Michael Bartels (racing driver)

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Michael Bartels
Bartels 2006 on a Vitaphone-Maserati MC12
Nation: GermanyGermany Germany
DTM
First race: Mainz-Finthen 1987
Last race: Hockenheimring II 2002
Teams (manufacturers)
1987 unknown team ( Ford ) • 1994  Schübel • 1995  Euroteam • 1996  JAS ( Alfa Romeo ) • 2000  Phoenix • 2001–2002  Holzer ( Opel )
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR
96 (66) 2 3 -
Podiums: 6th
Overall wins: -
Points: 183
Template: Infobox DTM driver / maintenance / old parameters

Michael Bartels (born March 8, 1968 in Plettenberg im Sauerland ) is a German automobile racing driver and team boss. His father was the German mountain racing driver Willi Bartels, known as the "mountain king" .

biography

Motorsport beginnings

Bartels began his career in karting in the early 1980s . In 1985 he won the Pop 100 Senior Championship in Teningen . At the end of the eighties he was one of the great hopes of German motorsport alongside Michael Schumacher , his manager at the time was Keke Rosberg .

After two successful years in Formula Ford , Bartels went one step higher in Formula 3 in 1988 . Here he was also on the road for two years and reached positions four and five in the championship final accounts. From 1990 to 1993 Bartels drove in the International Formula 3000 Championship . 1990 he moved in parallel in the World Sportscar Championship at the start, in 1991, he tried as team-mate Mika Hakkinen also four times unsuccessfully a Lotus - Judd for a Formula 1 - Grand Prix qualifying.

Touring car sport

Then Bartels switched from formula vehicles and into the touring car scene. Here he won the private drivers ' championship of the German Touring Car Championship in an Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI from the Schübel- Tems in 1994 . In the years that followed, Bartels and his employer Alfa Romeo remained loyal to the DTM, until the DTM disbanded after Alfa's withdrawal at the end of 1996.

As for many, the Super Touring Car Cup was the successor for Bartels and so he drove with Opel in 1997 , with Peugeot in 1998 and with Audi in the STW in 1999 . In the latter season he was also able to win the famous Macau Grand Prix .

When the new DTM , the German Touring Car Masters , started in 2000 , the now experienced touring car driver Michael Bartels was there again. He switched back to Opel and drove three more years in the popular German touring car championship. He also won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring both in 2000 with a Porsche 996 GT3 and in 2001 with the Chrysler Viper GTS-R .

In 2001 and 2003 Bartels drove in the V8 Star racing series. In his first season, he immediately finished second overall, while in 2003 he achieved third overall.

GT sport

In 2004 Bartels switched to GT racing. Together with Uwe Alzen he drove in the FIA GT Championship on a Saleen S7R for the Vitaphone Racing Team , which was then emphasizing support of Franz Konrad's team Konrad Motorsport was. Bartels and Alzen won three races together, but separated after the season.

Bartels and his Vitaphone Racing Team, in which he is still team principal and driver, changed vehicles and competed in 2005 with two Maserati MC12s . Bartels and his new team-mate Timo Scheider won two races, including the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race , where they were supported by Eric van de Poele . At the end of the season, the two Germans lost their drivers' title by one point, but Vitaphone Racing won the team title.

After Scheider returned to the DTM, Pirelli test and development driver Andrea Bertolini became Bartels' new colleague for 2006 . The duo won three races, again the classic in Spa. This season it was enough for Bartels to win the drivers' championship title, and together with Bertolini he was at the top of the table at the end of the year.

The Vitaphone Racing Team switched to Michelin tires for 2007 , which is why Pirelli driver Bertolini had to leave the team. This time the Italian Thomas Biagi became Bartels' new partner . After Bartels had to undergo an operation at the beginning of the season, Biagi competed with other partners in the first two races and thus had more points on the account at the end of the season and won the driver's title on his own. But after his return, Bartels scored a win of the season in Oschersleben with Biagi.

Also in 2008 was again another driver alongside Michael Bartels. Andrea Bertolini came back to Vitaphone Racing, Pirelli had meanwhile withdrawn from the FIA ​​GT and Bertolini was thus free from contracts. Bartels / Bertolini continued their successful 2006 season and won two races and the title of the FIA ​​GT championship. The race in Spa-Francorchamps was also one of the victories.

Private

Bartels became known in public in 1992 as Steffi Graf's partner . He was in a relationship with her until 1999. Michael Bartels currently lives in Monte Carlo with his girlfriend . He is committed to promoting young talent in racing.

statistics

successes

  • 1985 German kart champion
  • 1986 Winner of the German Formula Ford 1600 Championship
  • 1999 Macau Touring Car Grand Prix winner
  • 2000 and 2001 winner of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring
  • 2005, 2006 and 2008 winner of the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race
  • 2006, 2008 and 2009 GT1 champions of the FIA ​​GT championship
  • 2010 champion of the FIA GT1 world championship

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season team race car 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9
1990 Joest Racing Porsche 962 JapanJapan SUZ ItalyItaly MON United KingdomUnited Kingdom SIL BelgiumBelgium SPA FranceFrance DIJ GermanyGermany ONLY United KingdomUnited Kingdom DON CanadaCanada MOT MexicoMexico MEX
10

Web links

Commons : Michael Bartels  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ulrike von Bülow What actually does ...: Michael Bartels . Stern, September 17, 2003