Toni Seiler

This article deals with the automobile racing driver Toni Seiler. For skiers see Toni Sailer .

Toni Seiler (born March 18, 1958 in Zurich ) is a Swiss automobile racing driver .

Career

Toni Seiler began his motorsport career in 1988 in the Swiss Renault 5 GT Turbo Cup. A year later he drove in the Swiss touring car championship. In 1990 he was registered in a Toyota Supra for the German Touring Car Championship , but ultimately did not take part in any races. In 1991 he entered the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany , in which he initially reached 14th championship place and one year later finished the season in 17th place. In 1993 he started in the Porsche Supercup and achieved 14th place in the drivers' championship.

In the 1994 season, Seiler contested his first race in the BPR Global GT Series for Mühlbauer Motorsport . In the following years he had other races in this series in the Porsche 911 GT2 from Konrad Motorsport . In 1996 he made his debut for Haberthtur Racing at the Le Mans 24-hour race , where his car retired. From 1997 onwards, Seiler competed for Konrad Motorsport in the newly founded FIA GT Championship , the successor to the BPR Global GT Series. It reached the podium in its category at the Nürburgring and at the end of the season it was 16th in the championship in the GT2 class. A year later he came in 29th place in the GT2 classification. He was also able to celebrate a class win at the Daytona 24-hour race in 1998.

For the 1999 season, Seiler moved to Chamberlain Engineering , where he drove a Chrysler Viper GTS-R . In the FIA ​​GT Championship, after the elimination of the GT1 group, he now competed in the main category. He and his teammate Ni Amorim achieved podium finishes in Zolder and Oschersleben . Thus Seiler improved to twelfth place in the drivers' standings. He saw the checkered flag for the first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished the race in third place in the GTS category. In the following season, however, he was less successful and so he only finished 24th in the final accounts of the FIA ​​GT championship.

Seiler returned to Konrad Motorsport in 2001 after two years. At the wheel of the new Saleen S7R he contested a few races in the American Le Mans Series and celebrated a class win in Jarama with Walter Brun and Franz Konrad . He also raced for Freising Motorsport at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race . There he reached fourth class with the Porsche 996 GT3 RS . The 2002 season began for Seiler with a third class position in the Daytona 24-hour race. This was followed by a second class place in the Sebring 12-hour race alongside Terry Borcheller and Franz Konrad. At the 24-hour race at Le Mans, he was able to finish again for the first time in three years. At the end of the year he had two more races for Konrad Motorsport in the American Le Mans Series. In the drivers' championship in the GTS class, he reached 16th place.

From 2003 Konrad Motorsport and with it his driver Toni Seiler were again involved in the FIA ​​GT championship in Europe. His best race result was a second place with Walter Lechner jun. and Franz Konrad at the race in Anderstorp . He finished the season in 16th place in the drivers' championship. In the following season, however, he was only able to place his vehicle in the points two times.

For the 2005 season, Seiler moved to BMS Scuderia Italia , where he drove a Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello in the Le Mans Endurance Series . The season became one of the most successful of his entire motorsport career. With his teammates Michele Bartyan and Christian Pescatori , he celebrated class wins at the 1000 km races in Monza and Istanbul as well as podium positions at the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps and the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring . At the end of the season, he led the drivers' championship in the LMGT1 class, securing his first title. In the same year he made his last appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but retired early. In addition, Seiler also took part in the first Arosa ClassicCar , where he won the day.

In 2006, Seiler switched from the Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello in the GT1 group to an Aston Martin DBRS9 in the GT3 group. He took part in the newly founded FIA GT3 European Championship with his teammate Franco Groppi , still for BMS Scuderia Italia . He reached second places in Oschersleben and Dijon and finished fifth in the championship at the end of the season. In the same year he took part in three races of the FIA ​​GT Championship with the Aston Martin DBRS9 in class G3. In 2007, Seiler started with Sandro Sardelli in the first three of six race weekends of the FIA ​​GT3 European Championship, but without scoring many points. He then left BMS Scuderia Italia and with it the FIA ​​GT3 European Championship. In 2007, Seiler mainly concentrated on the newly founded ADAC GT Masters for GT3 vehicles. At the wheel of a Corvette C6 Z06-R GT3 from Callaway Competition , he and his teammate Patrick Gerling won a race at the Lausitzring and made it onto the podium three more times. At the end of the season, he finished sixth in the championship.

Toni Seiler (left) in a duel with Albert von Thurn und Taxis

Seiler contested the ADAC GT Masters in 2008 with a Corvette Z06-R GT3, which was used by Toni Seiler Racing , his own racing team. At the side of Oliver Mayer , he never reached the podium, but he was regularly in the points and finished the season in 13th place. Since the 2009 season, Seiler has been driving again for Callaway Competition in the ADAC GT Masters, now with his team-mate Christian Hohenadel . He won another race at the Lausitzring and achieved four more podium finishes. These successes were enough for the fourth championship course. At the same time, he also secured the amateur rating. In 2010, Seiler continues to take part in the ADAC GT Masters with Hohenadel. His best result so far was a third place in the opening race in Oschersleben. He also returned to the FIA ​​GT3 European Championship with a Corvette Z06-R GT3 from his own team. In the first race of the season he and his teammate Dino Lunardi took second place. In 2011 he took part again in the ADAC GT Masters and was 39th in the overall driver standings.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1996	Eleven Haberthur Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Michel Neugarten	Bruno Ilien	failure	Gearbox damage
1997	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Larry Schumacher	Michel Ligonnet	failure	Engine failure
1998	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Peter Kitchak	Angelo Zadra	failure	Piston seizure
1999	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Ni Amorim	Hans Hugenholtz jun.	Rank 14
2000	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Walter Brun	Christian Gläsel	failure	Accident due to puncture
2001	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7R	Walter Brun	Charles Slater	failure	Accident damage
2002	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7R	Franz Konrad	Terry Borcheller	Rank 26
2003	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7R	Franz Konrad	Walter Brun	failure	Gearbox damage
2005	BMS Scuderia Italia	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Michele Bartyan	Matteo Malucelli	failure	Accident damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2002	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7-R	Franz Konrad	Terry Borcheller	Rank 10
2003	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7-R	Franz Konrad	Robert Nearn	Rank 28

Web links

• Private website
• Profile on GT3Europe.com
• Profile on FIAGT.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ The starter list of the DTM 1990 . Dtm-itc.de. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
2. ↑ Porsche Supercup 1993 - drivers' championship . Motorsport-archive.com. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
3. ↑ BPR Global GT Series 1994 . Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
4. ↑ BPR Global GT Series 1995 . Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
5. ↑ 4 hours from the Nürburgring 1997 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
6. ↑ FIA GT Championship 1997 - Drivers' Championship Group GT2 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
7. ↑ FIA GT Championship 1998 - Drivers' Championship Group GT2 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
8. ↑ 24 Hours of Daytona 1998 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
9. ↑ 500 kilometers from Zolder 1999 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
10. ↑ 500 kilometers from Oschersleben 1999 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
11. ↑ FIA GT Championship 1999 - Group GT drivers' championship . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
12. ↑ FIA GT Championship 2000 - Group GT drivers' championship . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
13. ↑ 2 hours 45 minutes from Jarama 2001 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
14. ↑ 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2001 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
15. ↑ 24 Hours of Daytona 2002 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
16. ↑ 12 Hours of Sebring 2002 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
17. ↑ American Le Mans Series 2002 - Drivers' Championship Group GTS . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
18. ↑ 500 kilometers from Anderstorp 2003 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
19. ↑ FIA GT Championship 2003 - Group GT drivers' championship . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
20. ↑ Le Mans Endurance Series 2005 - Drivers' Championship Group LMGT1 (PDF; 44 kB) Accessed on June 5, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
21. ^ FIA GT3 European Championship 2006 - drivers' championship . Gt3europe.com. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
22. ↑ ADAC GT Masters 2007 - drivers' championship . Gtmasters.org. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
23. ↑ ADAC GT Masters 2008 - drivers' championship . Gtmasters.org. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
24. ↑ ADAC GT Masters 2009 - drivers' championship . Gtmasters.org. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
25. ↑ ADAC GT Masters 2009 - amateur classification . Gtmasters.org. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
26. ↑ " Second place at the season opener in Silverstone" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on May 3, 2010)
27. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 1996 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
28. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 1997 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
29. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
30. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 1999 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
31. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2000 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
32. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2001 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
33. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2002 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
34. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2003 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
35. ↑ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2005 . wsrp.cz. Retrieved June 5, 2010.