Herbert Linge

Herbert Linge in the Porsche 904

Herbert Linge (born June 11, 1928 in Weissach ) is a German racing driver of the post-war period ; he drove Porsche sports cars.

Life

He was one of the first apprentices at Porsche in 1943. Later he played a key role in setting up the Porsche customer service network abroad, particularly in the USA.

From 1952 to 1954 he worked as a racing mechanic for the Porsche works team. In this mission he was named the best mechanic in the famous Carrera Panamericana road race .

He made his breakthrough as a racing driver in 1954 . As a co-driver of Hans Herrmann in the Mille Miglia on a Spyder 550 , he achieved the first class victory. Further victories in France and together with Helmut Polensky in the Liège-Rome-Liège rally followed. At the same time, he continued to work as a mechanic at Porsche in the test. Linge was never a full-time racing driver, but was often called in because of his excellent driving skills. Occasional use with other brands ( Abarth ) did not prevent this.

He was involved in the development of the first Formula 2 and Formula 1 vehicles from Porsche, but he only drove sports car races , including the 24-hour race in Le Mans . He ended his racing career in this race in 1969 after his co-driver John Woolfe had a fatal accident on the first lap.

In 1970 he got into the racing car again to double the actor Steve McQueen in the Hollywood film " Le Mans " . Since then, Linge worked in a managerial position at the Weissach test center until he retired in 1993. Linge spent his life working to improve safety precautions in racing.

The Porsche Cup and the ONS safety relay, in which sports cars were equipped with fire extinguishers so that doctors and help could get to an accident vehicle more quickly, are based on ideas from Herbert Linge. For this he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on June 15, 1982 .

You can still see Herbert Linge at the racetrack at classic car rallies. In 2016, at the age of 87, Herbert Linge took part in a short film about the new Porsche 718 Cayman S, in which he reported on his time at Porsche and on the racetrack.

statistics

Sporting successes

date	run	success
May 2, 1954	Mille Miglia	Class winner
18.-22. August 1954	Liege-Rome-Liege	Overall winner
3rd - 12th September 1954	Tour de France	Sports car class winner
November 1954	Speedweek Nassau	Various Class wins
March 13, 1955	12 hours from Sebring	Series sports car class winner
May 12, 1957	Mille Miglia	Class winner
March 22, 1958	12 hours from Sebring	Class winner
May 8, 1960	Targa Florio	Class winner GT
24.-25. June 1960	24 hours of Le Mans	Class winner
4th September 1960	500 km Nürburgring	Class winner
5th-6th November 1960	Tour de Corsica	Overall winner
March 19, 1961	Horse field airfield race	Class winner GT 700
April 30, 1961	Targa Florio	Class winner
May 28, 1961	1000 km Nürburgring	Class winner sport
10-11 June 1961	24 hours of Le Mans	Class winner
July 8, 1961	GP Silverstone	Class winner
May 6, 1962	Targa Florio	Class winner
May 27, 1962	1000 km Nürburgring	Class winner
5th August 1962	Grand Prix of Germany	Class winner
19th August 1962	Trier airfield race	Class winner
October 21, 1962	1000 km Paris	Class winner 1600 GT
May 5th 1963	Targa Florio	Class winner
May 19, 1963	1000 km Nürburgring	Class winner
15.-16. June 1963	24 hours of Le Mans	Class winner prototypes 2000
June 23, 1963	Circuit race Hockenheim	Class winner GT 2000
July 21, 1963	Norisring race Nuremberg	Class winner
July 28, 1963	Solitude race	Class winner
4th August 1963	GP of Germany	Class winner
September 8, 1963	Autumn Cup Hockenheim	Class winner
September 15, 1963	Achum airfield race	Class winner
October 13, 1963	Trier airfield race	Class winner GT 2500
February 26, 1964	Daytona 2000 km	Class winner
June 6, 1964	6 hours of Brands Hatch	Class winner 3000 cm³
5th July 1964	Norisring race	Class winner GT 2500
11-20 September 1964	Tour de France	Class winner
March 27, 1965	12 hours from Sebring	Class winner
19. – 20. June 1965	24 hours of Le Mans	Class winner
January 6, 1966	24 hours from Daytona	Class winner
10-11 June 1967	24 hours of Le Mans	Class winner
October 15, 1967	1000 km Paris	Class winner
20th - 25th August 1967	Marathon de la Route (Nürburgring)	Overall winner

In 1963 Herbert Linge won the German GT championship title. Many second and third places are not mentioned here.

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1958	Baron Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 550A RS	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Rank 5
1960	Porsche KG	Porsche 356B Abarth GTL	Heini Walter	Rank 10 and class win
1961	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 356B Abarth GTL	Ben Pon	Rank 10 and class win
1963	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 718/8 WRS Spyder	Edgar Barth	Rank 8 and class win
1964	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 904/8	Edgar Barth	failure	Clutch damage
1965	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 904/6	Peter Nöcker	4th place and class win
1966	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6	Hans Herrmann	Rank 5
1967	Auguste Veuillet	Porsche 911S	Robert Buchet	Rank 14
1968	Philippe Farjon	Porsche 907/8	Robert Buchet	Disqualified
1969	John Woolfe Racing	Porsche 917	John Woolfe	failure	fatal accident involving Woolfe
1970	Solar Productions	Porsche 908/2	Jonathan Williams	Rank 9, not classified (camera car)

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1955	Porsche Co. & BS Cunningham	Porsche 550 Spyder	Huschke von Hanstein		Rank 8
1956	Porsche KG	Porsche 550	Huschke von Hanstein	Ed Crawford	failure	Tire damage
1957	Porsche Company	Porsche 550 RS	Huschke von Hanstein		Rank 31st
1958	Porsche KG	Porsche 356A Carrera	Huschke von Hanstein	John Cuevas	Rank 10 and class win
1963	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL	Edgar Barth		Rank 10
1964	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 718 RS Spyder	Edgar Barth		Rank 19
1965	Porsche Automobile Co.	Porsche 904/8	Gerhard Mitter		9th place and class win

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	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1954	Porsche Dist. VW. Central SA	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
					6th			12
1955	Porsche Co. & BS Cunningham	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
				8th			16
1956	Porsche	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
				DNF
1957	Porsche Olof Persson	Porsche 356	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				31	14th	26th
1958	Porsche Herbert Linge Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 356 Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				10		13	5
1959	Porsche	Porsche 550	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				2	17th
1960	Paul-Ernst Straehle Porsche	Porsche 356	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
					6th	7th	10
1961	Porsche	Porsche 356	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
				7th	8th	10
1962	Scuderia Serenissima Abarth Gerhard Koch	Porsche 356 Fiat-Abarth 1000 Bialbero	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
							6th		6th					DNF			7th
1963	Porsche	Porsche 356 Porsche 718	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
					10	3			4th			8th			12
1964	Porsche Claude Storez	Porsche 356 Porsche 718 Porsche 904	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
			6th	19th	2				12		DNF								3			DNF
1965	Porsche	Porsche 904	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
				9					3		5			4th
1966	Porsche Gerhard Koch Lufthansa	Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			6th					10	5						3
1967	Auguste Veuillet	Porsche 911	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
									14th
1968	Philippe Farjon	Porsche 907	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
												DNF
1969	Paul-Ernst Straehle John Woolfe	Porsche 911 Porsche 917	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
									DNF	DNF		16
1970	Solar Productions	Porsche 908	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
										DNF

literature

• Frank Wiesner: Herbert Linge. Pioneer in pole position. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-7688-1916-9 (with 387 images).

Web links

Commons : Herbert Linge  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Porsche Pioneer , in: Newsroom - the Porsche media portal from January 23, 2019 , accessed on August 8, 2020.
2. ↑ Rainer Braun: Fire & Flame - about Herbert Linge and the establishment of the ONS rescue team in Zwischengas.com . Retrieved October 11, 2016.
3. ↑ Office of the Federal President
4. ↑ Porsche passion unites - Porsche Live - Porsche Germany. In: Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG - Porsche Germany. Retrieved August 12, 2016 .