Karl Wendlinger

Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver.

Karl Wendlinger
Nationality	Austrian
Born	20 December 1968 Kufstein, Austria
FIA GT1 World Championship career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Swiss Racing Team
Car number	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 Entries 42 (41 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 14 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 1991 Japanese Grand Prix Last entry 1995 Australian Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 1991–1992, 1996–2001, 2008 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 driving for Sauber at the 1993 British Grand Prix.

Mercedes Juniors

Born in Kufstein,[1] 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's 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 Grands Prix of the season.

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 beleaguered 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, JJ 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 teammate JJ Lehto mixed with the front runners. Initially he was out-paced by the Finn, who scored 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 Drivers' Championship again with seven points — two points and a place ahead of the more experienced Lehto.

For 1994 Wendlinger was retained as Mercedes made their official return to Formula 1, buying a stake in 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 3-times 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 pre-race 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 teammate in 2006 was Phillip Peter, and in 2007 his teammate was Scottish driver, Ryan Sharp.

2007 Wendlinger competed at the 24 Hours of Daytona with Sigal Sport team in a BMW powered Riley DP. He crashed during the night on his in lap at the end of his second stint and was sent to the hospital as a precaution. The car eventually was retired from the damage.

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 International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1990	RSM Marko	Lola T90/50	Cosworth	DON DNQ	SIL 14	PAU	JER DNQ	MNZ Ret	PER Ret	HOC 5	BRH DNQ	BIR 10	BUG	NOG 9	21st	2
1991	RSM Marko	Reynard 91D	Cosworth	VAL	PAU	JER 5	MUG	PER Ret	HOC 3	BRH	SPA Ret	BUG Ret	NOG		12th	6

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1991	Leyton House Racing	Leyton House CG911	Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN Ret	AUS 20		NC	0
1992	March F1	March CG911	Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA Ret	ESP 8	SMR 12	MON Ret	CAN 4	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 16	HUN Ret	BEL 11	ITA 10	POR Ret	JPN	AUS		12th	3
1993	Team Sauber Formula 1	Sauber C12	Sauber 2175A 3.5 V10	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 13	CAN 6	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 9	HUN 6	BEL Ret	ITA 4	POR 5	JPN Ret	AUS 15		12th	7
1994	Broker Sauber Mercedes	Sauber C13	Mercedes-Benz 2175B 3.5 V10	BRA 6	PAC Ret	SMR 4	MON DNS	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS		19th	4
1995	Red Bull Sauber Ford	Sauber C14	Ford ECA Zetec-R 3.0 V8	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 13	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN 10	AUS Ret	NC	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1991	Team Sauber Mercedes	Michael Schumacher Fritz Kreutzpointner	Mercedes-Benz C11	C2	355	5th	5th
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Eric van de Poele Alain Ferté	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	208	DNF	DNF
1996	Porsche AG	Yannick Dalmas Scott Goodyear	Porsche 911 GT1	GT1	341	3rd	2nd
1997	Roock Racing	Stéphane Ortelli Allan McNish	Porsche 911 GT1	GT1	8	DNF	DNF
1998	Viper Team Oreca	Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GT2	28	DNF	DNF
1999	Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Dominique Dupuy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GTS	325	10th	1st
2000	Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Dominique Dupuy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GTS	333	7th	1st
2001	Team PlayStation	Olivier Beretta Pedro Lamy	Chrysler LMP	LMP900	298	4th	3rd
2008	Aston Martin Racing	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	339	16th	4th

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Pos.	Pts
1989	Star-Marko RSM	Mercedes 190 E 2.3-16	ZOL 1 27	ZOL 2 Ret	HOC 1 23	HOC 2 16	NÜR 1 23	NÜR 2 DNS	MFA 1 17	MFA 2 14	AVU 1 25	AVU 2 DNS	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 DNS	HOC 1 18	HOC 2 19	DIE 1 22	DIE 2 14	NÜR 1 17	NÜR 2 Ret	HOC 1 17	HOC 2 20	30th	20
1990	AMG Motorenbau GmbH	Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	WUN 1	WUN 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1 23	NOR 2 15	DIE 1 12	DIE 2 13	NÜR 1	NÜR 2			NC	0
		Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II																					HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS
2002	Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi TT-R	HOC QR 10	HOC CR 6	ZOL QR 12	ZOL CR 18	DON QR 7	DON CR 5	SAC QR 21†	SAC CR DNS	NOR QR Ret	NOR CR 12	LAU QR 10	LAU CR Ret	NÜR QR 6	NÜR CR 12	A1R QR 13	A1R CR 16	ZAN QR 9	ZAN CR 19	HOC QR 4	HOC CR Ret			14th	3
2003	Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi TT-R	HOC 15	ADR 12	NÜR 16	LAU 13	NOR 11	DON 15	NÜR 11	A1R 16	ZAN 8	HOC 17													16th	1

• † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete FIA GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1998	Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GT2	OSC 2	SIL Ret	HOC 2	DIJ 2	HUN Ret	SUZ 2	DON 3	A1R 1	HOM Ret	LAG DNS		3rd	38
1999	Chrysler Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GT2	MNZ 1	SIL 1	HOC	HUN 2	ZOL 1	OSC 1	DON 1	HOM 2	GLN 2	ZHU 1		1st	78
2004	JMB Racing	Ferrari 575-GTC Maranello	GT	MNZ Ret	VAL 4	MAG 2	HOC 11	BRN 2	DON 1	SPA 4	IMO 9	OSC 4	DUB Ret	ZHU 5	8th	50.5
2005	JMB Racing	Maserati MC12 GT1	GT1	MNZ 5	MAG 1	SIL 4	IMO 4	BRN 2	SPA 2	OSC 2	IST 3	ZHU 6	DUB 4	BHR Ret	4th	71
2006	Race Alliance	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	SIL Ret	BRN Ret	OSC 7	SPA 8	PRI 4	DIJ 2	MUG 1	HUN Ret	ADR Ret	DUB 5		14th	32.5
2007	Jetalliance Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	ZHU 9	SIL 4	BUC 4	MNZ 1	OSC Ret	SPA Ret	ADR 1	BRN 2	NOG 5	ZOL 1		2nd	57
2008	Jetalliance Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	SIL 1	MNZ 7	ADR Ret	OSC 1	SPA Ret	BUC DNS	BUC	BRN 1	NOG 5	ZOL 3	SAN	9th	44
2009	K plus K Motorsport	Saleen S7R	GT1	SIL 1	ADR Ret	OSC 10	SPA	BUC DSQ	ALG	PRI	ZOL				18th	10

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
2010	Swiss Racing Team	Nissan	ABU QR 9	ABU CR 14	SIL QR 15	SIL CR Ret	BRN QR 12	BRN CR 10	PRI QR 21	PRI CR 15	SPA QR 16	SPA CR 12	NÜR QR 14	NÜR CR 10	ALG QR Ret	ALG CR 20	NAV QR 14	NAV CR Ret	INT QR 17	INT CR 18	SAN QR 7	SAN CR Ret	43rd	2
2011	Swiss Racing Team	Lamborghini	ABU QR 10	ABU CR 7	ZOL QR 4	ZOL CR 4	ALG QR 10	ALG CR 5	SAC QR 12	SAC CR Ret	SIL QR	SIL CR	NAV QR	NAV CR	PRI QR	PRI CR	ORD QR	ORD CR	BEI QR	BEI CR	SAN QR	SAN CR	16th	31

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

1. DRIVERS: KARL WENDLINGER at grandprix.com
2. Karl Wendlinger in focus
3. Where are they now? – Karl Wendlinger

External links

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