Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine,six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997,he won the race with the Joest Racing team,driving a Tom Walkinshaw Racing-designed and Porsche-powered WSC95,after being a late inclusion in the team following Davy Jones' accident that eventually ruled him out of the race. All of his subsequent wins came driving an Audi prototype,except in 2003,when he drove a Bentleyprototype. In both 1999 and 2007 Kristensen's team crashed out of comfortable leads in the closing hours of the race. He is considered by many to be the greatest driver ever to have raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[1]
Elsewhere,Kristensen holds the record for most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring with a total of six.[2] In August 2014,Kristensen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark.[3] In January 2018,he was inducted into the Danish Sports Hall of Fame.[4]
On 22 April 2007,Kristensen was involved in an accident while racing on the Hockenheimring race course in Hockenheim,Germany.[5] The crash resulted in a long break from training for Kristensen,and his participation in the 2007 Le Mans race was in jeopardy. Kristensen recuperated quickly,and was cleared by the Le Mans doctors to start the race. It was reported that a new type of collar may have prevented him suffering a broken neck in the crash.[6]
In 2000,2001,and 2002,he won the 24 Hours at Le Mans race with the AudiR8 along with Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro,becoming the first three drivers since Jacky Ickx in 1977 to win the race on three straight occasions. In 2003,he won the race with Bentley. In 2004,he equalled Ickx's record of six Le Mans victories in Team Goh's Audi R8. 2005 saw Kristensen win a seventh time with an American R8 entry,making him the most successful driver at the Le Mans 24-hour race (Ickx left a message on Kristensen's answering machine congratulating him on breaking his record). The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen did not finish the 2007 race following Rinaldo Capello's crash while the car was leading the race by four laps. Kristensen returned in 2008 to claim an eighth victory and extend the record for most wins.[7]
In 2013,Kristensen took his ninth victory at the event,extending his record and legendary status even further. Also he has received nickname "Mr Le Mans" because of the record of winning Le Mans 9 times total. On 19 November 2014,Kristensen announced at a press conference in Copenhagen that he was retiring from motorsport at the end of the current World Endurance Championship season.[8]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position– 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap– 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead feature races for at least one lap– 1 point awarded)
Michele Alboreto was an Italian racing driver. He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races. Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, including five seasons (1984–88) for Ferrari.
Emanuele Pirro is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion, Formula Fiat Abarth Champion (1980), two times Italian Touring Car Champion, two times Italian Overall Champion and German Touring Car Champion (1996), he also achieved records in endurance racing that place him amongst the best in the discipline, including; five wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two times ALMS Champion, two times winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, three times winner of Petit Le Mans, winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring (1989), two times winner of the Macau Guia Race and two times winner of the Goodwood RAC Historic TT. He has taken part in over 500 official national and international races.
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula One World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Seiji Ara is a Japanese race car driver.
Frank Stanley Biela is a German auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990.
Marco Werner is a professional racer from Germany. Born in Dortmund, he was the eighth driver to complete the informal triple crown in endurance racing. In his early career, Werner finished runner-up in the Formula Opel Euroseries in 1989 and runner-up in the German F3 series in 1991 behind Tom Kristensen. Having failed to graduate to Formula One, Werner switched to sports car racing and touring car racing. Werner was a regular driver in the STW and Porsche Supercup during the 1990s, but he found more success in the 24 Hours of Daytona, which he won in 1995 in a Kremer-Porsche.
Stéphane Ortelli is a Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1998 with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. He's also won the GT1 Class at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005 with David Brabham and Darren Turner. Currently, he is an Emil Frey Racing driver competing and developing the Jaguar and Lexus GT racing cars in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the VLN series.
Pierre Kaffer is a race car driver from Germany, currently living in Switzerland.
Michael Krumm is a German professional racing driver. He won the All-Japan GT Championship in the GT500 class in 1997 and 2003 for TOM'S and Nismo, respectively, and in 2011 he won the FIA GT1 World Championship driving for JR Motorsports.
Philipp Peter is a race car driver from Austria.
Oliver Richard Benjamin Jarvis is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series with United Autosports.
Loïc Jean-Claude Duval is a French professional racing driver racing for Audi Sport as a factory driver in DTM and driving for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He won the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen driving the Audi R18 for Audi Sport. So far he won 42 races in the different categories he raced.
Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque is a Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving an Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the FIA World Endurance Championship for United Autosports. He has claimed a LMP2 class title at the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship, an LMP2 class win at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, and overall wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2018 and 2021.
Justin Keen is a British auto racing driver.
René Rast is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He last competed in Formula E. He claimed overall wins at the 2012 and 2014 24 Hours of Spa, 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring and a class win at the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona.
Elton Julian is an American racecar driver and team owner. After driving at the International Formula 3000 and the FIA World Endurance Championship, he has entered DragonSpeed at the FIA WEC, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and IndyCar Series.
Grégoire Demoustier is a French racing driver, who competes in the World Touring Car Championship for Sébastien Loeb Racing.
Lucas Luhr is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Mike Rockenfeller, nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. He also won the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello is an Italian professional racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bentley in 2003 and Audi in 2004 and 2008. Capello is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion, a five-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner, and the record holder for most wins at Petit Le Mans, having won five times. Capello has also raced in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the FIA World Endurance Championship, DTM and the Italian GT Championship.
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