FSK Racing

FSK Racing was a Swiss racing team, founded by Finanz-Sichereit Konglomerat, best known as the investment company behind the Life GP Series. The team made its international debut in the 2001 Prost GP season and also took part in the 2002 Alternate CART season before folding due to the financial difficulties of its parent company.

Prost GP Series
FSK Racing were the first team to sign up for the Prost GP Series, a new single-make single-seater series which consisted entirely out of Prost AP03s, one of the worst modern F1 cars to date.

2001
For their first season the team's cars sported a white-red livery inspired by the Swiss flag and numerous Swiss and Italian sponsors on board, as reportedly the Finanz-Sichereit Kongloerat was unwilling to pay for any more than the naming rights to the team and the initial cost of the two cars. For the first car they signed Nathan Nurmester, who was signed after Mr. Rappen traveled to England to find a cheap, yet effective driver. When his rental car broke down near Scarborough, Nurmester came to repair it. After having heard why Rappen was in England, Nurmester told that he was an amateur driver himself. By now Rappen was completely fed up with the search and signed him immediately.

As time was running out and they needed a second driver, they went on to sign Dietrich Anger, who had some minor hillclimbing experience. He was well known to the company, having formerly worked as the chief steward of the Life GP Series before being fired due to his overly strict ruling. FSK bought him a poorly-fitting set of a second-hand racing helmet and suit so that he could race, having sold his own gear to get more money for booze after being unemployed.

The team headed on to Australia's Adelaide street circuit for the first round of the season. There Nurmester immediately impressed with a second place, while Anger quietly retired early on in the race. Two double retirements followed in Mexico and Canada, before Anger managed his first finish at Mugello with 13th place while Nurmester retired again. At Jerez, Nurmester returned to the points with 7th while Anger was again in the lower midfield, finishing 14th. Another double retirement followed in Austria, followed by a double points finish in Scotland. Great Britain was a disappointment with a 15th and another retirement, and after yet another double retirement in the English GP the team decided to pour all their resources into car reliability.

This didn't yet have any effect in France where both cars retired again. But in the Netherlands Nurmester managed more points with 5th, while Anger's car once again failed to finish. Reliability still remained an issue, and both cars again retired in Germany due to mechanical problems. At Nürburgring Nurmester qualified second, but collided with Ralf Alden and eventually finished 16th, while Anger retired yet again. After the race Nurmester was found quilty of dangerous driving and banned from the next round in Italy. Nurmester's manager Niko Nurminen was drafted in as his replacement. The investments in reliability finally paid off at the Italian GP; while Nurminen retired with a suspension failure, Anger drove cleanly, avoiding all the carnage around him, eventually winning the race after Charlie Darrell crashed out from the lead due to a brake failure on the final lap. This was the team's first win and only second podium in the series, which provided a major boost to their morale. However, they were brought back to ground level quickly at Suzuka, where after multiple collisions both cars retired with a blown engine on the same lap. At the US GP Nurmester retired on the last lap with brake problems, while Anger quietly finished in 10th. In California the roles were reversed, as Nurmester finished 19th and Anger retired with brake trouble on the last lap. In both Brazil and the season finale in Belgium both cars retired with mechanical failures.

CART
With Kun Group, the owner of the Prost GP Series buying the struggling CART series, it was decided that the two would be merged and a new CART series formed with former PGPS teams invited to take part. FSK Racing accepted the invitation, fielding two Lola-Yamahas with Goodyear tyres to Nurmester and Anger.

2002
The team's CART debut at Long Beach couldn't have been much worse, as both cars were slow in qualifying and crashed out from the race. At Laguna Seca they were well off the pace, finishing 20th and 29th. Michigan brought the team their first points as Anger finished 8th, but Nathan Nurmester suffered a serious accident which ended his CART career. After some searching they found Finnish businessman Tero Palmroth, who had tried his luck in the series in the 90s with little success. He agreed to drive for the team until they found another replacement. At the next race on Watkins Glen, Anger continued his points streak with a 10th while Palmroth retired on the first lap. In San Francisco, Anger established himself as the #1 driver of the team with another 8th, while Palmroth got his first finish in a distant 24th position, the last driver to finish the race. At Road America Palmroth crashed out while Anger finished just outside of the points in 16th. Anger managed another points finish by finishing 15th at Nazareth Speedway, while Palmroth retired due to exhaustion.

In Atlanta the team scored their best result so far with Anger finishing 6th, but Palmroth pulled out from the race midway through again, sparking rumours that he could be replaced soon. This happened after the next race, where Palmroth finished 36th and last, although Anger wasn't much better in 33rd. Jan Magnussen stepped in to replace the out-of-his-depth Finn, and would both qualify and finish in 23rd, just behind Anger who repeated the same feat. At Thruxton Magnussen had the upper hand by finishing 19th while Anger was 21st, while at Croft both cars retired early on due to accidents. At the Lausitzring Magnussen finished far back in 26th while Anger retired after a collision with Boris Offenhauser. At Dijon Magnussen would score his best result so far by finishing 18th while Anger was a distant 28th. In Miami the team mates were evenly matched with Magnussen 26th and Anger 27th.

After the Miami race it was announced that FSK's board of directors had decided to not continue funding the team for another season due to lack of results, thus ending the team's tale on the international stage after just two seasons. However, the remainder of the season was carried out normally, although there was no question that the announcement had a negative impact on the team personnel's morale. This showed at the next round at Pocono, where after a good qualifying both cars fell down in the order, with Magnussen ultimately retiring with an engine failure and Anger finishing 29th. At Motegi Magnussen finished 28th and second-last, while Anger crashed out after only two laps. Both drivers crashed out in the early stages of the Honda Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise - Anger badly enough to be injured for the rest of the season. With the parent company's finances dwindling the team decided against travelling back to North America for the last two races of the season, ending their participation in CART and the international racing scene as a whole.

Complete CART Results
* Season in progress † Did not finish, but was classified due to completing more than 90% of race distance.