Joachim Winkelhock

Joachim Winkelhock as a driving trainer at the Opel Performance Center (2008).

Joachim Winkelhock in the DTM Opel at the Sachsenring in 2002

Joachim "Jockel" Winkelhock (born October 24, 1960 in Waiblingen ) is a former German racing driver and the younger brother of Manfred Winkelhock .

Career

Joachim Winkelhock began his motorsport career in 1979 with the Renault 5 Cup, a touring car championship. In the years that followed, Winkelhock rose to the Formula 1 world championship with the French team AGS in 1989 through stakes in Formula Ford and German Formula 3 . With the AGS JH23B , however, he always failed in the pre-qualification and was replaced by Yannick Dalmas after the seventh race .

In 1990 Winkelhock switched to BMW and entered the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) for three years , where he won three times. From 1993 he started for BMW in the British Touring Car Championship and was able to conclude his first season with an overall victory. Here he was nicknamed Smokin 'Jo .

In addition, he successfully competed in numerous long-distance races . 1990 and 1991 won Winkelhock the 24 Hours Nürburgring , 1995 Spa 24 Hours and 1999 on a BMW V12 LMR , the 24-hour race at Le Mans . With the same car he was also able to achieve successes in the American Le Mans Series .

From 2000 to 2003 Joachim Winkelhock was again active in the DTM for Opel and has been the brand's representative since 2004. Winkelhock was also a TV co-commentator for ZDF on DTM broadcasts.

To this day, Joachim Winkelhock is an advertising medium and driving trainer for Opel and the Opel Performance Center (OPC).

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1998	Team BMW Motorsport	BMW V12 LM	Pierluigi Martini	Johnny Cecotto	failure	Wheel bearings
1999	Team BMW Motorsport	BMW V12 LMR	Pierluigi Martini	Yannick Dalmas	Overall victory

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1999	BMW Motorsport	BMW V12 LMR	Pierluigi Martini	Yannick Dalmas	failure	accident

Awards

• ADAC Motorsportman of the Year 1997

Web links

Commons : Joachim Winkelhock  - Collection of images, videos and audio files