2016 Italian F4 champion Marcos Siebert was left on the sidelines for two years after a promising career in single-seaters. Entering the world of endurance racing in 2022, Siebert’s new venture proved to be successful since returning to racing full-time in 2023.
By Marco Albertini
The Mar del Plata-born driver began his career in Argentina, starting in karts before advancing to Formula Metropolitan on a part-time basis. He later moved to Europe in 2013 to further his career.
After a year in Formula Renault 2.0 with Jenzer that didn’t yield success, Siebert took a year out of motorsport. Returning to single-seaters in 2015, the Argentinean reunited with the Swiss team to take on the Italian F4 Championship.
Following a slow start to the season, Siebert scored his first podium at Imola, before taking his maiden win of the season in the next round at Mugello. Despite an inconsistent final three rounds of the season, Siebert took his second win of the season in the finale at Misano.
Finishing fifth in the standings as the highest Jenzer driver, Siebert stayed with the same team for his sophomore season in the championship.
Opening up the season with two poles and a win at Misano, the Argentinean established himself as an early threat for the title and would take advantage of several teams focusing on ADAC F4 to take the lead in the standings after the following round in Adria, where he took his second win of the season.
Siebert held the points lead for the remainder of the season, securing wins at Imola and Mugello and earning two additional podiums at Imola and Monza. By taking fifth place in the second Monza race, he was crowned champion a race early, becoming Argentina’s first Formula 4 champion.
Financial crisis “tough” for Argentinian drivers
Speaking of his move to Europe, Siebert said: “The level in Argentina is really good. We have excellent drivers, but it’s tough for us as Argentina is still in a significant financial crisis.”
“The Peso is in a really bad situation, so it’s almost impossible for us to come to Europe to race. The only chance is to have help, which I fortunately received after winning Italian F4.”
Siebert won Italian F4 in 2016 | Credit: ACI Sport
Following his success in Italian F4, Siebert spent 2017 competing in GP3, finishing 16th in the standings. His best result was fourth in the Monza feature.
Despite taking part in the GP3 pre-season tests in early 2018, Siebert stayed with Campos but moved to the Euroformula Open Championship, where he finished third in the standings with a sole win, coming at the Silverstone round.
Having initially not found a seat for 2019, Siebert competed on a part-time basis in the FR European Championship with US Racing. Finishing eighth in the standings with one podium to his name, taken at Vallelunga, he found himself without a drive for the next two years.
Speaking about his single-seater career, Siebert said: “It was really good, the highlight of my career in single-seaters for sure was Italian F4 with Jenzer and it was really competitive, that year had the likes of Mick Schumacher, Juri Vips, Job van Uitert, who are all very good drivers.”
“I had some really good years in single-seaters but when I realized my chance to get into F1 was gone, I moved to the endurance world. Last year I won ELMS in LMP3 and we were also leading GT Open, but I missed two races as they clashed with ELMS. So it’s going good and let’s see what the future brings.”
Switching to endurance racing
In early 2022, Siebert joined EuroInternational in ELMS, competing in the first round before pulling out of the Imola round and eventually, the rest of the season due to “personal reasons”. Returning to the ELMS paddock late in the year, the Argentinean took part in the post-season tests with COOL Racing.
Siebert joined the Swiss team for a double campaign in Asian Le Mans and ELMS, both in LMP3.
Finishing eighth in the standings in Asian Le Mans with a second-place finish to his name, Siebert turned his attention to ELMS, where he would join Adrien Chila and Alex Garcia in the #17 car.
The trio dominated the season, winning three of the first four races, finishing on the podium in all but one race, finishing fourth, to win the LMP3 class with a commanding 51-point gap to the #11 EuroInternational pair of Adam Ali and Matt Bell.
I really hope that I have the chance to be a factory [driver] Siebert on his goals for his endurance racing career
During the year, Siebert also competed in International GT Open for Team Motopark. Pairing up with Diego Menchaca, the duo established themselves as a force to be reckoned with by taking a win at Algarve and finishing on the podium in all but two races they started.
After leaving the Red Bull Ring second in points, Siebert opted to skip the final two rounds to prioritize his ELMS commitments.
Reuniting with Menchaca for the 2024 GT Open season, the pair scored five podiums and finished ninth in the standings as the highest Motopark car.
Speaking about his future, Siebert said: “I really hope that I have the chance to be a factory [driver]. At the end of the day, I find myself racing against them, sometimes I beat them but let’s see if I can have the chance. I love motorsport, it’s my life so let’s see what happens.”
Header image credit: International GT Open Championship
