Roland Ratzenberger

Roland Ratzenberger

Nation:	Austria
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1994 Pacific Grand Prix
Last start:	1994 Pacific Grand Prix
Constructors
1994  Simtek
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 1 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Roland Ratzenberger (born July 4, 1960 in Salzburg , † April 30, 1994 in Bologna ) was an Austrian automobile racing driver . In 1994 he had a fatal accident while qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix .

Career

Beginnings in motorsport and class victory at Le Mans

Ratzenberger achieved his first successes in the Formula Ford series. In 1985 he won eleven of 19 races and became German, Austrian and European Formula Ford Champion. In 1986 he won the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch . The following year he switched to the British Formula 3 Championship , in which he achieved a victory at the Nürburgring in 1987 .

In 1988 he stayed in the British Formula 3 Championship, but he was thrown back in the Madgwick team by vehicle failures. Only at the Nürburgring was he able to fight his way from 25th place on the grid to sixth before colliding with Mauro Martini and the race was over for him. He left Madgwick after the car broke in two during a test in Snetterton . The rest of the year the British Touring Car Championship was his focus. He finished five of six races on the podium, and in Thruxton he was even able to place in front of the dominant Sytner. In 1989 he switched to the British Formula 3000 Championship and drove for Team Spirit . Although the team was unable to contest the last three races for financial reasons, Ratzenberger achieved third place in the championship with one win and two second places. He also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on a Porsche from Brun Motorsport . However, the vehicle retired after just three hours with a punctured tire. In addition, he contested the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps as part of the sports car world championship for the team and came fourth here. He also competed in the DTM at a race weekend . Here he drove a Mercedes 190 E 2.3-16 from Team Star-Marko RSM owned by Helmut Marko as a substitute for Karl Wendlinger , who was contesting a race in the German Formula 3 Championship at the Österreichring that weekend . He finished 18th in the first race on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring and retired in the second race. At the end of the season he finished 47th overall with one point.

After a test in the Toyota works team, Ratzenberger was hired as a works driver for Team SARD for the Japanese Group C championship. Ratzenberger moved to Japan in 1990 , where he  successfully participated in the Japanese Formula 3000 series for BMW and Toyota - in this team as the first ever European driver. In addition to his work as a racing driver, he also worked as an instructor at Walter Lechner 's racing school .

Ratzenberger's move to Formula 1 was planned for the first time in 1991 . However, the contract with the Jordan team was canceled when the sponsor withdrew. Ratzenberger stayed with Toyota in Japan. He was also able to celebrate great success at the Le Mans 24-hour race . After three failures at the first three starts, he finished ninth overall in 1992 , and in 1993 with the Toyota 93C-V, together with Mauro Martini and Naoki Nagasaka, he achieved fifth place in the overall classification and class victory in the turbo class. For the Le Mans race in 1994 he was also intended as a driver, but he had a fatal accident and was replaced by Jeff Krosnoff . At the 1992 Daytona 24-hour race , he finished third with his team-mates Hurley Haywood , Eje Elgh and Scott Brayton . By the time he was promoted to Formula 1, he had completed 25 races in five different racing classes in his best year, more than any other Formula 1 driver in 1994.

Ratzenberger's helmet design in the national colors of Austria

formula 1

Ratzenberger's promotion to the long sought-after premier class came as a surprise in 1994 when Nick Wirth signed him as the second driver for his newly founded Simtek team, initially only with a guarantee for six races. After failing to qualify for the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos , Ratzenberger contested his first and only Formula 1 race two weeks later at the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida and finished eleventh.

In the third race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola , the upper left part of the front wing of Ratzenberger's Simtek S941 broke during qualifying practice on its second timed lap. Without the necessary contact pressure, Ratzenberger lost the ability to steer the car and turn into the “Villeneuve” right bend. The Simtek-Ford hit the boundary wall on the left side of the track at over 300 km / h and slid down to the “Tosa” curve.

Resuscitation attempts were made at the scene of the accident, but failed. Ratzenberger was already clinically dead. The force of the impact broke his neck and severely injured several internal organs. These injuries were so severe that he was pronounced dead a little later.

He was the first fatality in a Formula 1 Grand Prix since the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix , in which Riccardo Paletti died. The following day, the Brazilian world champion Ayrton Senna also had a fatal accident on the same route. Both accidents were the reason to ensure more safety in Formula 1 cars and races in the years that followed.

Roland Ratzenberger's urn was buried in the Maxglan cemetery in Salzburg . The family grave is adorned with a model of Ratzenberger's helmet and a plaque with the words “Accident on April 30, 1994 while training for the Formula 1 race in Imola. He lived for his dream “reminds of the racing driver.

statistics

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

These statistics include all the driver's participations in the Formula 1 World Championship .

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1994	MTV Simtek Ford	Simtek S941	Ford HB 3.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	34.
total				1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16
1994
	DNQ	11	DNS

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1989	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Maurizio Sandro Sala	Walter Lechner senior	failure	Tire damage
1990	Toyota Team SARD	Toyota 90C-V	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Naoki Nagasaka	failure	Engine failure
1991	Team Salamin Primagaz	Porsche 962C	Eje Elgh	Will Hoy	failure	Cylinder overheated
1992	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota 92C-V	Eje Elgh	Eddie Irvine	Rank 9
1993	Y's Racing Team	Toyota 93C-V	Mauro Martini	Naoki Nagasaka	5th place and class win

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
1989	Toyota Team Tom's Brun Motorsport	Toyota 89C-V Porsche 962	SUZ	DIJ	JAR	BRH	ONLY	DON	SPA	MEX
			24						4th
1990	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota 90C-V	SUZ	MON	SIL	SPA	DIJ	ONLY	DON	MOT	MEX
			DNF
1991	Team Salamin Primaga	Porsche 962	SUZ	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	LIKE	MEX	AUT
						DNF				DNF
1992	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota 92C-V	MON	SIL	LEM	DON	SUZ	LIKE
					9

See also

• List of fatally injured Formula 1 drivers

Web links

Commons : Roland Ratzenberger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detailed biography (accessed December 6, 2012)
• Roland Ratzenberger. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on May 8, 2015 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ratzenberger often stated the year of birth 1962, the lower age should help his career.
2. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Roland Ratzenberger