Karl Wendlinger

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Karl Wendlinger Nationality Austrian Born (1968-12-20) December 20, 1968 (age 44) Kufstein (Austria) 2013 FIA GT1 World Championship Debut season 2010 Current team Swiss Racing Team Car no. 3 Starts 20 Wins 0 Poles 0 Fastest laps 0 Best finish 43rd in 2010 Previous series 2004–09 2002–03 2001 1999 1998–99 1997 1996 1991–95 1990–91 1990–92 1989–90 1988–89 1988 FIA GT Championship DTM V8Star Series American Le Mans Series FIA GT Championship Italian Superturismo Super Tourenwagen Cup Formula One International Formula 3000 World Sportscars DTM German F3 Austrian F3 Championship titles 1999 1989 1988 FIA GT Championship German F3 Austrian F3 Formula One World Championship career Active years 1991–1995 Teams Leyton House, March, Sauber Races 42 (41 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 14 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1991 Japanese Grand Prix Last race 1995 Australian Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1991–1992, 1996–2001 Teams Team Sauber Mercedes, Peugeot Talbot Sport, Porsche AG, Roock Racing, Viper Team Oreca Best finish 3rd (1996) Class wins 2 (1999 and 2000)

Wendlinger (in the back) at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix

Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968 in Kufstein^[1]) is an Austrian sportscar racing and former Formula One driver.

Mercedes Juniors

Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Championship in 1988. After managing tenth place in that inaugural season, Wendlinger won the crown in 1989, which earned him also a drive in the Mercedes-Benz sportscar team for 1990.

Driving the Sauber-Mercedes C11 - alongside Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mauro Baldi and Jean-Louis Schlesser - the quintet managed to achieve fifth place in the 1990 World Sportscar Championship standings.

In 1991, he continued to race with Mercedes sportscars - alongside a Formula 3000 programme with the Helmut Marko team. Towards the end of the year, Mercedes' team boss Jochen Neerpasch placed two of his protégés in Formula One. Schumacher went to the Jordan team before signing for Benetton, whilst Wendlinger made a low key Formula One debut with the Leyton House outfit for the final two Grand Prix.

Formula One

1991–1992: Leyton House/March

Wendlinger's Formula One debut came at the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, bringing some money to the beleagured Leyton House team in place of long-serving Ivan Capelli. He qualified in 22nd place in a field of 26, but was unable to convert that into anything more, after he retired due to a big collision at turn one, between himself, J.J. Lehto, Andrea de Cesaris and Emanuele Pirro. His second race didn't fare much better as the Adelaide circuit was a wash-out, torrential rain leading to a curtailed event. Wendlinger was classified in 20th place, two laps down on eventual winner Ayrton Senna, after aquaplaning on some of the huge puddles of water present that day.

Wendlinger was kept at the renamed March team in 1992, alongside Paul Belmondo. The team were struggling financially due to the withdrawal of the Leyton House organisation, the only modifications to the 1991 car being reworking the cockpit to accommodate Wendlinger's tall frame. The results were very encouraging, including starting 7th at the opening South African Grand Prix but results were limited by the team's financial restraints. For example, at the Spanish Grand Prix the drying track at the start saw the Footwork team make a late change of tyres to their cars on the starting grid, incurring a fine but finishing 5th and 7th. Wendlinger was 8th, March being unable to afford the fine for changing his tyres at the same time. However, at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal a race of attrition allowed Wendlinger to bring the car home in fourth position, albeit a lap down - but nonetheless a huge result considering the financial troubles his team were in. These three points allowed Wendlinger to finish 12th in the drivers championship ahead of respected names such as Ivan Capelli, Thierry Boutsen, Johnny Herbert and former Brabham and Tyrrell driver Stefano Modena.

1993–1995: Sauber

For 1993, Wendlinger was re-united with Peter Sauber, who that year had become a Formula One team owner. Much was expected of the team and early on Wendlinger and team-mate JJ Lehto mixed with the front runners. Initially he was out-paced by the Finn, who scores points in two of the first four races though some of this was down to bad luck; Wendlinger had qualified 5th at Donington for example only to be eliminated by Michael Andretti on the first lap. At the Monaco Grand Prix Wendlinger and Lehto collided, the team blaming the Finn. After that Wendlinger's results improved. He scored his first point of the season in the next round and added three more points scores - the best being 4th at the Italian Grand Prix after a long battle with Andretti. Other points finishes in Portugal and Hungary helped give Wendlinger 12th in the Championship again with seven points - two points and a place ahead of more experienced team-mate J.J. Lehto.

For 1994 he was retained as Mercedes made their official return to Formula 1, taking over Ilmor and becoming the team's engine suppliers. Heinz-Harald Frentzen arrived in place of Lehto. The season started well for Wendlinger, he scored a point in the first race of the year at Interlagos and drove to fourth place in the San Marino race, an event marred by the deaths of both Wendlinger's countryman Roland Ratzenberger and the multiple world champion Ayrton Senna.

The next race was in Monaco for the fourth round of the Championship. During the first practice session, Wendlinger exited the tunnel and lost control of the car under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane. The Sauber hit the wall sideways with considerable force. Wendlinger's head struck a water-filled barrier within the metal crash barrier. FIA doctors found Wendlinger unconscious, and although his vital signs were quickly stabilized, he remained in a coma for several weeks and did not drive in a race for the rest of the year.^[2] He had planned to make his comeback at the Japanese Grand Prix but testing revealed his neck was not strong enough.

Wendlinger recovered from his injuries before the start of the 1995 Formula One season, where he would be driving at Sauber (now with Ford engines) alongside Frentzen. However, he performed poorly and was reluctantly replaced in the team before the Monaco Grand Prix, a year on from the accident, by Jean-Christophe Boullion. Peter Sauber then recalled Wendlinger for the final two races of the season in one last attempt to regain his pre-accident form, without success. These were his last races in Formula One.

After Formula One

Since then, he has competed successfully in sports cars and touring cars,^[3] winning the FIA GT Championship (with Olivier Beretta) in 1999. After a spell racing for Abt-Audi in DTM in 2002 and 2003 he raced for JMB Racing in FIA GT again, driving a Maserati MC12 with Andrea Bertolini.

Since 2006, Wendlinger has been part of the JetAlliance Racing team, competing again in the FIA GT Championship. His team-mate in 2006 was Phillip Peter, and in 2007 his team-mate was Scottish driver, Ryan Sharp.

2008

Wendlinger has been competing for JetAlliance Racing in 2008 alongside Ryan Sharp. They started well at the RAC Tourist Trophy round from Silverstone. Wendlinger and Sharp won the GT1 class and overall race ahead of Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini's Maserati MC12.

Racing record

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Partial DTM results

(key)

Complete GT1 World Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1991	C2	31	G	Mercedes-Benz C11 Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L Turbo V8	Team Sauber Mercedes	Michael Schumacher Fritz Kreutzpointner	355	5th	5th
1992	C1	31	M	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B Peugeot SA35 3.5L V10	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Eric van de Poele Alain Ferté	208	DNF	DNF
1996	GT1	26	M	Porsche 911 GT1 Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	Porsche AG	Yannick Dalmas Scott Goodyear	341	3rd	2nd
1997	GT1	32	G	Porsche 911 GT1 Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	Roock Racing	Stéphane Ortelli Allan McNish	8	DNF	DNF
1998	GT2	50	M	Chrysler Viper GTS-R Chrysler 8.0L V10	Viper Team Oreca	Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	28	DNF	DNF
1999	GTS	51	M	Chrysler Viper GTS-R Chrysler 8.0L V10	Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Dominique Dupuy	325	10th	1st
2000	GTS	51	M	Chrysler Viper GTS-R Chrysler 8.0L V10	Viper Team Oreca	Dominique Dupuy Olivier Beretta	333	7th	1st
2001	LMP900	16	M	Chrysler LMP Chrysler (Mopar) 6.0L V8	Team PlayStation	Olivier Beretta Pedro Lamy	298	4th	3rd
2008	GT1	007	M	Aston Martin DBR9 Aston Martin 6.0L V12	Aston Martin Racing	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Andrea Piccini	339	16th	4th

Helmet

Wendlinger's helmet is yellow with 2 blue parallel lines in the middle of the helmet, a blue circle on the top and 3 red white red arrows between the parallel lines.

References

External links

• Official site [in German]
• Profile at DriverDB.com