Yvan Muller

Yvan Muller (2014)

Yvan Muller (born August 16, 1969 in Altkirch ) is a French racing driver .

After a few years in karting and formula racing , Muller has been active in touring car racing since 1994 . In 1995 he won the French super touring car championship. From 1998 to 2005 Muller competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). He achieved overall victory in 2003 and was runner-up four times.

From 2006 to 2016 Muller competed in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013).

Muller won the overall standings ten times in the Trophée Andros ice racing series .

Career

Karting (until 1987)

Muller began his motorsport career in karting , in which he remained active until 1987. In 1984 he finished second in the Junior World Championship. In 1986 he won the European Championship in the Formula Super A . In 1986 he finished third and in 1987 second place in the French elite championship.

Formula racing (1988–1993)

In 1988 Muller made his debut in formula racing . For BSL Compétition he started in the French Formula Renault . With three wins from twelve races, he finished the season on the third championship course. In 1989 Muller switched to Formula 3 and started for the Ecurie Elf . In the French Formula 3 championship he was fourth overall. He was on the podium three times. At the European Cup, he was fifth. In 1990 he competed for various teams in Formula 3 races. He achieved his first victory in the French Formula 3 championship. In the overall standings he finished the year in sixth place. He also competed in a race in the Italian Formula 3 championship and came third in the European Cup. 1991 Muller denied his third season in the French Formula 3 championship for CYM . With three podium finishes, he finished the championship in seventh place. At the Monaco Formula 3 Grand Prix, he finished fifth.

In 1992 Muller moved to Omegaland Racing in the British Formula 2 championship . He won four races and was on the podium seven times in nine competitions. Muller decided the championship for himself. He also competed in the Formula 3000 World Cup for Omegaland Racing . He was eighth. In 1993 , Muller started for Omegaland in the international Formula 3000 championship . With a fifth place as the best result, he was 19th in the drivers' championship. In addition, Muller made his debut at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1993 . Starting for Didier Bonnet , he drove a Debora SP93 . The vehicle did not reach the destination.

Super touring car (1994–1997)

In 1994, Muller left formula racing and switched to touring cars . For BMW Fina Oreca he drove in a BMW 318is in the French super touring car championship . He finished his first season in third place with two wins. At the FIA ​​World Touring Car Cup he finished seventh. In 1995 Muller won half of all races in the French super touring car championship. With 131 to 128 points, he finally prevailed against Éric Hélary and became champion. In the FIA ​​World Touring Car Cup he finished fourth.

In 1996 Muller moved to an Audi racing team and drove an Audi A4 in the Italian super touring car championship . He stood on the podium nine times without winning a race and finished the championship in fourth place. He also contested a race in the Spanish super touring car championship. In addition, Muller took part again in 1996 in the Le Mans 24-hour race. For Rocket Sports Racing he drove a Ferrari 333SP LM . He didn't make it to the finish again. In 1997 Muller competed in the German super touring car championship in an Audi A4. He finished seventh overall and was thus internally defeated by Emanuele Pirro , who took sixth place.

BTCC (1998-2005)

In 1998 Muller switched to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and started for Audi Sport UK . Muller came third twice and second once. In the championship he reached seventh place. In 1999, Muller was given a cockpit with the Vauxhall works team Triple Eight Race Engineering . Muller won a victory. In total, he was on the podium five times. In the drivers' championship he improved to sixth place. In both years Muller prevailed within the team.

Yvan Muller in the year of his overall BTCC victory (2003)

In 2000 Muller won three races and belonged to a group of pilots who have won the second most races after the champion Alain Menu . Muller finished the season in fourth place and was again the best driver on his team. In addition, Muller took part in a V8 Supercars race in Australia in 2000 . 2001 Muller dueled at Vauxhall with his teammate Jason Plato for the championship title. Muller won ten races, Plato nine. In the drivers' championship, Muller lost to Plato with 318 to 336 points. In 2001 Muller also took part in an ETCC event for N.Technology in an Alfa Romeo 156 . He managed a victory.

In 2002 Muller got a new teammate at Vauxhall in James Thompson . Muller won five races while Thompson won six. In the championship, Muller gave himself up to his teammate again at the end of the season and was runner-up again with 163 to 183 points. In addition, Muller finished fifth in the French Porsche Carrera Cup in 2002 and competed in the V8 Supercars again. In 2003 Muller and Thompson received another teammate in Paul O'Neill . With six wins, Muller was the driver who had won most of the races. At the end of the season he beat Thompson with 233 to 199 points and won the BTCC championship for the first time. O'Neill was fourth with 138 points. In 2003 Muller also took part in two ETCC race weekends for SEAT Sport .

In 2004 Muller decided with five wins, one more race than his teammate Thompson for himself. Again there was a duel among teammates for the championship title. In the end, Muller was defeated by Thompson with 273 to 274 points and was runner-up. Luke Hines , their new teammate, was tenth with 115 points. In addition, Muller drove another V8 Supercars race. In 2005, Muller played his eighth BTCC season and again started for Vauxhall. He won eight races and was runner-up for the fourth time. This time he was defeated by Matt Neal with 273 to 316 points. Within the team, Muller prevailed against Colin Turkington (174 points, 6th place) and Gavin Smith (86 points, 10th place). Muller also managed a victory in two starts in the V8 Supercars. He also made two guest starts in the French GT championship.

WTCC (2006-2015)

Yvan Muller in a 2008 SEAT Léon in Macau

In 2006 , Muller received a place in the six-strong driver squad of SEAT Sport in a SEAT León in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). He was second on the podium in the first two races of the season in Monza . In the fifth race at Brands Hatch , Muller won his first WTCC race. Muller was on the podium a total of seven times in 2006 and finished the season as the best SEAT driver in fourth place. In 2007 Muller was one of three pilots who competed in the WTCC at every event for SEAT Sport. From the seventh race onwards, Muller switched to the SEAT Léon TDI, which was equipped with a turbo diesel engine . At the second event with the new vehicle in Oschersleben , he achieved his first win of the season. It was also the first victory of a racing car with a diesel engine in an FIA World Championship. As the season progressed, Muller also won a race in Monza. With a total of five podium finishes, he finished the season in second place. With 81 to 92 points he was defeated by BMW driver Andy Priaulx .

In 2008 , SEAT Sport used five drivers continuously. Muller won the season opener in Curitiba and later one race each in Imola and Monza. Only in two races did Muller not make it into the top 10. He stood on the podium nine times. Muller decided the world championship for the first time. With 114 to 88 points he prevailed against his teammate Gabriele Tarquini . In 2009 Muller contested his fourth WTCC season for SEAT Sport, the driver line-up remained unchanged. He won one race each in Curitiba, Puebla , Valencia and Imola. He made it onto the podium a total of eleven times. With 123 to 127 points, he lost to his teammate Tarquini at the end of the season.

Muller in the Chevrolet Cruze in Japan 2010

In 2010 , Muller moved to RML , who looked after the Chevrolet factory team , and drove a Chevrolet Cruze . He formed a driver trio with Rob Huff and Alain Menu . Muller won the season opener in Curitiba as well as one race each at Monza and Brands Hatch. He was on the podium 14 times and only failed to make it into the top 6 in two races. Muller prevailed against Tarquini with 331 to 276 points and won his second world title. In addition, Muller competed in races in the V8 Supercars Series, the TC2000 and the French GT championship. He also participated for the first time at a rally of the World Rally Championship in part (WRC). In 2011 , Muller won eight races. He won both races in Donington and Valencia as well as one race each in Mogyoród , Brno , Oschersleben and Shanghai . He was on the podium in 19 out of 24 races and only once did not make it into the top 5. Muller defended the drivers' championship with 433 to 430 points just ahead of his teammate Huff. Since Menu finished third with 323 points, Chevrolet took the first three places in the world championship this year. In addition, Muller drove another rally. He also came third in the Belgian Touring Car Series (BTCS).

Muller in the Chevrolet Cruze in Japan 2013

In 2012 Muller started the season with three wins, two in Monza and one in Valencia. He also won a race each in Marrakech , Mogyoród, Portimão , Curitiba, Sonoma and Macau . Although Muller was the driver with the most victories with a total of nine wins at the end of the season and thus set a new record for victories within a season, he lost the lead in the world championship in the 21st of 24 races to his teammate Huff. In addition, he later fell behind Menu. Muller finished third with 393 points and was behind Huff (413 points) and Menu (401 points). In addition, Muller drove another WRC rally and made guest starts in the Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series .

In 2013 , Muller stayed with RML. Chevrolet had ended its factory involvement and RML used two Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T privately. Muller's new team-mate was Tom Chilton . As in the previous year, Muller won the first two races in Monza. More victories followed in Mogyoród, Wolokolamsk , Porto , Río Hondo and Macau. With seven wins, Muller was again the driver with the most wins. Muller decided the world championship with 431 to 242 points against Tarquini dominantly for himself. His team-mate Chilton, who had two wins, scored less than half of Muller's points with 213 points. In 2013 Muller also took part in a number of races in the Belgian Racing Car Championship (BRCC).

Citroën C-Elysée WTCC from Muller, at the IAA 2013

In 2014 Muller competed in a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC for Citroën Total WTCC . Citroën was new to the championship and his teammates were Sébastien Loeb and José María López , who both competed in their first full season. In the third race at Le Castellet , Muller scored his first victory for Citroën. He achieved further victories on the Hungaroring, the Salzburgring and in Spa-Francorchamps . Muller reached 13 podiums and finished second in the world championship. He lost to his teammate López with 336 to 462 points. In addition, he again took part in some BRCC races. He managed a victory. In 2015 , Muller stayed with Citroën in the World Touring Car Championship. He won a race each in Marrakech, on the Nürburgring , in Wolokolamsk, Orechová Potôň , Shanghai and Doha . As in the previous year, he was defeated by his team-mate López and finished second overall. Muller had 357, López 475 points.

Others

Muller won the Trophée Andros ice racing series ten times . 1996 and 1997 with a BMW 318i Compact , from 1998 to 2002 with an Opel Tigra and from 2004 to 2006 with a Kia Rio .

Personal

Yvan Muller's sister Cathy Muller was also active in motorsport and took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race, among other things.

statistics

Career stations

1988: French Formula Renault (3rd place) 1989: French Formula 3 (4th place) 1990: French Formula 3 (6th place) 1990: Italian Formula 3 1991: French Formula 3 (7th place) 1992: British Formula 2 (champions) 1993 : Formula 3000 (19th place) 1994: French super touring cars (3rd place) 1995: French super touring cars (champions) 1996: Italian super touring cars (4th place) 1996: Spanish super touring cars 1997: German super touring cars (7th place) 1998: BTCC (7th place) 1999: BTCC (6th place) 2000: BTCC (4th place) 2000: V8 Supercars (33rd place)

2001: BTCC (2nd place) 2001: ETCC (24th place) 2002: BTCC (2nd place) 2002: French Porsche Carrera Cup (5th place) 2002: V8 Supercars 2003: BTCC (master) 2003: ETCC (29th place) 2004: BTCC (2nd place) 2004: V8 supercars 2005: BTCC (2nd place) 2005: V8 Supercars (38th place) 2006 : WTCC (4th place) 2007 : WTCC (2nd place) 2008 : WTCC (champion) 2009 : WTCC (2nd place) 2010 : WTCC (master)

2010: V8 Supercars 2010: TC2000 (26th place) 2010: French GT Championship 2010 : WRC 2011 : WTCC (champion) 2011: BTCS , S2 (3rd place) 2011 : WRC 2012 : WTCC (3rd place) 2012 : WRC 2013 : WTCC (champion) 2013: BRCC , Short (5th place) 2014 : WTCC (2nd place) 2014: BRCC, Endurance (4th place) 2015 : WTCC (2nd place)

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1993	Didier Bonnet	Debora SP93	Gérard Tremblay	Georges Tessier	failure	Engine failure
1996	Rocket Sports Racing	Ferrari 333SP LM	Andy Evans	Fermín Vélez	failure	no petrol

Individual results in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)

year	team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23	24	Points	rank
2006	SEAT Sport	ITA		FRA		GBR		GER		BRA		MEX		CZE		DOOR		ESP		MAC						62	4th
		2	2	13	7th	1	5	11	8th	13	13	14th	DNF	3	3	13	DNF	10	6th	3	2
2007	SEAT Sport	BRA		NED		ESP		FRA		CZE		POR		SWE		GER		GBR		ITA		MAC				81	2.
		8th	4th	NC	12	3	4th	2	6th	6th	DNS	4th	5	6th	DNF	1	5	4th	5	1	5	27 *	DNS
2008	SEAT Sport	BRA		MEX		ESP		FRA		CZE		POR		GBR		GER		EUR		ITA		JPN		MAC		114	1.
		1	5	6th	4th	4th	8th	2	7th	8th	5	3	2	2	11	11	8th	1	5	1	4th	7th	6th	3	2
2009	SEAT Sport	BRA		MEX		MAR		FRA		ESP		CZE		POR		GBR		GER		ITA		JPN		MAC		123	2.
		1	4th	4th	1	4th	2	11	7th	1	7th	8th	2	3	2	DNF	7th	NC	7th	2	1	4th	3	5	3
2010	Chevrolet	BRA		MAR		ITA		BEL		POR		GBR		CZE		GER		ESP		JPN		MAC				331	1.
		1	4th	6th	2	4th	1	2	5	2	2	1	5	NC	12	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	4th
2011	Chevrolet	BRA		BEL		ITA		HUN		CZE		POR		GBR		GER		ESP		JPN		CHN		MAC		433	1.
		2	3	3	DNF	2	2	5	1	2	1	2	2	1	1	1	5	1	1	4th	2	4th	1	2	3
2012	Chevrolet	ITA		ESP		MAR		SLK		HUN		AUT		POR		BRA		United States		JPN		CHN		MAC		393	3.
		1 2	1	1 1	8th	3 4	1	10	2	1 1	10	2 2	8th	1 2	5	1 1	4th	1 3	14th	2 2	6th	DNF 2	13	1 2	3
2013	RML	ITA		MAR		SLK		HUN		AUT		RUS		POR		ARG		United States		JPN		CHN		MAC		431	1.
		1 1	1	4 3	2	4 4	2	1 1	5	3 1	2	1 1	2	1 1	7th	1 1	13	3 2	4th	3 4	DNF	2 1	5	1 1	6th
2014	Citroën Total WTCC	MAR		FRA		HUN		SLK		AUT		RUS		BEL		ARG		CHN		CHN		JPN		MAC		336	2.
		3 4	DNF	1 1	2	1 1	5	10 3	C.	1 2	DNF	4th	2	1 1	2	3 2	3	2 3	9	3 3	DNF	DNF 2	5	5 3	2
2015	Citroën Total WTCC	ARG		MAR		HUN		GER		RUS		SLK		FRA		PRT		JPN		CHN		THA		QAT		357	2.
		2 2	11	5	1	2 1	7th	3	1	1 1	6th	1 1	3	2 2	4th	7th	2	5	15 *	2 5	1	DNF 3	DNF	6th	1

Legend

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

• ¹ : first in qualifying, ² : second in qualifying, ...

Web links

Commons : Yvan Muller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Yvan Muller
• Career statistics of Yvan Muller (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Britta Weddige: "Muller brings historic first diesel victory". Motorsport-Total.com, August 26, 2007, accessed April 22, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: "Lopez: 'Nothing has been decided yet'". Motorsport-Total.com, August 11, 2014, accessed August 11, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Manuel Schulz: WTCC - Citroen extended with Loeb, Lopez and Muller. You don't change a winning team. Motorsport-Magazin.com, November 15, 2014, accessed February 28, 2015 .