Markus Winkelhock

Markus Winkelhock (; born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He made one Formula One start for Spyker at the 2007 European Grand Prix, where he led for several laps under heavy rain before retiring with hydraulic issues. As an Audi factory driver, Winkelhock raced in DTM, won the Nürburgring 24 Hours three times and was Intercontinental GT Challenge champion in 2017. He also won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 driving a Mercedes.

He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s.

Early career

Born in Stuttgart, Winkelhock won races in a string of junior formulae including Formula König, German Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup from 1998 to 2000.

In 2001, Winkelhock joined the German Formula 3 Championship, where he remained until the championship became the F3 Euroseries in 2003. His record was fifth overall in 2001 (three wins), seventh in 2002 (one win) and fourth in 2003 (two wins). He participated in Friday test sessions for the team at the Bahrain, Australian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix. He also made a brief return to the DTM in 2007, starting three races. The deal was only for one race with Sakon Yamamoto set to race for Spyker for the rest of the season.

2007 European Grand Prix

In the race, Winkelhock started last on the 22-car grid alongside teammate Adrian Sutil. On the formation lap, with the rest of the field on dry-weather tyres, the team made a last-second decision to call Winkelhock into the pits to switch to full wet tyres. When pouring rain forced almost all the others to pit at the end of the first lap, Winkelhock was able to move into the lead, passing some cars as they pitted, and even passing Kimi Räikkönen on the track as the Finn tip-toed around to the pits, eventually building a lead of 19 seconds by the end of the second lap. By lap 4, he had a lead of 33 seconds over Ferrari's Felipe Massa in second place. As the rain got heavier, the stewards first sent out the safety car and then suspended the race following a series of spins in the first corner behind the safety car. The race restarted after the rain had eased. Winkelhock and his team chose to start on full wet tyres on a drying track in the hope of further showers, as the team expected he would be overtaken by faster cars anyway. The gamble failed and, having restarted the race from the lead, Winkelhock quickly fell down the order. He retired on lap 15 with hydraulic problems that caused a small fire. He had led for a total of six laps.

According to Bob Varsha of the Speed Channel commentary team, Winkelhock is the only driver in Formula One history to start last on the grid and lead the race in his first Grand Prix, and due to the red flag and restart, is also the only driver in Formula One history to start both last and first on the grid in the same Grand Prix. Despite his performance in the race, the Spyker team opted against giving Winkelhock a drive for the remainder of the 2007 season, instead opting for Super Aguri test driver Sakon Yamamoto.

Post-Formula One career

Winkelhock driving for Audi (Team Rosberg) in the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season at the Hockenheimring.

Winkelhock returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after he lost his Spyker seat, and has remained in the series, driving for Team Rosberg, for 2008 (12th), 2009 (tenth) and 2010 (12th).

In 2011, Winkelhock competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for the All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport team alongside team manager Marc Basseng driving a Lamborghini. They won the championship the following year, the team having switched to the Mercedes SLS due to a change in the regulations.

Winkelhock was to move with Münnich Motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship for 2013, however he left the team before the start of the season in order to focus on his GT racing commitments, and was replaced by defending champion Robert Huff.

Since 2013, Winkelhock has more or less settled in the Blancpain Endurance Series and also won the 2017 24 Hours of Nürburgring sportscar race.

Winkelhock also made a brief DTM comeback midway through the 2021 season with Abt Sportsline, where he replaced Sophia Flörsch for the Nürburgring round due to her Le Mans commitments.

Racing record

Career summary † As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Season still in progress.

Complete German Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series 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 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2005 Draco Multiracing USA ZOL1 ZOL2 MON1 VAL1 VAL2 LMS1 LMS2 BIL1 BIL2 OSC1 OSC2 DON1 DON2 EST1 EST2 MNZ1 MNZ2 3rd 114

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 17 18 WDC Points 2006 MF1 Racing Midland M16 Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8 BHR MAL AUS SMR EUR ESP MON GBR CAN USA FRA GER HUN TUR ITA CHN JPN BRA – – 2007 Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Spyker F8-VII Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8 AUS MAL BHR ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN BRA NC 0

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters 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 12 13 14 15 16 Points 2004 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2003 HOC EST ADR LAU NOR SHA NÜR OSC ZAN BRN HOC 19th 0 2007 Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 2007 HOC OSC LAU BRH NOR 19th 0 Futurecom TME Audi A4 DTM 2005 MUG ZAN NÜR CAT HOC 2008 Team Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2007 HOC OSC MUG LAU NOR ZAN NÜR BRH CAT BUG HOC 11th 6 2009 Team Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008 HOC LAU NOR ZANDSQ OSC NÜR BRH CAT DIJ HOC 10th 11 2010 Team Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008 HOC VAL LAU NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC ADR SHA 12th 7 2021 Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS Evo MNZ1 MNZ2 LAU1 LAU2 ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 RBR1 RBR2 ASS1 ASS2 HOC1 HOC2 NOR1 NOR2 23rd 0 † - Driver did not finish, but completed 90% of the race distance. ‡ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete GT1 World Championship results Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2011 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini Murciélago LP670 R-SV ABUQR6 ABUCR3 ZOLQR1 ZOLCR1 ALGQR7 ALGCR6 SACQR9 SACCRRet SILQRRet SILCR5 NAVQR1 NAVCR2 PRIQR7 PRICR8 ORDQRDSQ ORDCR8 BEIQR12 BEICRRet SANQR6 SANCRRet 5th 102 2012 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 NOGQR6 NOGCR3 ZOLQR6 ZOLCR9 NAVQR5 NAVQR2 SVKQR4 SVKCR3 ALGQR1 ALGCR2 SVKQR3 SVKCR2 MOSQR2 MOSCR5 NURQR3 NURCR2 DONQR5 DONCRDSQ 1st 145

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup ‡ As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points 2013 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro NOGQR NOGCR ZOLQR ZOLCR ZANQR ZANCR SVKQR SVKCR NAVQR NAVCR BAKQR BAKCR NC‡ 0‡ 2014 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro NOGQR NOGCR BRHQR BRHCR ZANQR ZANCR SVKQR SVKCR ALGQR ALGCR ZOLQR ZOLCR BAKQR BAKCR 11th 32 2015 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro NOGQR NOGCR BRHQR BRHCR ZOLQR ZOLCR MOSQR10† MOSCR6† ALGQR ALGCR MISQR MISCR ZANQR ZANCR 9th 48 2016 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS Pro MISQR MISCR BRHQR BRHCR NÜRQR NÜRCR HUNQR HUNCR CATQR CATCR NC 0 2017 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Pro MISQR MISCR BRHQR BRHCR ZOLQR ZOLCR HUNQR HUNCR NÜRQR NÜRCR 2nd 74 2018 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS Pro-Am ZOL1 ZOL2 BRH1 BRH2 MIS1 MIS2 HUN1 HUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 1st 134.5 2019 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS Pro BRH1 BRH2 MIS1 MIS2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HUN1 HUN2 22nd 3 2021 ROFGO Racing with Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo Pro MAG1 MAG2 ZAN1 ZAN2 33rd 1 Saintéloc Racing MIS1 MIS2 BRH1 BRH2 VAL1 VAL 2 ‡ As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.† Winkelhock was ineligible to score points during the Moscow weekend due to Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof's absence.

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results Supercar Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Points 2014 EKS RX Audi S1 POR GBR NOR FIN SWE BEL CAN FRA GER ITA TUR ARG 57th 0

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Winkelhock did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.