# Michael Herck

Michael Herck (born 4 August 1988 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian-Belgian retired racing driver.

## Career
### Early life

Herck was adopted at the age of one and a half years by millionaire André Herck, a Belgian citizen born in Bucharest. Herck grew up in Monaco, and began his racing career in karting in France where he won the French national titke in the Minime category in 2000.

### Formula Renault

After karting, Herck moved to the Formula Renault Monza Winter Series in 2003 and competed in the full series the next year. He won the 2004 championship with five wins and 375 points. He also competed in the Belgian and Spanish 1.6-litre series in 2004, winning the latter championship.
In 2007 he drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the Comtec Racing team, but failed to score any points.

### Formula Three

Herck moved to Formula Three for 2005, winning the Austrian championship. He also made selected appearances in that year's British and German championships. In 2006 he competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series with backing from compatriot Bas Leinders, scoring twelve points to finish fifteenth in the championship.

### GP2 Series

Herck competed in the first eight races of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series in 2008 for the FMS International team before breaking his wrist in an accident, missing the last round of the season.
He was scheduled to drive in the main GP2 Series for 2008 as well, but was initially replaced by Giacomo Ricci in the David Price Racing team until his wrist healed. After two rounds of the championship, Ricci was dropped in favour of Andy Soucek as Herck continued to recover. He finally made his GP2 début at Magny-Cours. He continued with DPR for the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, and also the 2009 GP2 Series season. At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Herck finished sixth on the road during the feature race. However, his first GP2 points were stripped from him due to irregularities with his DPR machine. His first points eventually came during the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series, finishing seventh in the feature race of the second Abu Dhabi round. After overtaking Max Chilton at the start of the sprint race, Herck was heading to his first podium and victory in the series, but Davide Valsecchi passed him just before the race's conclusion. Herck ultimately finished thirteenth in the championship standings.
Herck continued his improved form in the 2010 main series, finishing in the points on a number of occasions. He also qualified on pole position for his "home" race in Belgium, but lost it due to an infringement. He finished sixteenth in the drivers' championship.
Following the withdrawal of DPR from GP2, Herck switched to the Coloni team for 2011. In the Asia series, he was partnered variously by James Jakes and Luca Filippi, and finished eighth in the championship after scoring points in three of the four races. In the main series, he scored only a single point and finished 21st in the standings.

### Retirement

Following a disappointing 2011 season in the main GP2 Series, Herck decided not to compete in the 2011 GP2 Final non-championship race in Abu Dhabi, and retired from professional motor racing in order to focus on his studies, as later confirmed by adoptive parent André Herck.

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Position |
| 2003 | Formula Renault Monza Winter Series | Dynamic Engineering | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 8th |
| 2004 | Formula Renault Monza | Dynamic Engineering | 16 | 3 | 5 | 375 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula Junior 1600 Spain | ? | 9 | 6 | 4 | 119 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula Renault 1600 Belgium | ? | 4 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 11th |
| 2005 | Austrian Formula Three Championship | Junior Racing Team | 7 | 6 | 3 | 75 | 1st |
| 2005 | British Formula 3 | Junior Racing Team | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2005 | Formula Renault 2.0 Italia | Junior Racing Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2005 | Recaro Formel 3 Cup | Jama Investments | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2006 | Formula 3 Euro Series | Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team | 19 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15th |
| 2006 | British Formula 3 | Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2006 | Masters of Formula Three | Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 13th |
| 2007 | Formula Renault 3.5 Series | Comtec Racing | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2007 | Formula 3 Euro Series | Bas Leinders Junior Racing Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2008 | GP2 Asia Series | FMS International | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23rd |
| 2008 | GP2 Series | DPR | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30th |
| 2008–09 | GP2 Asia Series | David Price Racing | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33rd |
| 2009 | GP2 Series | DPR | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23rd |
| 2009 | Formula Renault 3.5 Series | Interwetten.com | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23rd |
| 2009–10 | GP2 Asia Series | David Price Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13th |
| 2010 | GP2 Series | DPR | 20 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 16th |
| 2011 | GP2 Asia Series | Scuderia Coloni | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8th |
| 2011 | GP2 Series | Scuderia Coloni | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21st |
| Source: ||||||||

### Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pos | Points |
| 2007 | Red Devil Team Comtec | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | NÜR 1 21 | NÜR 2 20 | MON 1 DNQ | HUN 1 Ret | HUN 2 18 | SPA 1 Ret | SPA 2 12 | DON 1 Ret | DON 2 16 | MAG 1 Ret | MAG 2 Ret | EST 1 16 | EST 2 16 | CAT 1 24 | CAT 2 16 | 31st | 0 |
| 2009 | Interwetten.com Racing | CAT 1 | CAT 2 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | MON 1 | HUN 1 Ret | HUN 2 5 | SIL 1 20 | SIL 2 18 | BUG 1 | BUG 2 | ALG 1 19 | ALG 2 Ret | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | ALC 1 | ALC 2 | 23rd | 7 |
| 2011 | Pons Racing | ALC 1 | ALC 2 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | MON 1 | NÜR 1 Ret | NÜR 2 21 | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | SIL 1 | SIL 2 | LEC 1 | LEC 2 | CAT 1 | CAT 2 | 36th | 0 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||||||

### Complete GP2 Series results

| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Points |
| 2008 | DPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | IST FEA | IST SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | MAG FEA Ret | MAG SPR 15 | SIL FEA 23 | SIL SPR DNS | HOC FEA 17 | HOC SPR Ret | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 17 | VAL FEA 12 | VAL SPR 14 | SPA FEA 14 | SPA SPR 11 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 17 | 30th | 0 |
| 2009 | DPR | CAT FEA 13 | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA 16 | MON SPR 16 | IST FEA Ret | IST SPR Ret | SIL FEA 9 | SIL SPR 8 | NÜR FEA 14 | NÜR SPR 12 | HUN FEA 15 | HUN SPR DNS | VAL FEA 13 | VAL SPR Ret | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 9 | MNZ FEA 20† | MNZ SPR 13 | ALG FEA DSQ | ALG SPR Ret | 23rd | 0 |
| 2010 | DPR | CAT FEA 17 | CAT SPR 21 | MON FEA 16 | MON SPR Ret | IST FEA 6 | IST SPR 5 | VAL FEA 8 | VAL SPR 3 | SIL FEA 22 | SIL SPR 14 | HOC FEA 9 | HOC SPR 8 | HUN FEA 7 | HUN SPR Ret | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 13 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR Ret | YMC FEA 16 | YMC SPR 10 | 16th | 12 |
| 2011 | Scuderia Coloni | IST FEA 14 | IST SPR 12 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA 13 | MON SPR 15 | VAL FEA 10 | VAL SPR 6 | SIL FEA 24 | SIL SPR 18 | NÜR FEA 11 | NÜR SPR 10 | HUN FEA 12 | HUN SPR Ret | SPA FEA 16 | SPA SPR 15 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR DNS | | | 21st | 1 |
| Sources: ||||||||||||||||||||||||

#### Complete GP2 Asia Series 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 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
| 2008 | FMS International | DUB1 FEA Ret | DUB1 SPR 17 | SEN FEA 9 | SEN SPR 12 | SEP FEA 11 | SEP SPR 11 | BHR FEA 15 | BHR SPR 14 | DUB2 FEA | DUB2 SPR | | | 23rd | 0 |
| 2008–09 | David Price Racing | SHI FEA 16 | SHI SPR 16 | DUB FEA 15 | DUB SPR C | BHR1 FEA 18 | BHR1 SPR 18 | LSL FEA 15 | LSL SPR Ret | SEP FEA 13 | SEP SPR Ret | BHR2 FEA 13 | BHR2 SPR Ret | 33rd | 0 |
| 2009–10 | David Price Racing | YMC1 FEA 13 | YMC1 SPR 9 | YMC2 FEA 7 | YMC2 SPR 2 | BHR1 FEA 23 | BHR1 SPR 13 | BHR2 FEA 18 | BHR2 SPR Ret | | | | | 13th | 7 |
| 2011 | Scuderia Coloni | YMC FEA 13 | YMC SPR 5 | IMO FEA 4 | IMO SPR 5 | | | | | | | | | 8th | 9 |
| Source: ||||||||||||||||