Roland Ratzenberger

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Roland Ratzenberger (born 4th July 1960, in Salzburg, Austria) is a Austrian racing driver best known for his touring car exploits during the 1980s and 1990s.

WTCM

Ratzenberger became one of the first drivers to commit to the new World Touring Car Masters series in 1988, joining the works Ford team Kaliber Industrial Control Services Racing alongside Steve Soper, Andy Rouse and Tim Harvey. Barring the opening round, where Nissan dominated with their illegal R32 Skylines - the Ford Sierra RS500 was the car the beat all year. Ratzenberger took two wins in 1988 on his way to fourth place in the championship but was the lowest scorer of his teammates.

Ford switched outfits in 1989, changing from the British Rousesport team to the German Zakspeed team. Ratzenberger was the only man that Ford kept on the books, with defending champion Harvey moving to Mercedes-Benz and Soper and Rouse staying put at their 1988 team. Ratzenberger was joined by German touring car stars Klaus Ludwig, Manuel Reuter and Frank Biela in the team. Ratzenberger flourished in the more comfortable Germanic environment and took three wins on his way to his first World Championship, beating Ludwig by 31 points. There were strong rumours that Ratzenberger might take part in the last few Formula One races of the season for Zakspeed, however this did not come to fruition.

Much like Harvey the year before, Ratzenberger opted to leave Ford and join Mercedes-Benz on a one-year deal for their 1990 assault on Class C - with new team sponsors SONAX heavily bankrolling the champion. With strong rumours swirling that the touring car world was heading towards a 2.0l engine format soon, Ratzenberger saw this as a great opportunity to get a headstart on many of his rivals. Ratzenberger was reunited with his 1988 teammate Tim Harvey again as well as being joined by Mauro Baldi and Armin Hahne. Ratzenberger took six class wins in an incredibly competitive season, however Mercedes were completely swept aside by BMW in Class C and Ratzenberger's results were only enough for sixth.

Ratzenberger remained in the Mercedes fold in 1991 - with the German manufacturer one allowed to grandfather their 190Es into the new Super Touring ruleset. Ratzenberger was joined in the team by former F1 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck who had a reasonably good season the year before in an independent Audi.

Complete Career Results

Complete World Touring Car Masters Results

Year Team Car Class WDC Pts Class Pts
1988 Kaliber Industrial Control Services Racing Ford Sierra RS500 A M Flag of Australia svg.png Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png 4th 198 4th 321
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
BAT
6
BAT
2
FUJ
3
FUJ
4
GLN
26†
GLN
3
NOR
2
NOR
1
KYA
Ret
KYA
4
HOC
Ret
HOC
11
CHA
1
CHA
2
BIR
Ret
BIR
5
MNZ
3
MNZ
4
SPA
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
NUR
6
1989 Zakspeed Ford Sierra RS500 A M Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the Czech Republic svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of Australia svg.png 1st 224 1st 324
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
FUJ
5
FUJ
2
GLN
Ret
GLN
Ret
KYA
Ret
KYA
6
PAU
2
PAU
6
BRN
1
BRN
3
MNZ
Ret
MNZ
Ret
CHA
Ret
CHA
8
BIR
7
BIR
3
SPA
2
SPA
2
NUR
1
NUR
1
BAT
2
1990 Mercedes-Benz AMG Team SONAX Mercedes-Benz 190E C M Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of Nigeria svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the Czech Republic svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of Australia svg.png 26th 36 6th 295
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
FUJ
21
FUJ
26
GLN
21
GLN
21
LAG
18
LAG
21
BRH
DNQ
BRH
DNQ
PAU
10
PAU
4
BRN
Ret
BRN
23
MNZ
Ret
MNZ
26
CHA
11
CHA
22
BIR
16
BIR
22
SPA
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
NUR
13
NUR
24
BAT
Ret