youngster.
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