Rico Steinemann

The Ferrari 275GTB / C , with the Rico Steinemann at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans was the start

A Porsche 908 long tail from the year 1969, when Porsche under the race management by Rico Steinemann first time sports car champion was

Mercedes-Benz C111 Version III

Gianwirco "Rico" Steinemann (born June 16, 1939 in Zurich ; † June 12, 2003 ) was a Swiss journalist, car racing driver and race director at Porsche .

journalist

Rico Steinemann had already been active as a motorsport journalist for several years when he founded Powerslide magazine in 1963 together with the racing driver and graphic artist Arthur Blank and the caricaturist René Schöni . In the 1960s, the racing magazine was the benchmark for racing reports, driver portraits, photography and layout work in the German-language motorsport magazine sector. Steinemann traveled to races with many drivers and reported extensively on his experiences. His description of his friend Jo Siffert's races in North America was legendary and award-winning . When Powerslide was renamed Powerslide-Motorsport Aktuell in 1975 , Steinemann had already left the company.

After working as a Porsche racing director and working in the Swiss advertising industry for two years , Steinemann returned to sports journalism in 1974. Until 1978 he headed the Porsche customer magazine Christophorus , worked as a commentator on the Formula 1 races on Swiss television and was a member of the organizing committee of the Geneva Motor Show . In addition, from 1978 onwards he was press officer at Mercedes-Benz in Switzerland for many years .

In his free time he wrote books, including about the Porsche 928 and the racing driver Tazio Nuvolari .

Racing career

His career as a driver began in the early 1960s in hill climbs and automobile slaloms , which were exempt from the Swiss motor sports ban. He made his first international appearance at the 500 km race at the Nürburgring in 1962 . Steinemann drove a Steyr-Puch 500 D in the race that was part of the sports car world championship this year and, together with partner Peter Scherrer, finished 36th overall.

In the following years he started for the team of Karl Foitek , the Scuderia Filipinetti and the Squadra Tartaruga in the German racing championship , the European touring car championship and the sports car world championship . In 1967 he finished the 24 Hours of Le Mans with team partner Dieter Spoerry in the Filipinetti Ferrari 275 GTB / C in eleventh place overall and won the Gran Turismo class . His greatest success as a driver came on his last start. Back in Le Mans in 1968, he and Spoerry finished second in the Porsche 907 .

Record runs

In 1978, Rico Steinemann was one of the drivers of the record-breaking drive with Version III of the Mercedes-Benz C 111 . When the record attempt was started on April 30, 1978 at midnight on the Nardò high-speed test track , the former Le Mans winner and journalist Paul Frère and the head of the Mercedes-Benz test driver Guido Moch were part of the 3-driver team alongside Steinemann . During the first attempt at a record, Steinemann had a blown tire in the steep face at 320 km / h, but was able to catch the car. In the second attempt, the trio of drivers managed to achieve an average speed of 316 km / h during the twelve-hour drive.

Steinemann had already taken part in a legendary record hunt in the 1960s. On October 29, 1967, the four Swiss racing drivers Jo Siffert, Dieter Spoerry, Charles Vögele and Rico Steinemann set several distance records in a Porsche 911R on the steep face track of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza . 15,000 kilometers were driven at an average speed of 210.220 km / h, 72 hours with an average of 209.940 km / h, 10,000 miles with an average of 210.280 km / h and despite the fog and light rain, records of 20,000 km and 96 hours of driving time followed .

Race director at Porsche

In the middle of 1968, the Porsche management started looking for a new racing director for the works team , as the long-term cooperation with Fritz Huschke von Hanstein had become difficult. Ferry Porsche and Head of Development Ferdinand Piëch were less and less satisfied with what they saw as outdated management methods and no longer trusted von Hanstein, who has been with Porsche since 1951, to lead the team to overall victory at Le Mans and the World Sports Car Championship.

In the spring of 1969, Steinemann was introduced as the new racing director, who won two titles in the sports car world championship with Porsche. Despite the success, it was two difficult years, as there were always arguments with Ferdinand Piëch. Piëch saw himself as the actual team boss, who repeatedly questioned Steinemann's decisions and interfered in his skills. Although Porsche finally won Le Mans in 1970 and 1971 , Steinemann had to accept that both successes were not achieved by the works cars. In 1970 Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood won in the Porsche 917 from Porsche Salzburg , the team of Piëch's mother Louise . In 1971 Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep won in 917, which belonged to Hans-Dieter Dechent . At the end of the 1971 season, Porsche ended its works engagement for a few years and Steinemann's contract ended.

Private

In the last years of his life, Rico Steinemann, who was a passionate mountaineer and sailor, lived with his wife Marianne in Russikon near Zurich. His son Dieter Steinemann was a professional ice hockey player for several years and then worked as an investment banker. Rico Steinemann died in June 2003 after long health problems and two heart attacks.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1967	Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 275 GTB / C	Dieter Spoerry	Rank 7 and class win
1968	Squadra Tartaruga	Porsche 907L	Dieter Spoerry	Rank 2 and class win

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1967	Squadra Tartaruga	Porsche 906LH	Dieter Spoerry	Rank 6
1968	Squadra Tartaruga	Porsche 910	Dieter Spoerry	Rank 20

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
1962	Tartaruga	Steyr-Puch 500	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
														36
1966	Squadra Foitek	Lotus Elan	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
					DNF		DNF	DNF				DNF
1967	Squadra Tartaruga Mike de Udy	Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			5	6th	7th	DNF		DNF	11			13		6th
1968	Squadra Tartaruga Valvoline Racing Hart Ski Racing	Porsche 907 Porsche 910	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
			DNF	20th	7th		9	25th	6th		6th	2

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .
• Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC 1000 km race. HEEL Verlag, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-89880-903-0 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

Commons : Rico Steinemann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Rico Steinemann at Racing Sports Cars
• On the death of Rico Steinemann
• About Rico Steinemann
• Rico Steinemann double-declutching

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rico Steinemann and Powerslide
2. ↑ 500 km race on the Nürburgring in 1962
3. ↑ The record drives of the Mercedes-Benz C111
4. ^ About the Porsche record drives in 1967