Anders Olofsson

Anders Olofsson (31 March 1952 – 22 January 2008) was a Swedish racing driver.^[1]

Racing career

He won back-to-back Swedish Formula Three titles in 1977 and 1978 and finished runner-up in the European Formula Three Championship in the same seasons.

He won three consecutive Japanese Touring Car titles as a works Nissan driver and triumphed in the 1991 Spa 24 Hours, driving a Nissan Skyline with David Brabham and Naoki Hattori.

From 1988 to 1995, Anders competed six times in the Bathurst 1000 touring car race in Australia, all with Gibson Motorsport. He drove in the 1988 Tooheys 1000 with Glenn Seton in a Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R, though the pair failed to complete a lap after the gearbox broke when Seton changed from 2nd to 3rd gear only seconds after the rolling start (the same fate had befallen Seton and Olofsson on lap 3 of the Sandown 500 just 3 weeks earlier, the traditional lead in to Bathurst). In 1989 he returned, driving with George Fury in a HR31 Skyline to finish 4th. After a two year absence he returned for Winfield Racing (Gibson) in 1992 (the final year of Group A) in a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R to finish 3rd outright with television commentator turned racer Neil Crompton. Despite Australian touring car racing abandoning Group A at the end of 1992 and moving to a V8 formula, Olofsson was held in such regard by the Fred Gibson run team that he was invited to return in 1993 and finished 4th with David Brabham in a Holden VP Commodore and 1994 to drive with veteran Colin Bond (the 1969 race winner) to finish 6th in a VP Commodore. Olofsson's last Bathurst 1000 was again with the Gibson team in 1995 where he teamed with Steven Richards in a Holden VR Commodore to again finish 4th.

Olofsson finished second overall in the GT1 class of the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Gulf McLaren F1 with Jean-Marc Gounon and Pier-Henri Raphanel.

He retired from racing at the end of 1997 and worked in driver management with Swedish racers in the Swedish Touring Car Championship.

Death

Olofsson died in his sleep on 22 January 2008, aged 55.^[2]

Career Results

Complete Spa 24 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	Magnum Racing	Ulf Granberg Ingvar Carlsson	Volvo 240T	Div. 3	98	DNF	DNF
1986	RAS Sport	Johnny Cecotto Mauro Baldi	Volvo 240T	Div. 3	456	12th	7th
1987	Bastos Toyota Team	Pierre-Alain Thibaut Eric Bachelart	Toyota Supra 3.0i MA70	Div. 3	346	DNF	DNF
1988	Nissan Motorsports Europe	Allan Grice Win Percy	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	Div. 3	482	6th	4th
1991	Nismo Zexel	David Brabham Naoki Hattori	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	A/Div. 3	517	1st	1st
1992	Nismo	David Brabham Masahiro Hasemi	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	A/Div. 3	102	DNF	DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	Italya Sports	Alain Ferté Patrick Gonin	Nissan R86V	C1	86	DNF	DNF
1988	Italya Sports Team Le Mans Co.	Lamberto Leoni Akio Morimoto	March 88S−Nissan	C1	69	DNF	DNF
1989	Team Le Mans Co. Courage Compétition	Takao Wada Akio Morimoto	March 88S−Nissan	C1	221	DNF	DNF
1990	Team Le Mans	Takao Wada Maurizio Sandro Sala	Nissan R89C	C1	182	DNF	DNF
1991	Courage Compétition	Johnny Dumfries Thomas Danielsson	Cougar C26S−Porsche	C2	45	DNF	DNF
1996	Ennea SRL Igol	Luciano Della Noce Carl Rosenblad	Ferrari F40 GTE	GT1	98	DNF	DNF
1997	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Racing	Jean-Marc Gounon Pierre-Henri Raphanel	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	360	2nd	1st

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1988	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	A	0	DNF	DNF
1989	Nissan Motorsport Australia	George Fury	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	A	160	4th	4th
1992	Winfield Team Nissan	Neil Crompton	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	A	143	3rd	3rd
1993	Winfield Racing Team	David Brabham	Holden VP Commodore	A	159	4th	4th
1994	Winfield Racing	Colin Bond	Holden VP Commodore	A	161	6th	6th
1995	Winfield Racing	Steven Richards	Holden VR Commodore		161	4th	4th

References

↑ "Profile". mitorosso.com. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
↑ English, Steven (24 January 2008). "Anders Olofsson dies aged 55". Autosport. Retrieved 10 September 2012.

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