Bob Wollek

Bob Wollek 1976

Bob Wollek in 1977 in the Kremer Porsche 935K2 on the Nürburgring

Bob Wollek (born November 4, 1943 in Strasbourg , † March 16, 2001 in Sebring , Florida ) was a French racing driver . He died after a bicycle accident while preparing for the Sebring 12 hour race .

Career

Wollek won the Sebring 12 Hours back in 1985, with Anthony Joseph Foyt as team partner in a Porsche 962 . Although Wollek was well over 50 years old in 2001, he was still fully competitive in racing. He always followed a rigorous training regimen that was largely based on cycling, and has always been one of the fittest riders throughout his career.

Wollek was best known as a sports car driver. In the 1970s he was driving a Porsche 935 K2 for the Cologne team Kremer Racing . He won the Daytona 24 Hours four times and in 1982 (on a Porsche 936 ) and in 1983 (on a Porsche 956 ) the German Racing Championship , a forerunner series of today's DTM . For many years he was a works driver for Porsche in a wide variety of racing series and was able to win almost all major sports car races in his long career . In addition, he celebrated countless class wins. Despite thirty participations between 1968 and 2000, he was denied a success at the Le Mans 24 Hours . Although he managed six podiums (four times second, twice third), the great triumph never came. At the end of his career, he had two more chances to win, but in 1997 the leading Porsche 911 GT1 retired on Sunday morning due to a driving error by Wollek in the Arnage corner. The car spun, hit the guardrail, and damaged the rear suspension. (The winner was the Joest-Porsche with Alboreto / Johansson / Kristensen.) A year later, a Porsche also won, but Wollek was again in the wrong car and had to settle for second place again.

After Porsche withdrew from the large sports car class, Wollek switched to the GT class. He celebrated class wins with the Porsche 993 GT2 in the ALMS until 2000 .

Deadly accident

On Friday, March 16, 2001 around 4:30 p.m., after he had qualified for the 12-hour race and was cycling back to his hotel, he was driving along Highway 98 from Sebring as he was hit by a motor home driven by an 82-year-old American. He died on the way to the hospital. It was particularly tragic that, before the race, Wollek announced that he would retire from active racing during the season and then work as an “ambassador” for Porsche. In 2001, every major sports car race was held in silence for Wollek.

Records

Wollek contested 480 GT and sports car races between 1968 and 2001. The 73 overall and 24 class wins are record. He finished 198 races in the top three of the overall standings. He started from pole position 60 times .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1968	Le Mans Trophy	Alpine A210	Christian Ethuin		Rank 11
1969	Société Automobiles des Alpine	Alpine A210	Jean-Claude Killy		failure	Shock absorbers
1973	Equipe Matra-Simca Shell	Matra-Simca MS670B	Patrick Depailler		failure	Oil pump
1974	Equipe Gitanes	Matra MS670B	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	José Dolhem	failure	Engine failure
1975	Ecurie Buchet	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Cyril Grandet		disqualified
1976	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 934	Marie-Claude Charmasson	Didier Pironi	Rank 19
1977	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 934	Jean-Pierre Wielemans	Philippe Gurdjian	Rank 7 and class win
1978	Martini Racing	Porsche 936/78	Jacky Ickx	Jürgen Barth	Rank 2 and class win
1979	Essex Motorsport Porsche	Porsche 936	Hurley Haywood		failure	Engine failure
1980	Gelo Racing Team	Porsche 935	Helmut Kelleners		failure	Cylinder damage
1981	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 917 K81	Guy Chasseuil	Xavier Lapeyre	failure	Engine failure
1982	Belga Team Joest Racing	Porsche 936C	Jean-Michel Martin	Philippe Martin	failure	Engine failure
1983	Sorga SA Joest Racing	Porsche 956	Klaus Ludwig	Stefan Johansson	Rank 6
1984	Martini Racing	Lancia LC2 / 84	Alessandro Nannini		Rank 8
1985	Martini Racing	Lancia LC2	Alessandro Nannini	Lucio Cesario	Rank 6
1986	Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 962C	Jochen Mass	Vern Schuppan	failure	accident
1987	Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 962C	Jochen Mass	Vern Schuppan	failure	Engine failure
1988	Porsche AG	Porsche 962C	Sarel van der Merwe	Vern Schuppan	failure	Engine failure
1989	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Hans-Joachim Stuck		Rank 3
1990	Joest Porsche Racing	Porsche 962C	Louis Krages	Stanley Dickens	Rank 8
1991	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR12	Kenny Acheson	Teo Fabi	Rank 3
1992	Courage Compétition	Cougar C28	Henri Pescarolo	Jean-Louis Ricci	Rank 6 and class win
1993	Joest Porsche Racing	Porsche 962C	Henri Pescarolo	Ronny Meixner	Rank 9
1994	Nisso Trust Racing Team	Toyota 94C-V	Steven Andskar	George Fouché	Rank 4
1995	Courage Compétition	Courage C34	Mario Andretti	Eric Helary	Rank 2 and class win
1996	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Thierry Boutsen	Rank 2 and class win
1997	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Thierry Boutsen	failure	Gearbox damage
1998	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	Jörg Müller	Uwe Alzen	Rank 2
1999	Champion Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Dirk Mueller	Bernd Mayländer	Rank 19
2000	Dick Barbour Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Dirk Mueller	Lucas Luhr	disqualified

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1984	Henn's Swap Shop Racing	Porsche 935L	AJ Foyt	Derek Bell	Rank 3
1985	Preston Henn	Porsche 962	AJ Foyt		Overall victory
1986	Bayside Disposal Racing	Porsche 962	Bruce Leven	Paolo Barilla	failure	Engine failure
1987	Busby Racing	Porsche 962	In it Brassfield	Wally Dallenbach	Rank 7
1989	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Frank Jelinski	Jean-Louis Ricci	Rank 5
1990	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Louis Krages	Henri Pescarolo	failure	accident
1991	Joest Porsche Racing	Porsche 962C	Bernd Schneider	Massimo Sigala	Rank 3
1997	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Franz Konrad	Wido Rössler	Rank 8 and class win
1998	Champion Motors	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Thierry Boutsen	Andy Pilgrim	Rank 3
1999	Champion Racing	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Thierry Boutsen	Dirk Mueller	Rank 4
2000	Dick Barbour Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Sascha Maassen		failure	suspension

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1968	Le Mans Trophy	Alpine A210	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
												11
1969	Alpine	Alpine A210	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
										DNF
1973	Matra	Matra MS670	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
										DNF
1974	Robert Buchet Jean-Marc Seguin Matra Kremer Racing	Porsche 911 Carrera Matra MS670	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
					13	7th	DNF	DNF		DNF	DNF
1975	Robert Buchet Kremer Racing	Porsche Carrera RSR	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
					8th				8th
1976	Kremer Racing Joest Racing	Porsche 935 Porsche 908	MUG	VAL	ONLY	MON	SIL	IMO	ONLY	ZEL	BY	WAT	MOS	DIJ	DIJ	SAL
			2	DNF			2		DNF					2	6th
1977	Kremer Racing Brumos Porsche	Porsche 935 Porsche 934	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
			3	DNF			2	2						DNF			3	1
1978	Kremer Racing Porsche	Porsche 935 Porsche 936	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
			57		7th		1	2	3	2	1			1
1979	Gelo Racing Porsche	Porsche 935 Porsche 936	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
			32		1		2		1	1	DNF
1980	Gelo Racing	Porsche 935	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
										5	DNF
1981	Kremer Racing	Porsche 935 Porsche 917	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
			DNF						3	DNF							DNF
1982	Joest Racing John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 936 Porsche 935	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	MUG	FUJ	BRH
			DNF	3	DNF	DNF		6th		3
1983	Joest Racing	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	FUJ	KYA
			1	2	2	6th	DNF	5	4th
1984	Lancia	Lancia LC2	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	BRH	MOS	SPA	IMO	FUJ	KYA	SAN
			DNF	DNF	8th	12	7th			DNF		2
1985	Lancia	Lancia LC2	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
			4th	DNF	12	6th	4th		1	3
1986	Porsche Richard Lloyd Racing	Porsche 962 Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	JER	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
			6th	DNF	DNF	DNF	1		DNF	7th
1987	Porsche Joest Racing	Porsche 962	JAR	JER	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
				DNF	6th	4th	DNF	DNF		DNF	5	5
1988	Joest Racing Porsche	Porsche 962	JER	JAR	MON	SIL	LEM	BRÜ	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ	SAN
			3	DNF	5	4th	DNF	5	2	3	DNF	DNF
1989	Joest Racing	Porsche 962	SUZ	DIJ	JAR	BRH	ONLY	DON	SPA	MEX
			3	1		2	DNF	5	2	DNF
1990	Joest Racing	Porsche 962	SUZ	MON	SIL	SPA	DIJ	ONLY	DON	MOT	MEX
			DNF	5	4th	7th	7th	6th	7th	6th	6th
1991	jaguar	Jaguar XJR-12	SUZ	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	LIKE	MEX	AUT
						3
1992	Courage Compétition	Cougar C28	MON	SIL	LEM	DON	SUZ	LIKE
					6th

Web links

Commons : Bob Wollek  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bob Wollek at Racing Sports Cars (English)
• Bob Wollek. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on May 15, 2020 (English).