Volker Weidler

Volker Weidler

Born	(1962-03-18) 18 March 1962 (age 63) Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	German
Active years	1989
Teams	Rial
Entries	10 (0 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	1989 Hungarian Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1987, 1989–1992
Teams	Porsche Kremer Racing, Mazdaspeed (Mazdaspeed/Oreca)
Best finish	1st (1991)
Class wins	1 (1991)

Volker Hermann Weidler (born 18 March 1962) is a retired racing driver from Germany, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991.

Career

Formula racing

In 1985, he became German Formula Three champion.

In the 1989 Formula One season, Weidler entered 10 Formula One Grands Prix, racing for the Rial team, but failed to qualify the uncompetitive car on every occasion.

After Formula One, he moved to Japan and raced in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. He often fought over the title with Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Ross Cheever and others in the Japanese Formula 3000, and became popular in Japan.

GT / Sportscars

In 1991, Weidler teamed with Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot to win Le Mans behind the wheel of the Wankel engine-powered Mazda 787B, marking also the first win of the legendary French race by both a Japanese manufacturer and engine supplier. This Wankel engine-powered car was noted for being very loud.

Possibly related to the hours spent in the noisy Mazda,^{[ citation needed ]} Weidler began to suffer from an ear problem (sensorineural hearing loss) which eventually forced him to retire prematurely from the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship during the 1992 season though Weidler was leading the championship at that time.

When Weidler left the Japanese team, Nova Engineering, he recommended Heinz-Harald Frentzen as his successor.

Post-racing career

Weidler now works as a managing director for Weidler, a building cleaning company owned by his family, based in Weinheim.

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
1986	Bromley Motorsport with Rial	Ralt RT20	Cosworth	SIL 10	VAL 7	PAU Ret	SPA DNQ	IMO	MUG 16	PER DNQ	ÖST 9	BIR	BUG	JAR	NC	0
1988	Onyx Race Engineering	March 88B	Cosworth	JER DSQ	VAL 12	PAU DNQ	SIL 14	MNZ 9	PER Ret	BRH 6	BIR 4	BUG DNS	ZOL Ret	DIJ 6	15th	5
Sources: [1] [2]

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	WDC	Pts
1989	Rial Racing	Rial ARC2	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER EX	HUN DNQ	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0
Source: [3]

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1990	Team Take One	SUZ Ret	FSW Ret	MIN 11	SUZ 5	SUG 21	FSW 3	FSW Ret	SUZ 20	FSW 1	SUZ DSQ		6th	15
1991	Team Nova	SUZ 15	AUT DNQ	FSW 19	MIN 3	SUZ 3	SUG 8	FSW 3	SUZ 10	FSW C	SUZ 3	FSW 1	3rd	25
1992	Team Nova	SUZ 3	FSW Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 1	AUT 3	SUG 1	FSW	FSW	SUZ	FSW	FSW	4th	26
Source: [2]

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kris Nissen Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	C1	6	DNF	DNF
1989	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd	Yojiro Terada Marc Duez	Mazda 767	GTP	339	12th	3rd
1990	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Bertrand Gachot Johnny Herbert	Mazda 787	GTP	148	DNF	DNF
1991	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot	Mazda 787B	C2	362	1st	1st
1992	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Oreca	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda MXR-01	C1	336	4th	4th
Sources: [1] [4]

References

Footnotes

1. "Volker Weidler Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
2. "Volker Weidler". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 December 2023.
3. Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 415. ISBN   0851127029.
4. "Volker Weidler". Automobile Club de l'Ouest . Retrieved 3 January 2024.

Sources

• Profile at F1 Rejects
• Volker Weidler career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kurt Thiim	German Formula Three champion 1985	Succeeded by Kris Nissen
Preceded by John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1991 With: Johnny Herbert & Bertrand Gachot	Succeeded by Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell