Leopold Prince of Bavaria

This article deals with the racing driver Leopold Prince of Bavaria (* 1943). For the General Field Marshal (1846–1930) see Leopold von Bayern .

Leopold Prince of Bavaria

Nation:	Germany
DTM
First race:	Zolder 1984
Last race:	Hockenheim 1992
Teams (manufacturers)
1984 Brun • 1988 Euro-Racing • 1989 Schmitt • 1990–1992 Isert ( BMW )
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 80 (44) - - -
Podiums:	1
Overall wins:	-
Points:	88.5

Leopold Prince of Bavaria (born June 21, 1943 at Umkirch Castle ) is a former German racing driver . He is a brand representative for BMW and has his own fashion label with “Poldi”.

Familiar

Prince Leopold of Bavaria is head of the Adalbertine line of the House of Wittelsbach : He is great-great-great-grandson of King Ludwig I and descendant of his fourth son, Adalbert Wilhelm von Bayern . His parents are Konstantin Prinz von Bayern and Maria Adelgunde von Hohenzollern .

Leopold married Ursula Möhlenkamp from Velbert in October 1977 , with whom he has four children:

• Manuel (* 1972) ∞ Princess Anna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (* 1978)
• Pilar (* 1978)
• Felipa (* 1981) ∞ Christian Dienst
• Konstantin (* 1986) ∞ Deniz Kaya

Leopold is committed to the Dolphin Aid Foundation and the Special Olympics . He lives in Berg (Starnberger See) .

Leopold is related to the Swedish royal family. His uncle, his mother's brother, Johann Georg von Hohenzollern , was married to Princess Birgitta , the sister of the Swedish king. He is godfather Carl Philips of Sweden , with whose father King Carl Gustaf he has been friends since he was twelve.

youth

Leopold was born at Umkirch Castle , the property of his maternal family, the Hohenzollern. He grew up there until he was 22 years old. Since his parents divorced and remarried, Leopold stayed with his grandparents and his uncle Ferfried von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was only two months older . Leopold described his grandfather Friedrich Viktor von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as very strict and very Prussian.

Motorsport

Leopold Prince of Bavaria at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1972

Leopold Prince of Bavaria contested his first hill climb in his private Opel Kadett . He got his first work contract at British Leyland .

In 1969 he switched to circuit racing and was runner-up in the German circuit racing championship on an Alfa. He won his only title in 1972 at the North American Ice Championship in a Porsche. Various touring car and sports car races followed. In his career he drove various vehicles such as the BMW M1 or the Porsche 956 , with which he achieved 4th place overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Walter Brun and Bob Akin.

From 1986 it was only used on BMW vehicles.

In total, "Prinz Leopold" achieved over 120 victories in his racing career.

He became famous not only as a racing driver, but also as a member of the legendary "Trio Infernale". The trio of him and his colleagues and friends Hans-Joachim Stuck and Dieter Quester were known for the pranks they played on other colleagues, especially in the paddock.

Today Leopold is an international brand ambassador for BMW. He represents the brand at major trade fairs such as the IAA in Frankfurt am Main and numerous other events.

Charitable functions

• President of the Board of Trustees for the Promotion of Modern Pentathlon in Bavaria
• Special Olympics special ambassador
• Patron of dolphin aid
• Member of the Starnberger See-Ludwig II Lions Club

statistics

Career data

1963-1969	Hill climb
1969-1972	German circuit championship
1972	North American ice champion, Porsche
1973-1975	Formula Super V
1977-1981	various touring car races and series
1982	German racing trophy
1983	German racing championship, Porsche
1984	German Touring Car Championship, BMW
	Sports car world championship, Porsche
1985	Sports car world championship, Porsche
1986-1992	German Touring Car Championship, BMW
1993	Historic European Touring Car Championship, BMW
1994	Historic European Touring Car Championship, BMW
	Japanese super touring car championship, BMW
1995	Austrian Touring Car Championship, BMW
	Japanese super touring car championship, BMW
1996-1997	German Super Touring Car Cup, BMW
1998	German super touring car championship, BMW

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1981	Helmut Marko RSM	BMW M1	Christian Danner	Peter Oberndorfer	failure	crankshaft
1983	Brun Motorsport	BMW M1	Angelo Pallavicini	Jens Winther	failure	Gearbox damage
1984	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956B	Walter Brun	Bob Akin	Rank 4

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
1965	Leopold of Bavaria	Opel Kadett	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
																	52
1972	Anton Fischhaber	Porsche 911	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
										14th
1973	Anton Fischhaber	Porsche Carrera RSR	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
									14th
1977	Jörg Obermoser	TOJ SC302	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
													DNF
1981	Helmut Marko RSM	BMW M1	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
										DNF
1983	Brun Motorsport Joest Racing	BMW M1 Porsche 936	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	FUJ	KYA
					DNF	DNF			7th
1984	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	BRH	MOS	SPA	IMO	FUJ	KYA	SAN
					4th	9	8th			4th

literature

• Prince Leopold of Bavaria: ... not faster than your guardian angel can fly. Playlist - The Single collection (= Edition Blue Scope. Vol. 7). Edition Blue Scope, Berlin 2009, ISBN 3-938990-06-6 .

Web links

Commons : Leopold Prinz von Bayern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leopold von Bayern in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• http://www.dolphin-aid.de/
• http://www.vanityfair.de/biografien/leopold-prinz-von-bayern/0/169.html

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Linda von Beck, Maria Zsolnay: Felipa Princess of Bavaria has married. merkur-online.de, May 13, 2012, accessed June 7, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Konstantin Prinz von Bayern and Deniz Kaya get married in St Moritz. September 3, 2018, accessed September 3, 2018 .