Jody Firth

Jody Firth
Born	(1981-07-11) July 11, 1981 Wakefield, England
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	2004–2013
Known for	British GT Championship GT4 class champion (2009), SPEED UK Series champion (2010), SPEED EuroSeries champion (2011)

Jody Firth (born 11 July 1981) is a British motorsport driver whose most recent competition was in the 2009 British GT Championship season.

Throughout his career, Firth has participated in a variety of racing series such as the British GT Championship, European Le Mans Series, 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, SPEED EuroSeries, and the American Le Mans Series. He claimed the GT4 class championship in the 2009 British GT Championship and went on to win the SPEED UK Series in 2010, followed by the SPEED EuroSeries title in 2011.

Early career

Originating from Wakefield, England, Firth started his motorsport journey in karting, where he achieved sixth place in the 2003 Lincolnshire Kart Racing Club Rotax Max Senior and nineteenth in the 2004 Winter Series. His transition to car racing occurred in 2004 when he competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series with Embassy Racing, concluding the series in fourteenth position overall. The following year, he took part in twelve rounds of the Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship with Team JLR, finishing 26th in the standings. Midway through 2005, Firth shifted focus towards team management at Embassy Racing, which led to a reduction in his driving engagements.

2009

In April 2009, Firth made a comeback to competitive racing by joining Team WFR alongside Nigel Moore in the British GT Championship, piloting a GT4-class Ginetta G50. Prior to this, his initial professional event since 2005 was the Ginetta G50 Cup season opener at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit for Hepworth International, where he achieved a best finish of fifth place in the second race. At the British GT season opener held at Oulton Park, Firth and Moore secured eighth and ninth positions overall across two races while claiming victories within the GT4 category on both occasions. They also participated in the Silverstone round of the GT4 European Cup, winning the first race but retiring from the second.

Competing throughout all eight rounds of the 2009 British GT Championship, Firth and Moore’s highest overall finish was seventh place, complemented by capturing eleven class wins that secured them the GT4 championship title. Additionally, Firth contested two rounds of the MR2 Racing Series driving a Toyota MR-2 prepared by Matthew Coggins, where he earned pole position, one race victory, and recorded fastest lap honors. Furthermore, he competed with Team WFR alongside Warren Hughes and Darren Manning in the Le Mans Series’ 1000 km of Silverstone event, driving an Embassy WF01-Zytek in LMP2 class and finishing fourth within that category.

2010–2011

During 2010, Firth partnered with Warren Hughes to compete in the SPEED UK Series for Team WFR using a Ligier JS49, ultimately clinching the championship during the final round. That same year, Firth took part in three rounds of the Formula Le Mans series with DAMS, where he and Hughes secured victories at both the 1000 km of Algarve and 1000 km of Silverstone. Their efforts yielded a twelfth-place finish overall with a total of 30 points.

In 2011, Firth and Hughes progressed to contesting the SPEED EuroSeries with Team WFR behind the wheel of the newly introduced WFR03. Across nine races, they achieved three wins and stood on seven podiums en route to capturing the series title. Concurrently, Firth competed at every round of that year’s Le Mans Series with TDS Racing, teaming up with Mathias Beche and Pierre Thiriet in an LMP2-class Oreca 03. Their campaign included class victories at both the 1000 km of Spa and 6 Hours of Estoril, culminating in fourth place overall within LMP2. Additionally, Firth joined forces with Stefan Hodgetts to drive a Ginetta G55 entered by Century Motorsport during the British GT Championship’s Rockingham round; they finished fourth in race one but retired from race two.

2012

During 2012, Firth and Hughes became part of Murphy Prototypes, competing in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) with an Oreca 03, alongside Luca Moro. Concurrently, Firth participated in the British GT Championship representing Team WFR, piloting a Ginetta G55 with teammate Riki Christodoulou.

The ELMS campaign commenced with a retirement at the 6 Hours of Castellet. Firth’s British GT season proved challenging, achieving a highest placement of twelfth at Rockingham and failing to secure any championship points. Within the ELMS, the squad recorded a significant podium finish by securing third place at the 2012 6 Hours of Donington, where Brendon Hartley took over driving duties from Moro midway through the season. Firth concluded the ELMS LMP2 standings in tenth position, accumulating fifteen points.

Additionally, Murphy Prototypes fielded entries featuring Firth, Hughes, and Hartley in selected rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), as well as appearances in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), and the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Their top WEC performance was a class third-place finish and tenth overall at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. At the 6 Hours of Silverstone, they ended ninth in class and sixteenth overall.

The team’s campaigns in ALMS and at Le Mans were less fruitful; they withdrew from Petit Le Mans after completing 330 laps due to electrical issues, and retired from the 24 Hours of Le Mans after 196 laps owing to suspension malfunction.

2013

On 16 April 2013, United Autosports announced that Firth would step in for the injured Richard Meins for the remainder of the British GT season, joining forces with Mark Blundell in a McLaren MP4-12C competing in the GT3 category. Firth retired during his debut race at Rockingham and again after four laps at Silverstone. His first completed race was at Snetterton, where he finished eighth, followed by a fifteenth-place result in the subsequent event. At Brands Hatch, the duo withdrew after completing 34 laps. By the end of the season, Firth was tied for 26th place in the GT3 drivers' championship alongside David and Godfrey Jones.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data IRLTemplate:Namespace detect showall Murphy Prototypes	Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Warren Hughes Template:Country data NZLTemplate:Namespace detect showall Brendon Hartley	Oreca 03-Nissan	LMP2	196	DNF	DNF
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2018

In July 2018, Leeds Combined Court sentenced Firth to five years and four months imprisonment for money laundering offenses, additionally banning him from holding any company director roles for a period of five years.