Marc Surer

Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951) is a Swiss former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to .

Born in Arisdorf, Surer began kart racing at the age of 20. He moved to Germany in 1974 to compete in Formula Vee, as motor racing was banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster. After finishing runner-up in the 1976 German Formula Three Championship, Surer progressed to European Formula Two, winning the title in 1979 with the BMW Junior Team. Making his Formula One debut at the that year with Ensign, Surer signed for ATS in . He participated in 88 Formula One Grands Prix, scoring 17 championship points.

Racing career Surer started his career in karting in 1972. Due to the racing ban established in Switzerland after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, he moved to Germany in 1974, where he finished second in the local Formula Vee Championship. In 1976, he switched to European Formula 3, where he was noticed by Jochen Neerpasch, who hired him as a member of the BMW Junior Team alongside Eddie Cheever and Manfred Winkelhock. In 1978, he finished second in the Formula 2 Championship, eventually winning the series the following year in a works March-BMW.

Surer's debut in Formula 1 took place at the end of 1979 and was somewhat troubled. He broke his legs in qualifying at the South African Grand Prix in an ATS at Kyalami in 1980 and again racing there in 1981 for Ensign. He recovered to give Ensign their best result with a fourth-place finish at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, also setting the fastest lap of the race. He later drove for Theodore before establishing himself at Arrows for a couple of seasons, until BMW's support earned him a seat at Brabham for 1985. Surer returned to Arrows in 1986 but eventually retired from Formula One halfway through the season due to a serious accident at the 1986 ADAC Hessen-Rallye in his Ford RS200 that severely injured him and killed his co-driver and friend Michel Wyder. BMW retained him as a driver, coach and later director of motorsport activities. In 1994 and 1995, Surer, alongside Johnny Cecotto and Joachim Winkelhock, won the German Super Touring Car Championship.

In 1996, Surer began working as a television commentator at all Formula 1 events for Sky Sport (Germany) (formerly known as DF1 and Premiere) next to the lead commentator Jacques Schulz. After Schulz's withdrawal prior to the 2013 season, he remained as a commentator alongside Sascha Roos until 2017.

Formula One all-time ranking In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Surer was ranked the 17th best Formula One driver of all time.

Personal life Surer has been married twice to former Playboy models, first to Playmate Jolanda Egger, and then to Christina Surer between 1997 and 2000. On 3 December 2011 he married his longtime partner Silvia Renée Arias.

Racing record Career summary

† As Surer was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

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 Hohmann Racing Chevron B35 BMW HOC THR VLL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NOG HOC NC 0 Hohmann Auto Technik March 762 BMW SIL THR HOC NÜR VLL PAU MUG ROU NOG PER MIS EST 13th 5 March Engineering March 772P DON Polifac BMW Junior Team March 782 BMW THR HOC NÜR PAU MUG VLL ROU DON NOG PER MIS HOC 2nd 51 Polifac BMW Junior Team March 792 BMW SIL HOC THR NÜR VLL MUG PAU HOC ZAN PER MIS DON 1st 38 Marcus Hotz Racing March 812 BMW SIL HOC THR NÜR VLL MUG PAU PER SPA DON MIS MAN NC 0

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) (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 WDC Points 1979 Team Ensign Ensign N179 Cosworth V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA NC 0 1980 Team ATS ATS D3 Cosworth V8 ARG BRA NC 0 ATS D4 RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 1981 Ensign Racing Ensign N180B Cosworth V8 USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP 16th 4 Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY01 FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 1982 Ragno Arrows Arrows A4 Cosworth V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT ITA 21st 3 Arrows A5 SUI CPL 1983 Arrows Racing Team Arrows A6 Cosworth V8 BRA USW FRA SMR MON BEL DET CAN GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR RSA 15th 4 1984 Barclay Nordica Arrows Arrows A6 Cosworth V8 BRA RSA BEL FRA MON CAN DET 20th 1 Arrows A7 BMW Str-4 t/c SMR DAL GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR POR 1985 Olivetti Racing Brabham BT54 BMW Str-4 t/c BRA POR SMR MON CAN DET FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA BEL EUR RSA AUS 13th 5 1986 Barclay Arrows BMW Arrows A8 BMW Str-4 t/c BRA ESP SMR MON BEL CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR MEX AUS NC 0

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1978 Artos Francy Sauber PP AG Eugen Straehl Harry Blumer Sauber C 5 S2.0 257 NC NC 1981 Würth-Lubrifilm Team Sauber David Deacon Dieter Quester BMW M1 Gr.5 207 DNF DNF 1982 Ford Germany Zakspeed Klaus Ludwig Manfred Winkelhock Ford C100 C 67 DNF DNF

24 Hours of Spa results