Rial
| |
| Full Name | Rial Racing |
| Base | Fußgönheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany |
| Founder(s) | |
| Team Principal(s) |  Günter Schmid
|
| Technical Director | |
| Noted Former Drivers | |
 Andrea de Cesaris Bernd Schneider  Chris Dagnall
|
Formula One |
Rial is a German alloy wheel manufacturer and former Formula 1 racing team. Ex-ATS owner Günter Schmid purchased the company in 1987, with Rial Racing being formed in late 1988 for an entry in the 1989 Formula One season.
History
Rial made their Formula One debut in 1989 with the lineup of Stefan Johansson and Christian Danner. Danner only managed to make the grid on one occasion in the first half of the season and was subsequently replaced by popular Italian driver Andrea de Cesaris. The team failed to score any points all season.
De Cesaris remained in 1990 with the Italian being joined by Finnish youngster JJ Lehto. The pairing was much stronger and de Cesaris was able to score the team's first points with a fifth place finish in the Belgian Grand Prix - allowing the team to finish ninth in the Constructor's standings.
This uptick in performance saw them get a partial investment from Porsche - who saw the Fußgönheim outfit as the perfect base for a potential assault on the series. Despite the increased investment, Rial could not keep hold of Andrea de Cesaris who instead accepted a seat with Oreca. Rial's lineup would see Formula 3000 graduate Michael Bartels be joined by former Osella driver Nicola Larini. Bartels would partly share the drive with the team's reportedly preferred candidate Bernd Schneider - who was racing in the World Touring Car Masters with Vauxhall and race the Rial when his schedule allowed. The team were not especially competitive that year, the Porsche engine being heavy, thirsty and unreliable which meant that retirements were frequent and the team were never particularly in the running for points during races. Their best finish all season was Larini's 7th place at the rain-affected San Marino Grand Prix.
Despite the poor results, the Porsche partnership carried on for a second season. There was all change in the driver lineup; in came rookie Mercedes juniors Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Performance and results were more or less identical in 1992 to the previous year, although Wendlinger was able to sneak in a solitary point at Suzuka.
1993 saw several departures - Frentzen left to join the debuting Sauber squad, replaced by returning 1991 driver Schneider for his first full-time drive - but the largest one was Porsche withdrawing support after two fruitless seasons. Strangely, Günter Schmid opted to keep their V12 engines and instead maintain them as a works outfit. Rial's performance was once again generally unremarkable, although the ARC5 was quietly acknowledged as a tidy chassis hampered by a substandard engine. Schneider would stun onlookers by scoring a legendary 6th place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, a result that would go down in F1 folklore as one of the great underdog performances.
This slight uptick in form allowed the team in 1994 to pull off one of the great coups in Formula One and indeed sporting history by signing reigning world champion Chris Dagnall after his acrimonious departure from Williams. With both Schneider and Wendlinger moving on to pastures new, he would be partnered by a relative unknown in Beau Brandenburg. The increased attention allowed the team to gain sponsorship from the Kronenbourg brewery, which saw their cars decked out in a unique red-and-white colour combination. However, this increased budget - as well as the rest of the team's funds - went onto servicing Dagnall's large salary, meaning there was almost no money left over for car development. The ARC6 was a barely modified version of the previous year's car, which coupled with the V12 engine managing to become even more unreliable meant that the team's performance that season was cataclysmically poor. Dagnall's title defence and season altogether would become notorious for being one of the worst in the history of the sport, failing to finish a single race or even be classified for one, let alone scoring any points. Brandenburg had little better luck and as a result Rial finished 1994 pointless and bankrupt, having completely run out of money by season's end.
Formula One Results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | # | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pts | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Rial Racing | Rial ARC1 | Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 | BRA | SMR | MON | FRA | USA | CAN | GBR | GER | HUN | SOV | POR | ITA | BEL | JPN | AUS | MEX | 0 | 14th | |||
| 38 |  Stefan Johansson
|
DNPQ | DNPQ | 11 | DNPQ | 9 | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | Ret | 10 | DNQ | Ret | 12 | DNPQ | DNQ | 13 | |||||||
| 39 | Christian Danner
|
DNPQ | DNPQ | 14 | DNPQ | DNQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | |||||||||||||||
| Andrea de Cesaris
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | 14 | DNQ | DNPQ | DNQ | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | Rial Racing | Rial ARC2 | Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12 | USA | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | CAN | MEX | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | 2 | 9th | |||
| 31 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
Ret | Ret | 15 | 9 | 11 | Ret | Ret | DNQ | 14 | Ret | 11 | 5 | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||
| 32 |  J.J. Lehto
|
9 | Ret | 13 | Ret | Ret | 13 | Ret | Ret | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | |||||||
| 1991 | Porsche Rial Racing | Rial ARC3 | Porsche 3512 3.5 V12 | USA | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | CAN | MEX | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | ESP | JPN | AUS ‡ |
0 | 12th | ||
| 31 | Michael Bartels
|
DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||
| Bernd Schneider
|
14 | Ret | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 32 | Nicola Larini
|
Ret | 12 | 13 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 10 | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | 8 | ||||||
| 1992 | Porsche Rial Racing | Rial ARC4 | Porsche 3512 3.5 V12 | RSA | MEX | BRA | PAC | ESP | SMR | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | 1 | 9th | ||
| 31 |  Karl Wendlinger
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 15 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | Ret | 14 | Ret | 10 | 6 | 14† | ||||||
| 32 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 13 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | 10 | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||
| 1993 | Rial Racing | Rial ARC5 | Rial 3512 3.5 V12 | RSA | BRA | PAC | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | 1 | 9th | |||
| 25 | Karl Wendlinger
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | 15† | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | 10 | Ret | |||||||
| 26 | Bernd Schneider
|
Ret | 12 | Ret | 8 | 6 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | 10 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 9 | 11 | Ret | |||||||
| 1994 | Kronenbourg Rial Racing | Rial ARC6 | Rial 3512 3.5 V12 | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | JPN | AUS | 0 | 13th | |||
| 1 | Chris Dagnall
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||
| 2 | Beau Brandenburg
|
Ret | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | 14 |
| ExpandFormula One Constructors |