Volker Weidler

Volker Weidler (born March 18, 1962 in Heidelberg) is a former 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 took popularity 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 and only 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, 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.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 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	DC	Points
1986	Bromley Motorsport Rial	SIL 10	VAL 7	PAU Ret	SPA DNQ	IMO	MUG 16	PER DNQ	ZEL 9	BIR	BUG	JAR	NC	0
1988	Onyx Racing	JER Ret	VAL 12	PAU DNQ	SIL 14	MNZ 9	PER Ret	BRH 6	BIR 4	BUG DNS	ZOL Ret	DIJ 10	15th	5

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	Points
1989	Rial Racing	Rial ARC2	Ford Cosworth DFR (Mader) 3.5 V8	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DSQ	HUN DNQ	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0

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	Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
1992	4	C1	5	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Oreca	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda MXR-01	M	336
1991	1	C2	55	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot	Mazda 787B	D	362
1990	39 DNF	GTP	201	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Bertrand Gachot Johnny Herbert	Mazda 787	D	148
1989	12	GTP	203	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Yojiro Terada Marc Duez	Mazda 767	D	339
1987	45 DNF	C1	10	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kris Nissen Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	Y	6

References

• Profile at F1 Rejects
• Driver Database Profile

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