Marc Hessel

Marc Hessel (born 10 May, 1964 in Bonn, Germany) is a former racing driver known for his WTCM and DTM results. Hessel won Class C of the World Touring Car Masters in 1990.

Touring Cars

After finishing second in the German Formula Ford F1600 championship in 1986, Hessel was signed by BMW on a long term deal which saw him initially race in the domestic DTM series. Hessel perfomed well and finished the 1987 DTM championship in third place behind Eric van de Poele and Manuel Reuter. This result was enough to convince BMW to have Hessel as part of their upcoming World Touring Car Masters lineup alongside 1987 WTCC champion Roberto Ravaglia, Christian Danner and Didier Theys. Hessel performed well in the 1988 season taking three class victories on his way to fifth in Class C.

Danner and Theys were replaced by Fabien Giroix and Markus Oestreich in 1989 as Hessel stepped forward as a real team leader for the Bavarian manufacturer. A season-long battle with Mercedes-Benz's Tim Harvey for second in the class was well documented and Hessel was only narrowly beaten into third with an impressive five class wins as Prodrive's Johnny Cecotto dominated.

Hessel was rejoined by Danner who replaced Ravaglia in 1990 as BMW introduced an updated version of the E30 M3. The new Evolution model was a great leap forward in terms of performance and BMW sweeped the top four positions in Class C. Hessel was the main beneficiary, taking eight wins on his way to the class championship.

A new ruleset began in 1991 with BMW and Mercedes allowed to "grandfather" their cars into the new Super Touring regulations. Hessel was joined by Johnny Cecotto at the Schnitzer team with the Evolution one of the best cars on the grid. Hessel performed well for much of the season however he suffered a major accident during qualification at Monza when he left the circuit at high speed on Curva Parabolica, breaking both of his legs and ending his season prematurely.

Complete WTCM Results

Year	Team	Car	Class																								WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
1988	BMW Motorsport	BMW E30 M3	C	Template:AUS				Template:USA								Template:FRA		Template:GBR				Template:BEL					23rd	44	5th	258
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				BAT 23	BAT 23	FUJ 25	FUJ 27	GLN Ret	GLN 22	NOR 14	NOR 15	KYA 16	KYA 16	HOC 5	HOC Ret	CHA 13	CHA 11	BIR 11	BIR 15	MNZ 14	MNZ 17	SPA DNQ	SPA DNQ	NUR DNQ
1989	BMW Motorsport	BMW E30 M3	C			Template:USA				Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS			20th	59	3rd	263
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ 9	FUJ 14	GLN 17	GLN 28	KYA 19	KYA 24	PAU DNQ	PAU DNQ	BRN 8	BRN 15	MNZ DNQ	MNZ DNQ	CHA 10	CHA 16	BIR Ret	BIR 26	SPA Ret	SPA 34	NUR Ret	NUR 8	BAT 8
1990	BMW Motorsport	BMW E30 M3 Evolution	C			Template:USA				Template:GBR		Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS	24th	40	1st	367
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ 22	FUJ 25	GLN DNQ	GLN DNQ	LAG Ret	LAG 26	BRH 16	BRH 20	PAU 16	PAU Ret	BRN 13	BRN 21	MNZ 20	MNZ 19	CHA 14	CHA 24	BIR Ret	BIR 26	SPA 21	SPA 29	NUR 14	NUR 26	BAT 10