Marc Surer

Marc Surer

Surer at the1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	(1951-09-18)18 September 1951 Arisdorf, Switzerland
Formula OneWorld Championship career
Nationality	Swiss
Active years	1979–1986
Teams	Ensign,ATS,Theodore,Arrows,Brabham
Entries	88 (82 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	17
Fastest laps	1
First entry	1979 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	1986 Belgian Grand Prix

Marc Surer(born 18 September 1951) is a formerracing driverfromSwitzerlandcurrently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88Formula OneWorld Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1979. He scored a total of 17 championship points.

Racing career

Surer started his career in karting in 1972. Due to the racing ban established in Switzerland after the1955 Le Mans disaster,he moved toGermanyin 1974, where he finished second in the local Formula Vee Championship. In 1976, he switched to European Formula 3, where he was noticed byJochen Neerpasch,who hired him as a member of theBMWJunior Team alongsideEddie CheeverandManfred Winkelhock.In 1978, he finished second in the Formula 2 Championship, eventually winning the series the following year in a works March-BMW.

Surer driving forArrowsat the1984 British Grand Prix.

Surer's debut in Formula 1 took place at the end of 1979 and was somewhat troubled. He broke his legs in qualifying at theSouth African Grand Prixin anATSat Kyalami in 1980 and again racing there in 1981 forEnsign.He recovered to give Ensign their best result with a 4th-place finish at the1981 Brazilian Grand Prix,also setting the fastest lap of the race. He later drove forTheodorebefore establishing himself atArrowsfor a couple of seasons, untilBMW's support earned him a seat atBrabhamfor 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 hisFord RS200that severely injured him and killed his co-driver and friendMichel Wyder.BMW retained him as a driver, coach and later director of motorsport activities. In 1994 and 1995, Surer, alongsideJohnny CecottoandJo Winkelhock,won the German Super Touring Car Championship.

In 1996, Surer began working as a television commentator at all Formula 1 events forSky Sport (Germany)(formerly known asDF1andPremiere) next to the lead commentatorJacques Schulz.After Schulz's withdrawal prior to the2013 season,he has remained as a commentator alongsideSascha Roos.

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 formerPlayboymodels, first toPlaymateJolanda Egger,and then toChristina Surerbetween 1997 and 2000. On 3 December 2011 he married his longtime partner Silvia Renée Arias.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1975	Formula Vee		?	0	?	?	?	24	6th
1976	European Formula Three	KWS Autotechnik Team	7	0	0	0	1	13	5th
	German Formula Three		5	0	1	0	3	77	2nd
	Italian Formula Three		?	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Challenge de Formule Renault Europe		?	?	?	?	?	0	?
1977	Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft	BMW Junior Team	8	1	1	1	4	82	5th
	European Formula Two	Hohmann Auto Technik	7	0	0	0	0	5	13th
		March Racing	1	0	0	0	0
1978	European Formula Two	Polifac BMW Junior Team	12	0	1	1	9	48	2nd
	Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft	BMW Schweiz	1	0	0	0	1	12	21st
	Japanese Formula Two		1	1	0	?	1	0	NC
	World Sportscar Championship	Artos FrancySauberPP AG	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
1979	European Formula Two	Polifac BMW Junior Team	12	2	2	1	6	38	1st
	BMW M1 Procar Championship	BMW Schweiz	5	0	1	0	0	23	11th
	Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft		2	0	0	0	0	2	43rd
	Formula One	Team Ensign	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1980	Formula One	Team ATS	9	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	BMW M1 Procar Championship	Sauber Motorsport	6	0	2	1	2	37	8th
1981	Formula One	Theodore Racing Team	7	0	0	0	0	4	16th
		Ensign Racing	6	0	0	1	0
	World Sportscar Championship	Würth-Lubrifilm TeamSauber	6	0	0	0	0	26.5	89th
	European Formula Two	Marcus Hotz Racing	2	0	0	1	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Würth-Lubrifilm TeamSauber	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	IMSA GT Championship		?	?	?	?	?	12	36th
1982	Formula One	Arrows Racing Team	12	0	0	0	0	3	21st
	World Sportscar Championship	Ford Germanyw/Zakspeed	3	0	1	0	0	8	55th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1983	Formula One	Arrows Racing Team	15	0	0	0	0	4	15th
1984	Formula One	Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW	15	0	0	0	0	1	20th
	World Sportscar Championship	Porsche Kremer Racing	1	0	0	0	0	8	53rd
1985	Formula One	Motor Racing Developments Ltd.	12	0	0	0	0	5	13th
	World Sportscar Championship	Porsche Kremer Racing	6	1	0	0	2	45	9th
1986	Formula One	Barclay Arrows BMW	5	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	European Touring Car Championship	Juma Team	1	0	0	0	0	10	?
2005	Porsche Supercup	Porsche AG	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2010	Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2012	Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†

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

Complete European Formula Two Championship 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	12	13	Pos.	Pts
1976	Hohmann Racing	Chevron B35	BMW	HOC	THR	VAL	SAL	PAU	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG	HOC DNQ		NC	0
1977	Hohmann Auto Technik	March 762	BMW	SIL 9	THR 7	HOC Ret	NÜR	VAL 7	PAU	MUG 5	ROU Ret	NOG 7	PER	MIS	EST		13th	5
	March Engineering	March 772P														DON 4
1978	Polifac BMW Junior Team	March 782	BMW	THR 2	HOC 2	NÜR 4	PAU 3	MUG 2	VAL 9	ROU 3	DON 3	NOG 2	PER Ret	MIS 2	HOC 2		2nd	51
1979	Polifac BMW Junior Team	March 792	BMW	SIL DNS	HOC Ret	THR 9	NÜR 1	VAL 1	MUG Ret	PAU 3	HOC 5	ZAN 3	PER Ret	MIS 3	DON 2		1st	38
1981	Marcus Hotz Racing	March 812	BMW	SIL	HOC Ret	THR 12	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	PER	SPA	DON	MIS	MAN		NC	0

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (races initalicsindicate 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	EnsignN179	CosworthV8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA DNQ	CAN DNQ	USA Ret		NC	0
1980	Team ATS	ATSD3	CosworthV8	ARG Ret	BRA 7															NC	0
		ATSD4				RSA DNS	USW	BEL	MON	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 12	AUT 12	NED 10	ITA Ret	CAN DNQ	USA 8
1981	Ensign Racing	EnsignN180B	CosworthV8	USW Ret	BRA 4	ARG Ret	SMR 9	BEL 11	MON 6	ESP										16th	4
	Theodore Racing Team	TheodoreTY01									FRA 12	GBR 11	GER 14	AUT Ret	NED 8	ITA DNQ	CAN 9	CPL Ret
1982	Arrows Racing Team	ArrowsA4	CosworthV8	RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL 7	MON 9	DET 8	CAN 5	NED 10	GBR Ret	FRA 13	GER 6	AUT Ret		ITA Ret		21st	3
		ArrowsA5															SUI 15		CPL 7
1983	Arrows Racing Team	ArrowsA6	CosworthV8	BRA 6	USW 5	FRA 10	SMR 6	MON Ret	BEL 11	DET 11	CAN Ret	GBR 17	GER 7	AUT Ret	NED 8	ITA 10	EUR Ret	RSA 8		15th	4
1984	Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW	ArrowsA6	CosworthV8	BRA 7	RSA 9	BEL 8		FRA Ret	MON DNQ	CAN Ret	DET Ret									20th	1
		ArrowsA7	BMW Str-4t/c				SMR Ret					DAL Ret	GBR 11	GER Ret	AUT 6	NED Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR Ret
1985	Motor Racing Developments Ltd.	BrabhamBT54	BMW Str-4t/c	BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN 15	DET 8	FRA 8	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT 6	NED 10	ITA 4	BEL 8	EUR Ret	RSA Ret	AUS Ret	13th	5
1986	Barclay Arrows BMW	ArrowsA8	BMW Str-4t/c	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR 9	MON 9	BEL 9	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	Pos.	Class Pos.
1978	Artos FrancySauberPP AG	Eugen Straehl Harry Blumer	SauberC 5	S 2.0	257	NC	NC
1981	Würth-Lubrifilm TeamSauber	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

Sources

• Profile at grandprix