Marcel Fässler

Marcel Fässler (born 27 May 1976) is a Swiss former racing driver. From 2010 to 2016, he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of Audi Sport Team Joest with co-drivers André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times (2011, 2012, and 2014) and capturing the World Endurance Drivers' Championship in 2012.

Professional career

Touring car racing Born in Einsiedeln, Fässler began competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes-Benz when it resumed in 2000. He finished fourth with no wins in 2000, fourth with one win in 2001 and in 2002 and third with one win in 2003, all four seasons with a Mercedes-Benz CLK. He moved to Opel and an Opel Vectra GTS V8 for 2004 and 2005, where he finished ninth and 12th with no wins after which the brand retired from the DTM.

Fässler also drove the Formula One Mercedes-Benz safety car for one event in Canada, while regular driver Bernd Mayländer was off due to an injury. He was on track for three laps after a crash involving Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello. He also worked as a successor in Monaco.

Sports car racing Fässler switched to sports cars in 2006, finishing second at the Spa 24 Hours in a Phoenix Aston Martin DBR9 and collecting two overall podiums at the Le Mans Series for Swiss Spirit. In 2007, he returned to open-wheel racing for A1 Team Switzerland in the sixth round of the A1 Grand Prix series held in Taupō, New Zealand, and in the ninth round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico. He also won the Spa 24 Hours on a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R for Phoenix Carsport.

For 2008, Fässler joined the team for the full FIA GT Championship season. Sharing a GT1 class Corvette with Jean-Denis Delétraz, he won two races, finished seventh in the standings and helped the team finish second at the teams championship. The same year, he finished second at the American Le Mans Series Road America race on a works Audi R10 TDI for Audi Sport North America. LMP1 team Sebah hired Fässler for the 2009 Le Mans Series season, having a second-place finish as best result. In addition, he and Joël Camathias were crowned International GT Open overall and Super GT class champions in a Trottet-fielded Ferrari F430. He also retired at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a works GT1 class Corvette and finished fourth in the GT2 class of the petit Le Mans, also for Corvette Racing.

Audi works team Joest hired Fässler to drive the Audi R15 TDI plus at three 2010 races: Spa (12th), Le Mans (second) and Petit Le Mans (sixth). He also retired at the 24 Hours of Spa running a Phoenix Audi R8 LMS. In 2016, Fässler re-joined Corvette Racing for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and won the GTLM Class in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with regular season drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner by the smallest ever margin of victory 0.034 seconds.

Racing record

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters 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. 1 - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Swiss Spirit Harold Primat Philipp Peter Courage LC70-Judd LMP1 132 DNF DNF Swiss Spirit Jean-Denis Délétraz Iradj Alexander Lola B07/18-Audi LMP1 62 DNF DNF Team Oreca-Matmut Olivier Panis Simon Pagenaud Courage-Oreca LC70-Judd LMP1 147 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 311 DNF DNF Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R15 TDI plus LMP1 396 2nd 2nd Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 TDI LMP1 355 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 378 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 338 5th 5th Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1-H 379 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 393 3rd 3rd Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 LMP1 367 4th 4th Corvette Racing - GM Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 335 24th 8th Corvette Racing - GM Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 259 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 82 DNF DNF

Britcar 24 Hour results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Ref 2007 Duller Motorsport Luca Cappellari Gabriele Gardel Fabrizio Gollin BMW M3 E46 GTR 32 GTC 562 4th2nd

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results