Otto Rensing
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| DTM | |||||||||
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| First race: | Zolder 1991 | ||||||||
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| 1991 MM-Diebels BMW M3 | |||||||||
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| Podiums: | - | ||||||||
| Overall wins: | - | ||||||||
| Points: | 8th | ||||||||
Otto Rensing (born February 17, 1962 in Düsseldorf ) is a former German racing driver .
resume
Otto Rensing was born on February 17, 1962 as the first son of Hans-Josef Rensing and his wife Marlies-Elisabeth in Düsseldorf-Heerdt. He grew up in Grevenbroich in the Hemmerden district .
The two-time winner (1982, 1984) of the German Kart Championship switched to the Formula Ford 1600 European Championship in 1985 and came third there. In the following year he switched to the European Touring Car Championship as a BMW works driver in Team Schnitzer and became the overall winner of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring , whereupon he got the opportunity to test drives in the Benetton-BMW Formula 1. From 1987 to 1990 he drove Formula 3 in Germany and England and was runner-up twice. While some of the competitors at that time later became Formula 1 world champions, Rensing was unable to work his way to the top of Formula 1. In 1990, he also competed in Formula 3000 and on sports cars such as the Porsche 962 . In 1991 he was back in the German Touring Car Championship on BMW touring cars . In 1993 Rensing ended his career in the Porsche Carrera Cup .
He managed one of the leading German indoor karting facilities in Kaarst in the Rhine district of Neuss , at the gates of the state capital Düsseldorf .
Karting
At the age of 11, father Hans-Josef Rensing took his son Otto to a kart track in Niederkrüchten for the first time. A friend's son occasionally did his laps there in a racing kart on weekends. Rensing immediately made friends with the boy and from then on accompanied him as a kart mechanic on the weekends. It wasn't until much later, at the age of 14, that Rensing was allowed to do a few laps in a racing kart for the first time. At Christmas 1977, his parents gave him a used racing kart. This was the first time Otto Rensing took part in the club championship in Niederkrüchten in 1977. In the first year he immediately wins the championship of the "Kart Club Burg Brüggen". The unexpected success literally blackmailed the father to continue, even though he only wanted to do a few laps with the son occasionally.
As a result, Otto Rensing switched to the newly opened Kerpen-Manheim kart club , where he met Michael Schumacher and his parents at an early age , who leased the rental kart track right next to the new kart racing track. Between 1978 and 1984, Rensing developed into one of the world's best kart drivers. He wins the international German kart championships in 1982 and 1984 and is one of the most successful drivers in the European karting championships and championships. With the German national kart team, Otto Rensing and Bernd Schneider become European team champions. When he was called to the national team, Rensing even ousted Stefan Bellof , who for a long time did not speak too well of Rensing, especially since the European Championship was held in Oppenrod right outside Bellof's hometown Giessen .
In the many kart races, Otto Rensing met some of the best drivers of an entire generation at a young age, such as Heinz-Harald Frentzen , Bernd Schneider, Frank Biela and even Ayrton Senna , with whom Rensing competed in the 1982 final of the Kart World Championship in Sweden , delivered a fight for the world title, which both only finished in 6th (Rensing) and 8th (Senna) due to technical defects.
For a long time not everything went according to his original plan for father Rensing. In the meantime, the "Team Rensing" had generous support from the kart and engine manufacturer "Mach1-Kart Hetschel" and from the tire manufacturer Bridgestone , but the expense of travel expenses and, last but not least, the time required for up to 40 race weekends a year required extraordinary efforts on the part of father and father Son. For a long time, switching to automobile racing was not even an option. It was only through the pull of Ayrton Senna and the help of a certain Hans T. Schmidt from Neckarsulm that the unthinkable finally became possible.
Formula Ford
Rensing began his monoposto career in 1984 in Formula Ford . Hans T. Schmidt organized a racing car for the 1984 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch . Schmidt then brought a sponsor and a new Formula Ford racing car for the 1985 season. Otto Rensing started in the German Formula Ford Championship and the Formula Ford European Championship in 1985 with the "Erhard Fritz Racing" team from Backnang . Rensing finished the first season 3rd in the European Championship.
Something completely unexpected happens around the middle of the season. At the invitation of Dieter Stappert, BMW's race director, Rensing is testing one of the works cars as part of a run for the European Touring Car Championship in Zolder . During the test drive, Rensing left a lasting impression on those responsible for the team.
European Touring Car Championship
For BMW, Rensing started in the BMW Junior Team in 1986 on a Schnitzer BMW Coupé in the European Touring Car Championship . In the BMW works team and from his prominent teammates Gerhard Berger , Roberto Ravaglia and Dieter Quester , Rensing can learn a lot at first. In the legendary 24-hour race on the Nürburgring , he clinched overall victory in a defeated BMW 325i against much more powerful racing cars.
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| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Rensing, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17th February 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dusseldorf |