Volker Weidler

Volker Weidler

Born	(1962-03-18)18 March 1962 Heidelberg,Baden-Württemberg,West Germany
Formula OneWorld Championship career
Nationality	German
Active years	1989
Teams	Rial
Entries	10 (0 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	1989 Hungarian Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Manscareer
Years	1987, 1989–1992
Teams	PorscheKremer Racing,Mazdaspeed(Mazdaspeed/Oreca)
Best finish	1st (1991)
Class wins	1 (1991)

Volker Hermann Weidler(born 18 March 1962) is a retired racing driver fromGermany,best known for winning the24 Hours of Le Mansin1991.

Career

Formula racing

In 1985, he becameGerman Formula Three champion.

In the1989 Formula One season,Weidler entered 10Formula OneGrands Prix, racing for theRialteam, but failed to qualify the uncompetitive car on every occasion.

After Formula One, he moved to Japan and raced in theJapanese Formula 3000 Championshipand theAll Japan Sports Prototype Championship.He often fought over the title withKazuyoshi Hoshino,Ross Cheeverand others in the Japanese Formula 3000, and became popular in Japan.

GT / Sportscars

In 1991, Weidler teamed withJohnny HerbertandBertrand Gachotto win Le Mans behind the wheel of theWankel engine-poweredMazda 787B,marking also the first win of the legendaryFrenchrace by both aJapanesemanufacturer and engine supplier. ThisWankel 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 theJapanese Formula 3000 Championshipduring the1992 seasonthough Weidler was leading the championship at that time.

When Weidler left the Japanese team, Nova Engineering, he recommendedHeinz-Harald Frentzenas his successor.

Post-racing career

Weidler now works as a managing director for Weidler, a building cleaning company owned by his family, based in Weinheim.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1986	Bromley Motorsport with Rial	Ralt RT20	Cosworth	SIL 10	VAL 7	PAU Ret	SPA DNQ	IMO	MUG 16	PER DNQ	ÖST 9	BIR	BUG	JAR	NC	0
1988	Onyx Race Engineering	March 88B	Cosworth	JER DSQ	VAL 12	PAU DNQ	SIL 14	MNZ 9	PER Ret	BRH 6	BIR 4	BUG DNS	ZOL Ret	DIJ 6	15th	5
Sources:

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races inboldindicate pole position) (Races initalicsindicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1990	Team Take One	SUZ Ret	FSW Ret	MIN 11	SUZ 5	SUG 21	FSW 3	FSW Ret	SUZ 20	FSW 1	SUZ DSQ		6th	15
1991	Team Nova	SUZ 15	AUT DNQ	FSW 19	MIN 3	SUZ 3	SUG 8	FSW 3	SUZ 10	FSW C	SUZ 3	FSW 1	3rd	25
1992	Team Nova	SUZ 3	FSW Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 1	AUT 3	SUG 1	FSW	FSW	SUZ	FSW	FSW	4th	26
Source:

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	Pts
1989	Rial Racing	RialARC2	Ford Cosworth DFR3.5V8	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER EX	HUN DNQ	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0
Source:

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Class winners inbold.Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	PorscheKremer Racing	Kris Nissen Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	C1	6	DNF	DNF
1989	MazdaspeedCo. Ltd	Yojiro Terada Marc Duez	Mazda 767	GTP	339	12th	3rd
1990	MazdaspeedCo. Ltd.	Bertrand Gachot Johnny Herbert	Mazda 787	GTP	148	DNF	DNF
1991	MazdaspeedCo. Ltd.	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot	Mazda 787B	C2	362	1st	1st
1992	MazdaspeedCo. Ltd. Oreca	Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda MXR-01	C1	336	4th	4th
Sources:

References

Footnotes

Sources

• Profile at F1 Rejects
• Volker Weidlercareer summary at DriverDB.com