Markus Winkelhock

Markus Winkelhock
Winkelhock at the Brands Hatch round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series season.
Nationality	German
Born	13 June 1980 Stuttgart, Germany
Previous series
2011–2012 2007 2006 2005 2004, 2007–2010 2003 2001, 2003 2001–2002 2000 2000 1999 1998	FIA GT1 World Championship Formula One Porsche Supercup Formula Renault 3.5 Series DTM Formula 3 Euro Series Masters of Formula 3 German F3 Championship Formula Renault 2000 Italy Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Germany Formula König
Championship titles
2012	FIA GT1 World Championship
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2007
Teams	Spyker
Entries	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2007 European Grand Prix
Last entry	2007 European Grand Prix

Markus Winkelhock (born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver, who has taken part in one Formula One Grand Prix, which he briefly led. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s.^[1] Having switched to sports and touring car racing, he has also won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 with team-mate Marc Basseng.

Early career

Winkelhock driving in the German F3 series in 2002.

Born in Stuttgart, Winkelhock won races in a string of junior formulae including Formula König, German Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup from 1998–2000.^[2]

In 2001, Winkelhock joined the German Formula 3 Championship, where he remained until the championship became the F3 Euroseries in 2003. His record was fifth overall in 2001 (three wins), seventh in 2002 (one win) and fourth in 2003 (two wins).^[2]

He switched to touring car racing in 2004, with a season in the DTM in an AMG-Mercedes CLK. But he failed to score a point all year with the Persson team.^[2]

Winkelhock switched back to single-seater racing in 2005, joining the World Series by Renault with Draco. He won three times but there were also some less than shining moments – notably when he crashed at Monaco in qualifying and on the first lap of the race.^[2]

Formula One

On 24 January 2006, Marcus Winkelhock was confirmed a test and reserve driver in the Midland F1 team, (formerly Jordan Grand Prix) for the 2006 Formula One season.^[3] He participated in Friday test sessions for the team at the Bahrain, Australian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix.^[2]

He was re-signed for 2007 by the team, now in its Spyker F1 guise.^[4] He also made a brief return to the DTM in 2007, starting three races.^[2]

Following Christijan Albers' departure from Spyker after the 2007 British Grand Prix, Winkelhock was confirmed as his replacement for the European Grand Prix on 18 July.^[5] The deal was only for one race with Sakon Yamamoto set to race for Spyker for the rest of the season.^[6]

2007 European Grand Prix

Due to Christijan Albers' departure from the Spyker F1 Team, Winkelhock was called in for the 10th race of the season, the European Grand Prix. Winkelhock started last on the 22-car grid alongside team mate Adrian Sutil. But on the formation lap with the rest of the field already on dry-weather tyres, the team made a last-second decision to call Winkelhock into the pits to switch to intermediate tyres. When pouring rain forced almost all the others to pit at the end of the first lap, Winkelhock was able to move into the lead, passing some cars as they pitted, and even passing Kimi Räikkönen on the track as the Finn tip-toed around to the pits, eventually building a lead of 19 seconds by the end of the second lap. By lap 4 he had a lead of 33 seconds over Ferrari's Felipe Massa in 2nd place.

As the rain got heavier the race stewards first sent out the safety car, and then suspended the race following a series of spin-offs in the first corner behind the safety car. The race restarted after the rain had eased. Winkelhock and his team chose to start on full wet tyres on a drying track in the hope of further showers, as the team expected he would be overtaken by faster cars anyway. The gamble failed and, having restarted the race from pole position, Winkelhock quickly fell down the order. He retired on lap 15 with hydraulic problems that caused a small fire. He had led for a total of six laps.^[7]

According to Bob Varsha of the Speed Channel commentary team, Winkelhock is the only driver in Formula One history to start last on the grid and lead the race in his first Grand Prix, and due to the red flag and restart, is also the only driver in Formula One history to start both last and first on the grid in the same Grand Prix.

Despite leading his debut race, the Spyker team eventually opted against giving Winkelhock a drive for the remainder of the 2007 season for sponsorship reasons, and instead decided to give the drive to former Super Aguri driver Sakon Yamamoto.

Post-Formula One career

Winkelhock driving for Audi (Team Rosberg) in the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season at the Hockenheimring.

Winkelhock returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after he lost his Spyker seat, and has remained in the series, driving for Team Rosberg, for 2008 (12th), 2009 (10th) and 2010 (12th).

In 2011, he competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for the All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport team alongside team boss Marc Basseng driving a Lamborghini. They won the championship the following year, the team having switched to the Mercedes SLS due to a change in the regulations.

Winkelhock was to move with Münnich Motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship for 2013,^[8] however he left the team before the start of the season in order to focus on his GT racing commitments, and was replaced by defending champion Robert Huff.^[9]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
1998	Formula König	?	9	2	3	161	2nd
1999	Formula Renault Germany	SL Formula Racing	8	1	2	72	4th
		Lechner Racing
2000	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	?	?	?	1	78	6th
	Formula Renault 2000 Italy	SL Racing	4	0	0	8	21st
2001	German Formula Three	Mücke Motorsport	20	2	3	141	5th
	Masters of Formula Three	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	1	0	0	N/A	36th
2002	German Formula Three	Mücke Motorsport	18	2	1	28	7th
2003	Formula Three Euroseries	Mücke Motorsport	20	1	2	71	4th
	Masters of Formula Three	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	1	0	0	N/A	6th
2004	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Persson	10	0	0	0	19th
2005	World Series by Renault	Draco Multiracing USA	17	1	3	114	3rd
2006	Formula One	MF1 Racing	Test driver
	Porsche Supercup	Porsche AG	1	0	0	0	NC
2007	Formula One	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	1	0	0	0	NC
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	2	0	0	0	19th
		Futurecom TME	5	0	0	0
2008	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	11	0	0	6	11th
2009	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	10	0	0	11	10th
2010	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	11	0	0	7	12th
2011	GT1 World Championship	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	20	0	3	102	5th
2012	GT1 World Championship	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	18	0	1	145	1st
2013	GT Series	Phoenix Racing	2	0	0	0	NC‡
	Blancpain Endurance Series		5	0	0	12	23rd
2014	Blancpain Sprint Series	Phoenix Racing	14	0	0	32	11th
	Blancpain Endurance Series		1	0	1	43	10th
	World Rallycross Championship	EKS RX	1	0	0	0	56th
2015	Blancpain Sprint Series	Phoenix Racing	14	0	0	48	9th
	Blancpain Endurance Series		5	0	0	0	NC
2016	ADAC GT Masters	Phoenix Racing	10	0	0	22	30th
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup		8	0	0	0	NC
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		1	0	0	18	21st
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		2	0	0	15	7th*

^* Season still in progress. ^‡ As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula Three Euroseries 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	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2003	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	Dallara F302/012	HWA-Mercedes	HOC 1 3	HOC 2 4	ADR 1 Ret	ADR 2 17	PAU 1 21	PAU 2 Ret	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 5	LMS 1 8	LMS 2 18	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 2	A1R 1 4	A1R 2 6	ZAN 1 4	ZAN 2 4	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 2	MAG 1 1	MAG 2 9	4th	71

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	DC	Points
2005	Draco Multiracing USA	ZOL 1 NC	ZOL 2 3	MON 1 DNS	VAL 1 11	VAL 2 12	LMS 1 1	LMS 2 5	BIL 1 Ret	BIL 2 7	OSC 1 Ret	OSC 2 3	DON 1 5	DON 2 1	EST 1 4	EST 2 2	MNZ 1 3	MNZ 2 1	3rd	114

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	18	WDC	Points
2006	MF1 Racing	Midland M16	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	BHR TD	MAL	AUS TD	SMR	EUR	ESP	MON	GBR	CAN	USA	FRA	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA	–	–
2007	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	Spyker F8-VII	Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR Ret	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA		NC	0

Complete DTM 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	Pos	Points
2004	Persson Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2003	HOC 15	EST 17	ADR 20	LAU 13	NOR 18	SHA^1 9	NÜR Ret	OSC 16	ZAN 14	BRN 18	HOC 13	19th	0
2007	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC	OSC	LAU Ret	BRH 14	NOR							19th	0
	Futurecom TME	Audi A4 DTM 2005						MUG 9	ZAN 13	NÜR Ret	CAT 12	HOC 13
2008	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC 12	OSC 6	MUG 7	LAU Ret	NOR 11	ZAN 8	NÜR 9	BRH 11	CAT 11	BUG 11	HOC Ret	11th	6
2009	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 4	LAU Ret	NOR 13	ZAN DSQ	OSC Ret	NÜR 4	BRH Ret	CAT Ret	DIJ 10	HOC 8		10th	11
2010	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 15	VAL Ret	LAU 10	NOR Ret	NÜR Ret	ZAN DNS	BRH Ret	OSC Ret	HOC Ret	ADR 4	SHA 7	12th	7

¹ – Shanghai was a non-championship round.

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	Points
2011	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Lamborghini Murciélago LP670 R-SV	ABU QR 6	ABU CR 3	ZOL QR 1	ZOL CR 1	ALG QR 7	ALG CR 6	SAC QR 9	SAC CR Ret	SIL QR Ret	SIL CR 5	NAV QR 1	NAV CR 2	PRI QR 7	PRI CR 8	ORD QR EX	ORD CR 8	BEI QR 12	BEI CR Ret	SAN QR 6	SAN CR Ret	5th	102
2012	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	NOG QR 6	NOG CR 3	ZOL QR 6	ZOL CR 9	NAV QR 5	NAV QR 2	SVK QR 4	SVK CR 3	ALG QR 1	ALG CR 2	SVK QR 3	SVK CR 2	MOS QR 2	MOS CR 5	NUR QR 3	NUR CR 2	DON QR 5	DON CR EX			1st	145

Complete FIA GT Series results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Points
2013	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR	NOG CR	ZOL QR	ZOL CR	ZAN QR	ZAN CR	SVK QR	SVK CR	NAV QR	NAV CR	BAK QR 9	BAK CR 12	NC	0‡

‡ — Guest driver – Not eligible for points.

Complete Blancpain Sprint Series results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Points
2014	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR 2	NOG CR Ret	BRH QR 5	BRH CR Ret	ZAN QR Ret	ZAN CR 11	SVK QR 15	SVK CR Ret	ALG QR Ret	ALG CR 6	ZOL QR 16	ZOL CR 18	BAK QR 6	BAK CR 3	11th	32
2015	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR Ret	NOG CR 8	BRH QR 6	BRH CR 8	ZOL QR 4	ZOL CR 5	MOS QR 10†	MOS CR 6†	ALG QR 3	ALG CR 2	MIS QR 12	MIS CR 12	ZAN QR 3	ZAN CR Ret	9th	48
2016	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	MIS QR 15	MIS CR 27	BRH QR 13	BRH CR 11	NÜR QR 21	NÜR CR 22	HUN QR WD	HUN CR WD	CAT QR Ret	CAT CR 16					NC	0

^† Winkelhock was ineligible to score points during the Moscow weekend due to Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof's absence.

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2014	EKS RX	Audi S1	POR	GBR	NOR	FIN 24	SWE	BEL	CAN	FRA	GER	ITA	TUR	ARG	56th	0

References

1. "F1's famous names return". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
2. "Who's Who: Markus Winkelhock". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
3. "Markus Winkelhock is MF1 Racing's test driver". NewsOnF1.net. 2006-01-25. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
4. "Spyker announces four test drivers". GPUpdate.net. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
5. "Winkelhock name to return to F1". news.bbc.co.uk. 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
6. "Spyker confirm Yamamoto deal". Autosport.com. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
7. "European Grand Prix 2007 statistics and facts". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
8. "Basseng and Winkelhock set for WTCC 2013". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
9. "ROB HUFF DEFENDS TITLE WITH ALL-LINKL.COM". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Markus Winkelhock's career statistics at Driver Database
• Who's Who: Markus Winkelhock at F1Fanatic