Klaus Ludwig

Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche, a three-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion, and the 1998 FIA GT champion.

Biography Ludwig also known as König Ludwig ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing.

Ludwig drove the Roush-Zakspeed Ford Mustang Turbo during the 1981 and 1982 Camel GT race seasons. In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, winning in 1979 with a Kremer Racing-Porsche 935. With this car, based on the then 15-year-old Porsche 911 road car design, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in the wet, an unprecedented win against the faster pure sports car racing prototypes (though it was subsequently matched in 1995 when a McLaren F1 GTR won the race at its first attempt).

Klaus Ludwig won the , an annual award presented by Porsche AG to recognize the world's most successful privateer racing driver competing with Porsche machinery in a customer racing team, in 1979 and 1986.

In 1984 and 1985, Ludwig won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing in their #7 Porsche 956. Considering Le Mans and sports cars too dangerous after the deaths of Manfred Winkelhock and Stefan Bellof, he was recruited for the 1987 World Touring Car Championship for Ford only to finish runner-up by a single point to BMW driver Roberto Ravaglia after a post-season disqualification (after Ludwig claimed the pole, he and fellow West German Klaus Niedzwiedz had finished second behind teammates Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonné at the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, but both cars were disqualified due to illegal wheel arch size on their Ford Sierra RS500s). He then moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and became champion in 1988 in a Ford Sierra RS500. Ludwig also represented IMSA in the 1986 International Race of Champions, finishing eighth.

Ludwig repeated the success at Mercedes-Benz in 1992 and 1994, before moving back to sports cars racing for them in 1997 to become the 1998 FIA GT Champion. He retired when the series did not continue in the 1999 season.

Ludwig soon returned in June 1999, to win the 24 Hours Nürburgring on the Nordschleife for the third time driving a Zakspeed Viper.

When the DTM resumed as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in 2000, Ludwig returned to the series, winning at the age of 50 years at the Sachsenring circuit, only to retire once again.

Ludwig returned as a "hobby pilot" to the Nürburgring Nordschleife when given the opportunity to drive a high power vehicle. The years 2004 and 2005 saw him enter the 24 Hours Nürburgring with Uwe Alzen on the Jürgen Alzen Porsche 996 GT2 Bi-Turbo. With a normally aspirated Porsche 997 GT3 of the Alzen brothers, Ludwig and Christian Abt managed to beat the old distance record in the 2006 edition of the 24h, yet finished only second, one lap behind the winners.

Ludwig has also worked as a TV commentator on DTM races.

Racing record

Achievements Winner 24 Hours of Le Mans: 1979, 1984, 1985 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft champion 1979, 1981 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion 1988, 1992, 1994 FIA GT World Champion 1998

Complete European Formula Two Championship 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 Pts Willi Kauhsen Racing Team March 762 Hart HOC THR VAL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NOG HOC 12th 4 Willi Kauhsen Racing Team Jabouille 2J Renault SIL THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU MUG ROU NOG PER MIS EST NC 0 KWS Autotechnik Chevron B40 Ford DON

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete World Touring Car Championship 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 Pts1987 Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MNZ JARovr:4cls:1 DIJovr:4cls:4 NÜRovr:1cls:1 SPA 2nd 268 Ford Sierra RS500 BRNovr:1cls:1 SILovr:6cls:1 BAT CLDovr:12cls:8 WELovr:1cls:1 FUJovr:1cls:1 Overall positions shown. WTCC points paying positions may be different

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.