Frank Biela

Frank Biela

Nation:	Germany
DTM
First race:	Hockenheimring I 1987
Last race:	Oschersleben 2007
Teams (manufacturers)
1987 Wolf • 1988–1989 Grab ( Ford ) • 1990 Mass Schons ( Mercedes-Benz ) • 1991–1992 AZR • 2004 Joest • 2007 Abt (Audi)
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 110 9 4th -
Podiums:	18th
Overall wins:	1 ( 1991 )
Points:	608

Frank Biela (born August 2, 1964 in Neuss ) is a German automobile racing driver .

Career

Biela got his start in motorsport in 1983 while playing karting . Then he rose through the Formula Ford and the German Formula 2000 in 1987 with Ford in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM). In his first year, Biela was able to win a race at the AVUS . In 1988, he drove a full season in the Formula 3 championship alongside the DTM , where he won two races.

In 1990 Frank Biela won a DTM round on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in a Mercedes-Benz 190 .

In 1991 his daughter Isabelle Biela was born, who competed as a driver in the VW Scirocco R-Cup in the 2010 season. Also in 1991 Biela switched to Audi Sport , the brand with which he has remained connected ever since. He immediately won the title in the German Touring Car Championship in an Audi V8 . He was unable to defend the title because Audi left the DTM in the middle of the 1992 season. In the following years he successfully competed in various European touring car championships. In 1993 Biela was French and in 1996 British touring car champion.

In 1995 Frank Biela won the World Touring Car Final at the Circuit Paul Ricard . In 1996 he won the Touring Car Grand Prix in Macau in an Audi A4 quattro.

During a race at the AVUS in Berlin in September 1995, Biela's Audi drove into the driver's side of Kieth O'dor's car that had just crashed . O'dor later died of the injuries and subsequent complications in a Berlin hospital.

In 1999 Biela took part in his first Le Mans 24-hour race with an Audi R8R . In the three following years he was able to win the race with his teammates Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen . In 2003 he won the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) with Marco Werner in an Audi R8 .

In 2004 he competed in the DTM again in an Audi A4 alongside Emanuele Pirro for Team Joest Racing .

In 2006 he won the Le Mans 24-hour race in an Audi R10 TDI LMP1 together with the Italian Pirro and Marco Werner .

In 2007 he contested the ALMS together with Audi and won the Le Mans 24-hour race for the fifth time. At the DTM in Oschersleben, he started as a replacement for Tom Kristensen.

In 2008 Frank Biela competed in three ALMS races for Audi Sport and drove an Audi R10 TDI together with Emanuele Pirro. In addition, he drove again in the Le Mans 24-hour race with Emuanuele Pirro and Marco Werner. After the race at Le Mans, Frank Biela is actively involved in the development of the new Audi R8 LMS / Audi R8 GT3.

In 2009 Frank Biela is still involved in the development and use of the Audi R8 LMS. He competes in the BFGoodrich endurance championship and in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in an R8 LMS from Team Phoenix . At the 49th ADAC Reinoldus long-distance race , together with Marc Basseng and Hans-Joachim Stuck, he achieved the first victory of an Audi R8 LMS in the VLN and on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. Frank Biela also achieved a very special victory in November 2009 at the Nürburgring. At the MINI 24h Race 2009 , which was held as part of the rallye racing Carrera Cup (rcco) , he was able to win a 24h slot car race . The race took place in the Dunlop Lounge on an almost 40 meter long six-lane slot car track. Frank Biela's teammates were Matthias Parke, Christian Schön (“Phantom”) and Thomas Voigt.

In 2010 Frank Biela was still involved in the development and use of the Audi R8 LMS. He competes in the BFGoodrich endurance championship and in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in an R8 LMS from Team Phoenix . For the 2011 edition of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, he is registered together with Martin Tomczyk , Christian Hohenadel and Andrea Piccini on an Audi TT RS developed jointly by Audi and Raeder Motorsport .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8R	Emanuele Pirro	Didier Theys	Rank 3
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Emanuele Pirro	Tom Kristensen	Overall victory
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Emanuele Pirro	Tom Kristensen	Overall victory
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Emanuele Pirro	Tom Kristensen	Overall victory
2003	Audi Sport UK	Audi R8	Perry McCarthy	Mika Salo	failure	fuel pump
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Audi R8	Allan McNish	Pierre Kaffer	Rank 5
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Audi R8	Emanuele Pirro	Allan McNish	Rank 3
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R10 TDI	Emanuele Pirro	Marco Werner	Overall victory
2007	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R10 TDI	Emanuele Pirro	Marco Werner	Overall victory
2008	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Emanuele Pirro	Marco Werner	Rank 6

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8R	Perry McCarthy	Emanuele Pirro	Rank 5
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Tom Kristensen	Emanuele Pirro	Overall victory
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Tom Kristensen	Emanuele Pirro	Rank 2
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Tom Kristensen	Emanuele Pirro	Rank 5
2003	Infineon Team Joest	Audi R8	Marco Werner	Philipp Peter	Overall victory
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Audi R8	Allan McNish	Pierre Kaffer	Overall victory
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Audi R8	Allan McNish	Emanuele Pirro	Rank 2
2006	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Marco Werner	Emanuele Pirro	failure	Motor overheated
2007	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Marco Werner	Emanuele Pirro	Overall victory

Awards

• ADAC Motorsportman of the Year 2002

Web links

Commons : Frank Biela  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Isabelle Biela on www.polepromotion.net ( Memento from June 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Start in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup (2010-04-22)
3. ↑ 39th ADAC Zurich 24h Race · June 23 - 26, 2011 · Preliminary list of participants · Status: May 24, 2011 ( Memento from September 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 103 kB)