Marc Basseng

Marc Basseng (2014)

Marc Basseng (born December 12, 1978 in Engelskirchen ) is a German automobile racing driver . In 2012 he won the FIA GT1 World Championship together with Markus Winkelhock .

Career

From 1993

Basseng started his motorsport career in karting in 1993 . Two years later he became DMV State Champion North and drove his first four races in Formula Junior . The following year he played a full season and finished eighth in the overall standings. In 1997 he started in the UPS Porsche Junior Team in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany , in which he finished tenth at the end of the season. He was also at the start in four rounds of the Porsche Supercup . In 1998 he drove for the same team again in the Porsche Carrera Cup and in some races in the Porsche Supercup. At the AVUS race he celebrated his first victory in the Carrera Cup and finished the season on the third championship course. In addition, he took in a 993 RSR Porsche Cup at the 24 Hours of Daytona in part. In 1999 Basseng did not have a permanent cockpit. He started in some races in the Carrera Cup and Supercup as well as in the Ford Puma Cup . He also took part in a run in the BFGoodrich endurance championship in a BMW 318i .

2000-2005

After a full season in the Puma Cup 2000 , he finished seventh in the championship and fourth in the junior ranking. In the same year he took part in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring for the first time , which he finished in 42nd place overall and fourth in the class in a Ford Puma . 2001 Basseng got into the Renault Clio V6 Trophy , in which he achieved sixth place in the overall standings and won the junior standings. As driver and team manager of RS-Line Motorsport , he made it to third championship place in the Clio V6 Trophy 2002 . In a Ford Puma, he finished 16th in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and clinched class victory. After moving to the Renault Clio Speed ​​Trophy , he was the champion of this series with three wins in 2003. In a Honda Civic Type R , he also started again in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.

From 2004 he competed for Land Motorsport on a Porsche 996 GT3 RSR sponsored by the Bilstein company in the BFGoodrich endurance championship and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. In the BFGoodrich endurance championship he has already achieved two overall victories in his first full season, four in 2005 and five in 2006 .

2006-2009

In 2006, in addition to the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, he also took part in the Daytona 24-hour race, which he finished in fifth place in the GT classification. He was also at the start of a BelCar run in Zolder and took the class win. He was also used in the Le Mans Series at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring . As a guest starter , he also took part in the Porsche Carrera Cup run in Zandvoort . In 2007 he won five races in the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship . He finished the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in third place; at the 24-hour race at Daytona, he now achieved class victory. He also drove two races in the FIA GT Championship , two races in the Le Mans Series, one race in the American Le Mans Series and was also at the start in several rounds of the Porsche Supercup.

In 2008 he started in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in the BFGoodrich endurance championship and won three races. In a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S, he first finished third in the ADAC GT Masters races at the Norisring and then won the second. He finished the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race with a G3 class win. In 2008 Basseng also contested a few races in the American Le Mans Series. He was also involved in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, the 24-hour race at Daytona, in the FIA GT3 European Championship and in the Grand-Am .

In 2009, Basseng contested the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in an Audi R8 LMS from Phoenix Racing and took the place. After his team had been in the lead for a long time, it fell back to fifth with technical problems. So Basseng could not win the race again, although he had always been in a vehicle capable of winning since 2004, but the technology kept failing. At the Spa 24 Hours, Basseng finished third in the overall standings with the Audi R8 LMS and was again able to clinch class victory in the G3.

2010–2012: Team manager at Münnich Motorsport

In 2010 Marc Basseng became team manager and driver at Münnich Motorsport and took care of the FIA GT1 world championship . In the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, he had no luck this year either, he had to dodge a competitor and damaged the oil pan of the Phoenix team's Audi R8 LMS, which resulted in engine damage. In 2011, he again coordinated the Lamborghinis' appearances in the GT1 World Championship at Münnich Motorsport. In the first championship race with his new team-mate Markus Winkelhock , they achieved third place. In Zolder, the duo won both races, in Navarra Münnich Motorsport achieved a one-two result in both races, with Basseng and Winkelhock victorious in the qualifying race. In the drivers' championship , he and his team-mate finished fifth. He won the Bathurst 12-hour race with his team-mates Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young in an Audi R8 LMS entered by Team Joest; the 24-hour race at the Nurburgring, he finished with Marcel Fässler and Frank Stippler on one of Audi Sport Team Phoenix used Audi R8 LMS to third overall, winning the class SP9 GT3. He also achieved his 22nd overall victory in this series in the last round of the VLN in 2011 on an Audi R8 LMS with teammates Michael Ammermüller and Christopher Mies.

Münnich Motorsport switched to the Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 at the beginning of 2012, as the championship was held with modified GT3 cars from 2012. Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock managed to score points in all races except the last run in Donington. The duo secured the championship by just one point. Münnich Motorsport also secured the team title in the FIA ​​GT1 World Championship with a clear lead. After three years in the GT1 World Championship, where they started as a newcomer in 2010, they brought both championships to Saxony in the third year. In the fourth attempt with Audi, Basseng was able to win the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. As in previous years, he drove for Team Phoenix in an Audi R8 LMS. With his teammates Frank Stippler, Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock, he drove to victory.

In 2013, Münnich Motorsport switched to the FIA ​​WTCC and drove three Seat Leon. In the second race of the season, Basseng finished fourth behind Gabriele Tarquini in the rain race at Monza. In the eighth race of the season, the team celebrated Rob Huff's first race win in Budapest. In the course of the season, Rob Huff made a few more podiums.

Since 2014: Audi works driver

In 2014, Basseng again concentrated exclusively on his driving career and started for Audi as a works driver in various series. In the Blancpain Sprint Series with Phoenix and in the Blancpain Endurance Series with WRT. The 24h of Daytona and 12h in Sebring each with GMG and the 24h race of Spa with ISR Further races in the VLN with Phoenix plus the 24h race at the Nürburgring. In the Blancpain Sprint Series, Basseng won the Pro Am Category 2014 with his teammate Alessandro Latif.

In 2015 he started in the GT Masters for the KFZTeile24 MS Racing team as a teammate of Florian Stoll. The duo was the most successful Audi crew on a GT3 LMS (championship place 6). The two teammates achieved a victory at the Nürburgring, a second place in Zandvoort and a third place in SPA. Marc Basseng drove for Sainteloc in the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone and in the 24 Hours of SPA. In the 24h race at the Nürburgring, Basseng started for the Phoenix team, after an accident by a teammate through no fault of their own, the race ended early.

In 2016, Basseng started as an Audi works driver in the GT Masters for Team Land Motorsport. At the start he and his team-mate came third on the podium. Basseng also competed in the VLN with Land Motorsport and took pole position at VLN I. In the 24h race, the Land Audi was torn out of the race early in the morning by an accident through no fault of its own. During the season, Basseng drove for Yacco Racing and CarColection in the GT Masters. With CarColection, Basseng also drove the Creventic series in Zandvoort, PaulRicard and Barcelona. At the Daytona 24 Hours he drove for Konrad Motorsport and finished fifth.

VLN endurance championship

Marc Basseng has been driving in the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring since 2004 and celebrated 26 overall victories in 92 races by the end of the 2016 season. In total, he was on the podium 43 times.

Trivia

Marc Basseng worked as a co-commentator for Sky (formerly Premiere) from 2003 and has so far commented on the Porsche Carrera Cup, the Porsche Supercup, Seat Cup, and the GP2 series, among others .

statistics

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2007	Team Trans Sport Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Terry Borcheller	Tim Pappas	failure	suspension
2008	Farnbacher Loles	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Dirk Werner	Bryce Miller	failure	accident
2014	GMG Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Alex Welch	James Sofronas	Rank 36

Web links

Commons : Marc Basseng  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Private homepage
• Career statistics from Marc Basseng (English)