Bernd Schneider (racing driver)

Bernd Schneider

Nation:	Germany
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1988 Mexican Grand Prix
Last start:	1990 USA Grand Prix
Constructors
1988–1989 Zakspeed  • 1990 Arrows
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 9 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-
DTM
First race:	Zolder 1986
Last race:	Hockenheimring 2008
Teams (manufacturers)
1986? • 1987–1988 Grab  • 1989 Eggenberger (all Ford) • 1991 Zakspeed  • 1992–1996 AMG  • 2000–2008 HWA (all Mercedes-Benz)
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 236 (167) 43 25th 59
Podiums:	110
Overall wins:	5 (1995, 2000 , 2001 , 2003 , 2006 )
Points:	1615.5

Bernd Schneider (born July 20, 1964 in St. Ingbert , Saarland ) is a German automobile racing driver . Between 1986 and 2008 he competed in over 200 races in the DTM (formerly the German Touring Car Championship ), where he won the record number of five championship titles. From 1988 to 1990 Schneider also tried his hand at Formula 1 , but remained unsuccessful and unsuccessful.

Career

He began his career in karting , which he did from 1976 to 1983. He became German champion here in 1980, European champion with the national team two years later and African kart champion in 1983. In 1984 he switched to Formula Ford and in 1986 Formula 3 , where he won the German championship in 1987. For Ford, he also competed in touring car races in a Ford Sierra from 1986 to 1989 . He occasionally competed in the German Touring Car Championship and won the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race in 1989 .

From 1988 to 1990 Schneider drove for the German team Zakspeed and for the Arrows team in Formula 1, but qualified for only 9 Grand Prix during this time. Since 1992 he has been driving in various racing series for the AMG Mercedes team , including the German Touring Car Championship and the FIA GT Championship . In the 2008 DTM season he drove for Mercedes-Benz in the HWA team.

His successes include winning the DTM in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006 and winning the FIA ​​GT Championship in 1997. In addition, he was runner-up in the DTM in 2002, behind Laurent Aïello , and runner-up in 1998 -World champion in the FIA ​​GT championship behind Klaus Ludwig and 1995 champion in the ITC and 1996 runner-up in the ITC behind Manuel Reuter . With five titles, Schneider is the most successful DTM driver, also in terms of the number of pole positions and race wins. In the all-time points classification, he is in second place behind Klaus Ludwig.

On October 21, 2008 Schneider announced his retirement from active motorsport at the end of the season. He announced that he would work as an ambassador, instructor and test driver for AMG-Mercedes in the future. At the time of his retirement, Bernd Schneider was the longest-serving works driver at Mercedes-Benz.

In 2010 and 2011, Schneider played a decisive role as a test driver in the development of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 , and has since occasionally competed in endurance races, such as the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and in Spa-Francorchamps , but also occasionally Races of the VLN or the Australian GT series .

In 2013 he won both the 24-hour race in Dubai and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with an SLS AMG GT3 from the Black Falcon team. With an SLS AMG GT3 from the Erebus Motorsport team , he won the Bathurst 12-hour race . He was also able to win the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in an SLS AMG GT3 run by the HTP Motorsport team. Schneider was also able to win the 12-hour race in Abu Dhabi , again in an SLS AMG GT3 run by the Black Falcon team.

Private

Schneider lives with his wife and daughter in Monaco and since 2008 in Bottighofen on Lake Constance .

He has a daughter and a son with ex-wife Nicole Bierhoff (sister of soccer player Oliver Bierhoff ), from whom he lives separately.

Awards

• ADAC Motor Sportsman of the Year 1998 and 2006

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1991	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Henri Pescarolo	Louis Krages	failure	overheated cylinder
1998	AMG Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK LM	Mark Webber	Klaus Ludwig	failure	Engine failure
1999	HWA AG	Mercedes-Benz CLR	Pedro Lamy	Franck Lagorce	withdrawn

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1991	Joest Porsche Racing	Porsche 962C	Bob Wollek	Massimo Sigala	Rank 3
1992	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Louis Krages	Frank Jelinski	failure	Engine failure

• 

  Bernd Schneider together with Florian König , Norbert Haug and Dieter Zetsche at Stars and Cars 2008, where he was presented with a book on his departure from the DTM.

• 

  Bernd Schneider, DTM race at the Sachsenring in 2002

• 

  Bernd Schneider in the DTM C-Class (W204) at the Hockenheimring (2008)

Web links

Commons : Bernd Schneider  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• official page

Individual evidence

1. ↑ sport1.de: "Mister DTM" resigns , October 21, 2008
2. ↑ dtm.com: DTM record champion Bernd Schneider ends his racing career  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), October 21, 2008
3. ↑ A lot of celebrities on the Nürburgring. Motorsport-Total.com, May 14, 2012, accessed January 17, 2013 . 
4. ↑ 24 hour spa: Mercedes with three AMG customer teams at the start. Motorsport-Total.com, July 25, 2012, accessed January 17, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Schneider and Bleekemolen celebrate victory. motorsport-total.com, September 29, 2012, accessed January 17, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Schneider lands double victory in Sydney. Motorsport-Total.com, December 2, 2012, accessed January 17, 2013 . 
7. ↑ Black Falcon triumphs: "Thought we had to pack up". Motorsport-Total.com, January 12, 2013, accessed May 22, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Black Falcon brings Mercedes historic triumph. Motorsport-Total.com, May 20, 2013, accessed May 22, 2013 . 
9. ^ Bathurst: Schneider / Jäger / Roloff triumph. Motorsport-Total.com, February 10, 2013, accessed May 22, 2013 . 
10. ↑ Schneider wins twelve-hour race in Abu Dhabi. Motorsport-Total.com, December 14, 2013, accessed December 14, 2013 .