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Edmund "Eddie" Irvine, Jr. (born 10 November 1965) is a retired British racing driver from Northern Ireland. He was the runner-up in 1999 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, driving for Ferrari. Irvine was influenced by his parents to enter motor racing. He began his career at the age of seventeen when he entered the Formula Ford Championship achieving early success, before progressing to the Formula Three and Formula 3000 Championships. He first drove in Formula One with the Jordan team in 1993 season, where he achieved early notoriety for his involvement in incidents during his early career. He clinched his first podium finish in before moving to Ferrari in . His most successful season was in when he took four victories and challenged McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen for the World Championship, eventually finishing the runner-up. He moved to Jaguar in and endured poor results but managed to clinch his team's first podium in and another podium in . Irvine left Jaguar due to friction within his team and announced his retirement from competitive motorsport when he did not secure a race seat. Since leaving motorsport, Irvine became a media personality in Britain. He was also linked with the takeover of the Jordan and Minardi teams in 2005, with talks coming to nothing. Irvine also expanded his interests into the property market, having built up an investment during his racing career. ==Early life and career== Irvine was born on 10 November 1965 in Newtownards, County Down in Northern Ireland, to Edmund Sr. and Kathleen. He spent his childhood in the village of Conlig. He has one older sister, Sonia who acted as Irvine's physiotherapist until 1999. He completed studies in high school Regent House Grammar School, without ever excelling particularly in the results. Irvine's first taste of motorsport came when his family spent their holidays attending the British Grand Prix. His father also raced in single-seater cars for fun. Irvine originally expressed interest in motorcycles but his father thought them too dangerous. Irvine worked unpaid in his father's scrapyard, in return for which his father funded his racing hobby. He later listed John Watson as his childhood hero. Irvine began to compete with racing cars in 1983, encouraged by his father; Irvine was initially interested in motorcycle racing, but his parents thought the sport too dangerous and so was forced to engage in the Formula Ford.〔 After participating in some races, in 1984 he won his first race at Brands Hatch, occasion which also won the award for best pilot.〔 In 1987, he signed a contract with the Van Diemen team and in that year he managed to win the title of the category, the Formula Ford Festival and the RAC Formula Ford series. At the end of the season, he participated, during the winter, in a test organised by Marlboro in which the winner would get a place in British Formula 3; Irvine set the fastest time and ensured the participation in the championship series of the aforementioned automobile. During this season not won any success and ended the season in fifth place. He also attended the Macau Grand Prix, part of the league schedule of Formula Three, succeeding from the pole position, but did not win the race. Thanks to Marlboro could also take part, the following year, the championship of F3000 with the team Pacific Racing.〔 Flanked by JJ Lehto, considered then a young promise of motoring,〔 managed to finish in ninth place ahead of his teammate, thirteenth. In 1990 he signed a contract to race in Formula 3000 with the team Jordan. During the season, won a victory in Germany and ended the season in third place, with results better than his teammates Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Emanuele Naspetti. At year end, he took part again at Macau Grand Prix and the '' Fuji F3 Cup '', finishing on the podium both races. The end of the season coincided, however, with the end of the relationship with the Irish team and Irvine moved to Japan to compete in Formula Nippon. During 1991, Irvine raced for Cerumo Racing where he clinched one victory with 17 points scored to finish seventh in the Drivers' Championship.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.driverdb.com/championships/standings/formula-3000-japan/1991/ )〕 Irvine first appeared in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1992 SARD driving a Toyota Group C car alongside Roland Ratzenberger and Eje Elgh. The team finished ninth overall and came second in the Group C class. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eddie Irvine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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