Marcel Fässler

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the bobsledder of the same name, see Marcel Fässler (bobsleigh driver) .

Marcel Fässler

Nation:	Switzerland
DTM
First race:	Hockenheimring I 2000
Last race:	Hockenheimring II 2005
Teams (manufacturers)
2000–2003 HWA ( Mercedes-Benz ) • 2004–2005 Phoenix ( Opel )
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 67 (61) 3 5 -
Podiums:	19th
Overall wins:	-
Points:	304

Marcel Fässler (born May 27, 1976 in Einsiedeln ) is a Swiss automobile racing driver .

He competed in the DTM from 2000 to 2005 . He has been competing in endurance racing since 2006 and has been an Audi works driver since 2010 . He is currently driving in the FIA World Endurance Championship . His greatest successes include victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011 , 2012 and 2014, as well as a victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2013.

Career

In 1983, at the age of seven, Fässler sat behind the wheel of a go-kart for the first time . Until 1993 he drove kart races in different categories. From 1993 to 1995 he attended the famous École Winfield racing school in Le Castellet , France , from which he graduated as the third best driver of the year. In 1995 he finished third overall in the French Formula Campus Championship.

In 1996 Fässler drove in the French Formula Renault Championship, where he took third place overall and was voted Rookie of the Year . Fässler switched to Formula 3 and drove in the French Formula 3 championship in 1997 and 1998 . In 1997 he reached eleventh place overall, in 1998 he was fourth in the final accounts. In 1999 Fässler was runner-up in the German Formula 3 championship.

For the reintroduction of the DTM in 2000, Fässler was signed by the Mercedes-Benz works team and was now a DTM driver in the top German touring car class . Fässler drove for Mercedes-Benz from 2000 to 2003. At the Monaco and Canada Grand Prix in 2001, he represented Bernd Mayländer, who was injured at the time, as the driver of the Formula 1 safety car . In the 2000 to 2002 seasons, Fässler took fourth place overall three times in the DTM overall standings. In his best DTM season in 2003 , he came third in the final. During this time, Fässler achieved three DTM race victories. In 2004 and 2005 , Fässler drove an Opel Vectra GTS V8. He finished ninth in 2004 and eleventh in 2005 in the DTM overall standings. After Opel left the DTM at the end of the 2005 season, Fässler did not get a new contract as a DTM driver.

In 2006 Fässler drove a Le Mans prototype for the Swiss Spirit team in the Le Mans Series , where he finished 4th overall. In 2007 he was the third driver for the Swiss team in the A1 Grand Prix Series and continued to be a driver for the Swiss Spirit team in the Le Mans Series .

On June 9 and 10, 2007, Fässler took part in the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife together with Klaus Ludwig , Robert Lechner and Sascha Bert in an Aston Martin DBRS9 . In fourth position, the team retired six hours before the end of the race with an engine failure . On July 29, 2007, Fässler won the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps and another race of the FIA GT championship together with Jean-Denis Delétraz , Mike Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin in a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R from the Carsport Holland team in Zolder for the rival team Phoenix Racing.

In 2008 he received a contract with Phoenix for the entire FIA ​​GT season. There he won the two championship runs on the city circuit in Bucharest with Jean-Denis Delétraz and finished three more runs on the podium. In addition, Fässler started with Olivier Panis and Simon Pagenaud for ORECA in the 24-hour race of Le Mans , but retired after an accident. He also supported a number of teams in different series. In addition to his involvement in the FIA ​​GT, Fässler also drove races in the French GT championship, the International GT Open and two championship races in the American Le Mans Series for the Audi works team.

In 2009 Fässler switched to the International GT Open, where he drove a Ferrari F430 GTC for the Swiss team Trottel Racing , in which he occasionally took the wheel in 2008. He and Joël Camathias finished the season with six overall wins as champions. In addition, he was given the opportunity to drive a Le Mans prototype in the Le Mans Series at Speedy Racing Team Sebah; apart from a second place at the season finale in Silverstone, Fässler only achieved mediocre results. In the Le Mans 24-hour race, in which Speedy Racing also competed, Fässler drove for the Corvette works team, which he already supported in the longer championship races of the American Le Mans Series at Sebring and at the Petit Le Mans in 2009 . With his previous team Phonix Racing, Fässler also contested the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps in which he, Marc Basseng , Henri Moser and Alexandros Margaritis finished on the podium with the Audi R8 LMS and as class winners in the G2 category.

In 2010 Fässler signed a contract with the Audi factory team Joest Racing and competed for the team in the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps , the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans.

On June 12, 2011 , Fässler became the first Swiss to win the Le Mans 24-hour race. In an Audi R18 , he drove to a very close victory with his teammates Benoît Tréluyer and André Lotterer , followed by three Peugeot 908 HDi FAP cars from the Peugeot Sport team .

Marcel Fässler occasionally shows his connection to racing vehicles in a representative way, for example as a pilot of racing taxis on the occasion of the international hill climb Arosa ClassicCar 2012.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2006	Swiss Spirit	Courage LC70	Harold Primate	Philipp Peter	failure	Gearbox damage
2007	Swiss Spirit	Lola B07 / 18	Jean-Denis Delétraz	Irady Alexander	failure	Electrics
2008	Team ORECA Matmut	Courage-ORECA LC70	Olivier Panis	Simon Pagenaud	failure	accident
2009	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Oliver Gavin	Olivier Beretta	failure	malfunction
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Rank 2
2011	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Overall victory
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Overall victory
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Rank 5
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Overall victory
2015	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro RP5	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Rank 3
2016	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 RP6	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Rank 4
2017	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	Rank 24
2018	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	failure	malfunction
2019	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2009	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Oliver Gavin	Olivier Beretta	Rank 6
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 TDI	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer	Rank 15
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Oliver Jarvis	Benoît Tréluyer	Overall victory
2016	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	Rank 10 and class win
2017	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	failure	malfunction
2018	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	Rank 15
2019	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Oliver Gavin	Tommy Milner	Rank 18

24-hour Nürburgring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2007	Team Phoenix	Aston Martin DBRS9	Klaus Ludwig	Robert Lechner	Sascha Bert	failure	Engine failure
2009	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS GT3	Marc Basseng	Frank Stippler	Mike Rockenfeller	Rank 5
2010	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS GT3	Frank Biela	Marc Hennerici	Pierre Kaffer	failure	Engine suspension
2011	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS GT3	Marc Basseng	Frank Stippler		Rank 3
2012	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Christopher Mies	Frank Stippler	René Rast	Rank 5
2013	G-Drive Racing by Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Markus Winkelhock	Frank Stippler	Mike Rockenfeller	Rank 5
2014	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Marc Basseng	Frank Stippler	Laurens Vanthoor	failure	accident
2015	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS	Marc Basseng	Frank Stippler	Mike Rockenfeller	failure	accident

Individual results in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	SEB	SPA	LEM	SIL	SAO	BAH	FUJ	SHA
			15th	2	1	1	2	1	2	3
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	SIL	SPA	LEM	SAO	OUT	FUJ	SHA	BAH
			2	1	5	1	3	26th	1	2
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	SIL	SPA	LEM	OUT	FUJ	SHA	BAH	SAO
			DNF	5	1	1	6th	4th	4th	5
2015	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	SIL	SPA	LEM	ONLY	OUT	FUJ	SHA	BAH
			1	1	3	3	2	3	3	2
2016	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	SIL	SPA	LEM	ONLY	MEX	OUT	FUJ	SHA	BAH
			DNF	5	4th	3	2	6th	DNF	6th	2
2018/19	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	SPA	LEM	SIL	FUJ	SHA	SEB	SPA	LEM
				DNF						DNF

Individual results in the DTM

season	team	Manufacturer	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
2000	HWA team	Mercedes	HO1		OS1		NOR		SAC		NÜ1		OS2		NÜ2		HO2		116	4th
			2	2	9	3	13	7th	10	4th	3	3	NC	12	4th	2	5	DNF
2001	HWA team	Mercedes	HO1	NÜ1	OSC	SAC	NOR	LAU	NÜ2	SPI	ZAN	HO2							76	4th
			2	5	1	9	DNF	8th	DNF	6th	5	5
2002	HWA team	Mercedes	HO1	ZOL	DON	SAC	NOR	LAU	ONLY	SPI	ZAN	HO2							30th	4th
			DNF	9	6th	4th	DNS	3	4th	1	3	5
2003	HWA team	Mercedes	HO1	ADR	NÜ1	LAU	NOR	DON	NÜ2	SPI	ZAN	HO2							57	3.
			2	4th	2	10	2	4th	5	1	6th	3
2004	Team Phoenix	Opel	HO1	EST	ADR	LAU	NOR	SHA 1	ONLY	OSC	ZAN	BRN	HO2						13	9.
			DNF	20 *	DNF	7th	DNF	14 *	4th	8th	10	4th	DNF
2005	Team Holzer	Opel	HO1	LA1	SPA	BRN	OSC	NOR	ONLY	ZAN	LA2	IS	HO2						12	12.
			9	13	5	15th	8th	DNF	13	5	DNF	10	6th

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

¹ The race in Shanghai was not part of the championship.

Web links

Commons : Marcel Fässler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Marcel Fässler's official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Mayländer fit again. (No longer available online.) Www.dtm.com, June 23, 2001, formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 17, 2008 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
2. ↑ Marcel Fässler crashes into a wall in Le Mans. Tages-Anzeiger , November 15, 2012, archived from the original on October 5, 2008 ; Retrieved November 17, 2008 . 
3. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20150107055322/http://www.autosprint.ch/index.php/termineevents/3705-arosa-classiccar-im-renntaxi-mit-didier-cuche.html/ Retrieved on September 4, 2012