Harald Ertl

Harald Ertl

Nation:	Germany
Automobile world championship
First start:	Grand Prix of Germany 1975
Last start:	1978 Austrian Grand Prix
Constructors
1975–1977  Hesketh  · 1978  Ensign
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 18th - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Harald Ertl (born August 31, 1948 in Zell am See ; † April 7, 1982 near Gießen ) was an automobile racing driver who had Austrian citizenship , but from 1974 took part in his races with a German driver's license. Together with Arturo Merzario , Brett Lunger and Guy Edwards, he is one of Niki Lauda's lifesavers in his serious accident on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring on August 1, 1976.

Life

Life before motorsport

Born in Zell am See as the son of a civil engineer , Ertl attended boarding school in Bad Aussee . Two other Formula 1 drivers, Helmut Marko and Jochen Rindt , were his schoolmates there.

In 1964 the family moved to Mannheim for professional reasons . After graduating from high school, Ertl studied business administration in Karlsruhe .

Athletic career

Ertl first came into contact with motorsport in 1969. With borrowed money, he bought an Austro Formula Vee. He was able to record six wins in his first year. In 1970 Kurt Bergmann brought him to the Kaimann team. He immediately finished second in the Austrian Formula Vee championship. Until 1975 he was successful in various racing series: Formula Vee European Cup, Formula 3 , European Touring Car Championship , German Automobile Circuit Championship and Formula 2 . From 1975 he drove in Formula 1 . From 1974 Ertl started with a German racing driver license and was therefore a German according to the FIA sports law. In 1979 he opened the “Harald Ertl Racing Show Mannheim”, which was held on the Maimarkt site in Mannheim until his death . In 1981 Ertl took a break from racing in order to prepare for the Renault 5 Turbo European Cup the following year. Parallel to his racing activities, Ertl worked as a freelance journalist and PR man.

Ertl 1976 on a Hesketh 308D at the 1976 US Grand Prix in Long Beach

formula 1

In 1975 Ertl dared to step into Formula 1 with a Hesketh 308 he had bought himself and immediately achieved great success. In 1977 he stopped in Formula 1 due to dissatisfaction with the material available at Hesketh. In 1978 he still started sporadically with the Ensign and ATS - Ford racing teams , but finally gave up Formula 1 after a total of 21 races in order to devote himself to the German racing championship . In 1980 he contested his last Formula 1 race at Hockenheim with an ATS - without taking the qualification hurdle.

German racing championship

Ertl is considered to be the co-founder of the turbo era in the German racing championship, in which he achieved a total of eleven victories. In 1977 he drove in Division II alongside Albrecht Krebs in the sister car as the first driver with the BMW 2002 Turbo, a Group 5 touring car with turbo engine from Schnitzer Motorsport . In 1978 he became German racing champion in a BMW 320 Turbo from the Schnitzer team, making him the first champion with a turbo-powered vehicle. In 1979 he switched to the Zakspeed team as a Ford works driver alongside Hans Heyer , Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedzwiedz and drove a Ford Capri Turbo. In 1979 he developed a Group 5 Lotus Europa with a 1.4-liter Zakspeed turbo engine on his own .

Deadly accident

On April 7, 1982 Ertl was with members of his family on the flight from Mannheim to Sylt , where they wanted to spend the Easter holidays, when the machine crashed in Central Hesse after a technical defect. Harald Ertl died in the rubble of the Beechcraft Model 36 Bonanza (BE36) , his wife and son were seriously injured. His sister-in-law, his brother-in-law who had operated the machine, and his niece were also killed. Harald Ertl was buried in the Mannheim- Neckarau cemetery.

statistics

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
1972	Alpina	BMW 2800 CS BMW 2002	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
								DNF		DNF
1975	KMW Racing	KMW SP30	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
									DNF
1977	Max Moritz car dealership	Porsche 935	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
																		DNF
1978	Toyota Germany	Toyota Celica	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
									DNF
1979	Zakspeed	Lotus Europe	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
										DNF

Web links

Commons : Harald Ertl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Harald Ertl at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ^ Motorsport magazine - website: Harald Ertl. From: www.motorsport-magazin.com , accessed on December 17, 2013 . 
2. ^ Munzinger website: Niki Lauda. From: www.munzinger.de , accessed on December 17, 2013 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Speedweek website: Memories of Harald Ertl. From: www.speedweek.com , accessed December 17, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Racing Sports Cars - Website: Harald Ertl. From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed December 19, 2013 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Motorsport-Total - website: Harald Ertl (driver). At: www.motorsport-total.com , accessed on December 17, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Racingsportscars - website: DRM Bergischer Löwe Zolder 1977. In: www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved May 29, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Teamdan - Internet site: Race results and overall placements of the DRM 1978. (No longer available online.) In: www.teamdan.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved December 17, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Teamdan - Internet site: Race results and overall placements of the DRM 1979. (No longer available online.) In: www.teamdan.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved December 17, 2013 . 
9. ^ Grave of Harald Ertl in the Find a Grave database