Tobias Baumgarten

Tobias René Fabian Martin Baumgarten (born 15th December 1977) is a Belgian rally driver, currently competing in the World Rally Championship. His current co-driver is Stefan Heppenheimer. He previously competed in the French Rally Championship, coming 5th in the 1996 season.
== Early Life ==
Tobias was born on 15th December 1977 to René and Marie-Claude Baumgarten in Liège, the fourth most populous city in Belgium.
Tobias got his start in driving at 15, when he along with a couple friends stole an abandoned Citroën Visa to take it for a joyride. They made it about 6 kilometres down the road before getting arrested. The brief drive ignited Tobias's interest in cars and racing, choosing rally as his calling after trying out multiple disciplines.
== Rally Career ==
=== Early Career ===
Tobias competed in various local rally championships between 1993 and 1995 in his father's old Citroën BX, achieving respectable results for the car he was stuck competing with.
=== French Rally Championship ===
In late Autumn of 1995 Tobias managed to acquire a Renault Clio Maxi, which he would use to compete in his only French Rally Championship season.
He achieved his only win in the Rallye du Limousin and achieved decent results in the other rallies that he finished, though his bad finishing record meant that he couldn't climb above 5th in the standings. 
=== World Rally Championship ===
Tobias made the step up to the World Rally Championship in 1997, driving for Citroën and later Subaru with co-driver Julian Langenberg.
=== 1997 ===
After intense negotiations with many teams in the 1997 World Rally Championship, Tobias managed to sign a contract with Citroën to run the season from Rally Sweden onwards. The partnership only lasted 3 rounds, though, with him leaving the team after the Barum Czech Rally Zlín due to a falling out with team management. Tobias jumped ship to Subaru, driving the Subaru Impreza 555 from the Acropolis Rally onwards. His stint with Subaru started off poorly with two failures to finish, however strong results in the last 3 rallies meant that he clinched 6th in the final standings with 36 points.
Category:Drivers
Category:Rally
Category:Belgian