Walter Röhrl
File:Walter Roehrl 2012.jpg
Röhrl at Retro Classics Stuttgart, Germany 2012-03-23
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Personal information | |
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Nationality | German |
Born | Regensburg |
7 March 1947
World Rally Championship record | |
Active years | 1973–1987 |
Co-driver | Jochen Berger Claes Billstam Willi-Peter Pitz Christian Geistdörfer Phil Short |
Teams | Porsche, Fiat, Opel, Lancia, Audi |
Rallies | 75 |
Championships | 2 (1980, 1982) |
Rally wins | 14 |
Podiums | 31 |
Stage wins | 420 |
Total points | 494 |
First rally | 1973 Monte Carlo Rally |
First win | 1975 Acropolis Rally |
Last win | 1985 San Remo Rally |
Last rally | 1987 Acropolis Rally |
Walter Röhrl (born 7 March 1947, in Regensburg) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW.
Contents
Career
Röhrl grew up as the youngest of three children of a stonemason in Regensburg. His parents separated when he was ten years old. From then on he lived with his mother. After leaving school he completed a commercial education at Bishop's Ordinariate Regensburg.[1] At the age of 16, Röhrl began working for the commercial director of a company that legally represented the Bishop of Regensburg along with 6 further Bishops in Bavaria, and skied in his spare time. In time he became a qualified ski instructor and a keen driver, and became the chauffeur to the commercial director, covering up to 120,000 kilometres annually. Some unqualified reports have stated he was once the Bishop's own driver, but this has been acknowledged as untrue. Having also now been active in sports like skiing, Röhrl was invited to drive his first rally in 1968.
Röhrl was a World Rally Championship favourite throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times with four different marques. His co-driver for many years was Christian Geistdörfer. His Fiat 131 Abarth carried him to the 1980 title, clinched with his victory in that year's San Remo rally, but it was arguably his equivalent success in 1982 that impressed most of all, with Röhrl fending off audacious four-wheel drive opposition, led by Audi's resurgent Michèle Mouton, to take the title, by virtue of consistency, in his increasingly outmoded rear-drive Opel Ascona 400. It was also during this time that he won the African Rally Championship, in 1982.[2] However, shortly after winning the championship he was fired from the team by team manager Tony Fall because he disliked competing in the RAC rally (the rally he had little success in).[3][4] Röhrl had already had severe arguments with Tony Fall about publicity activities for the team sponsor, tobacco company Rothmans. Röhrl, as a strict nonsmoker, simply refused to do any filming for Rothmans publicity spots, claiming that he had been hired as a driver, not an actor, and that he could not see any sense in making tobacco marketing as a nonsmoker anyway.[5]
In 1983, he joined Lancia to pilot the new, rear-wheel drive Lancia 037, before finally changing his machinery, in 1984, to the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro, an automobile actually produced in his home state of Bavaria.
In 1987 Röhrl set up a new record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for being the first driver to cover the 14.42 miles (19.99 km) long mountain track to the Pikes Peak in less than 11 minutes. In his 600 hp (440 kW) Audi Sport quattro S1 he only used 10:47.850[6] minutes to reach Pikes Peak on the road which at that time was mainly covered with gravel.
Despite being selective in his choice of top-level events, albeit during a time when this was a less unusual occurrence for top-line drivers in the championship, he still scored 14 WRC victories in his career.
Röhrl was also successful in road racing events, and was called "Genius on Wheels" by Niki Lauda. In the 1992 24 Hours Nürburgring race which saw fog and heavy rain in the night, he hardly slowed down, anticipating the corners by timing. The race was nevertheless interrupted for hours.
In Italy, he was elected "Rallye driver of the century". In France he was elected "Rallye driver of the millennium" in November 2000. A jury out of 100 worldwide motorsports experts elected him "Best Rallye driver ever" in Italy.
In recent years, he has been retained as the senior test driver for Porsche road cars, famously setting quick laptimes for them testing round the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, for example with the Porsche Carrera GT.
Röhrl was expected to make his competitive return to the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2010 at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. However, he was forced to withdraw from the event due to a back injury.[7] It was to be his first 24-hour race in 17 years, since his last start in 1993. In 2011, Röhrl was inducted into the Rally Hall of Fame along with Hannu Mikkola.[8]
Complete WRC results
WRC victories
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# Event Season Co-driver Car 1 22nd Acropolis Rally 1975 Jochen Berger Opel Ascona 2 25th Acropolis Rally 1978 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 3 Critérium du Québec 1978 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 4 48th Rally Monte Carlo 1980 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 5 14th Rally Portugal 1980 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 6 1st Rally Argentina 1980 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 7 22nd Rally Sanremo 1980 Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth 8 50th Rally Monte Carlo 1982 Christian Geistdörfer Opel Ascona 400 9 14th Rallye Côte d'Ivoire 1982 Christian Geistdörfer Opel Ascona 400 10 51st Rally Monte Carlo 1983 Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally 11 30th Acropolis Rally 1983 Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally 12 13th Rally New Zealand 1983 Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally 13 52nd Rally Monte Carlo 1984 Christian Geistdörfer Audi Quattro A2 14 27th Rally Sanremo 1985 Christian Geistdörfer Audi Quattro Sport S1
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
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1981 | Porsche System | Jürgen Barth | Porsche 944 LM | GTP +3.0 | 323 | 7 | 1st |
1993 | Le Mans Porsche Team | Hurley Haywood Hans-Joachim Stuck |
Porsche 911 Turbo S LM-GT | GT | 79 | DNF | DNF |
References
- ↑ de:Walter Röhrl
- ↑ African Rally Championship Website – PastChampions
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ http://www.juwra.com/rohrl_walter.html
- ↑ Walter Röhrl, Aufschrieb. (Autobiography) ISBN 3-927458-04-X
- ↑ http://www.ppihc.com/race_winners_by_year/
- ↑ AUSmotive.com – Injury forces Walter Röhrl out of Nürburgring 24 hour
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Walter Röhrl. |
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by | European Rally Champion 1974 |
Succeeded by Maurizio Verini |
Preceded by | World Rally Champion 1980 |
Succeeded by Ari Vatanen |
Preceded by | World Rally Champion 1982 |
Succeeded by Hannu Mikkola |
Preceded by | African Rally Champion 1982 |
Succeeded by Alain Ambrosino |
Preceded by | Race of Champions Classic Master 1997 |
Succeeded by Miki Biasion |
Records | ||
Preceded by | Youngest World Rally Champion 33 years, 232 days (1980 season) |
Succeeded by Ari Vatanen 29 years, 212 days (1981 season) |
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- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- 1947 births
- Living people
- People from Regensburg
- World Rally Champions
- World Rally Championship drivers
- German rally drivers
- Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers
- Trans-Am Series drivers
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- Porsche Supercup drivers
- European Rally Championship drivers
- World Sportscar Championship drivers