Markus Winkelhock

Markus Winkelhock
Winkelhock at the Brands Hatch round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series season.
Nationality	German
Born	(1980-06-13) 13 June 1980 (age 44) Stuttgart, West Germany
Related to	Manfred Winkelhock (father) Joachim Winkelhock (uncle) Thomas Winkelhock (uncle)
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2007
Teams	Spyker
Entries	1 (1 start)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2007 European Grand Prix
Last entry	2007 European Grand Prix
Previous series
2011–12 2007 2006 2005 2004, 2007–2010 2003 2001, 2003 2001–2002 2000 2000 1999 1998	FIA GT1 World Championship Formula One Porsche Supercup Formula Renault 3.5 Series DTM Formula 3 Euro Series Masters of Formula 3 German F3 Championship Formula Renault 2000 Italy Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Germany Formula König
Championship titles
2018 2017 2012	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup - Pro-Am Intercontinental GT Challenge FIA GT1 World Championship

Markus Winkelhock (German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁ.kʊs ˈvɪŋ.kl̩.hɔk]; born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s.^[1] During his brief Formula One career he led the 2007 European Grand Prix for several laps before retiring with mechanical problems. Having switched to sports and touring car racing, he has also won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 with team-mate Marc Basseng.

Born in Stuttgart, Winkelhock won races in a string of junior formulae including Formula König, German Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup from 1998 to 2000.^[2]

In 2001, Winkelhock joined the German Formula 3 Championship, where he remained until the championship became the F3 Euroseries in 2003. His record was fifth overall in 2001 (three wins), seventh in 2002 (one win) and fourth in 2003 (two wins).^[2]

He switched to touring car racing in 2004, with a season in the DTM in an AMG-Mercedes CLK. But he failed to score a point all year with the Persson team.^[2]

Winkelhock switched back to single-seater racing in 2005, joining the World Series by Renault with Draco. He won three times but there were also some less than shining moments – notably when he crashed at Monaco in qualifying and on the first lap of the race.^[2]

On 24 January 2006, Winkelhock was confirmed as a test and reserve driver for the Midland F1 team (formerly Jordan Grand Prix) for the 2006 Formula One season.^[3] He participated in Friday test sessions for the team at the Bahrain, Australian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix.^[2]

He was re-signed for 2007 by the team, which by then had been renamed as Spyker F1.^[4] He also made a brief return to the DTM in 2007, starting three races.^[2]

Following Christijan Albers's departure from Spyker after the 2007 British Grand Prix, Winkelhock was confirmed as his replacement for the European Grand Prix on 18 July.^[5] The deal was only for one race with Sakon Yamamoto set to race for Spyker for the rest of the season.^[6]

In the race, Winkelhock started last on the 22-car grid alongside teammate Adrian Sutil. On the formation lap, with the rest of the field on dry-weather tyres, the team made a last-second decision to call Winkelhock into the pits to switch to full wet tyres. When pouring rain forced almost all the others to pit at the end of the first lap, Winkelhock was able to move into the lead, passing some cars as they pitted, and even passing Kimi Räikkönen on the track as the Finn tip-toed around to the pits, eventually building a lead of 19 seconds by the end of the second lap. By lap 4 he had a lead of 33 seconds over Ferrari's Felipe Massa in 2nd place. As the rain got heavier, the stewards first sent out the safety car and then suspended the race following a series of spins in the first corner behind the safety car. The race restarted after the rain had eased. Winkelhock and his team chose to start on full wet tyres on a drying track in the hope of further showers, as the team expected he would be overtaken by faster cars anyway. The gamble failed and, having restarted the race from the lead, Winkelhock quickly fell down the order. He retired on lap 15 with hydraulic problems that caused a small fire. He had led for a total of six laps.^[7]

According to Bob Varsha of the Speed Channel commentary team, Winkelhock is the only driver in Formula One history to start last on the grid and lead the race in his first Grand Prix, and due to the red flag and restart, is also the only driver in Formula One history to start both last and first on the grid in the same Grand Prix. Despite his performance in the race, the Spyker team opted against giving Winkelhock a drive for the remainder of the 2007 season for sponsorship reasons.^{[citation needed]}

Winkelhock returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after he lost his Spyker seat, and has remained in the series, driving for Team Rosberg, for 2008 (12th), 2009 (10th) and 2010 (12th).

In 2011, he competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for the All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport team alongside team boss Marc Basseng driving a Lamborghini. They won the championship the following year, the team having switched to the Mercedes SLS due to a change in the regulations.

Winkelhock was to move with Münnich Motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship for 2013,^[8] however he left the team before the start of the season in order to focus on his GT racing commitments, and was replaced by defending champion Robert Huff.^[9]

Since 2013, he has more or less settled in the Blancpain Endurance Series and also won the 2017 24 Hours of Nürburgring sportscar race.^[10]

He also made a brief DTM comeback midway through the 2021 season with Abt Sportsline, where he replaced Sophia Flörsch for the Nürburgring round due to her Le Mans commitments.^[11]

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	Points	Position
1998	Formula König	?	9	3	2	161	2nd
1999	Formula Renault Germany	SL Formula Racing	8	2	1	72	4th
		Lechner Racing
2000	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	SL Formula Racing	?	1	?	78	6th
	Formula Renault 2000 Italy	SL Racing	4	0	0	8	21st
2001	German Formula 3 Championship	Mücke Motorsport	20	3	2	141	5th
	Masters of Formula 3	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	1	0	0	N/A	36th
2002	German Formula 3 Championship	Mücke Motorsport	18	1	2	28	7th
2003	Formula 3 Euro Series	Mücke Motorsport	20	2	1	71	4th
	Masters of Formula 3	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	1	0	0	N/A	6th
2004	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Persson Motorsport	10	0	0	0	19th
2005	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Draco Multiracing USA	17	3	1	114	3rd
2006	Formula One	MF1 Racing	Test driver
	Porsche Supercup	Porsche AG	1	0	0	0	NC
2007	Formula One	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	1	0	0	0	NC
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Abt Sportsline	2	0	0	0	19th
		Futurecom TME	5	0	0	0
2008	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	11	0	0	6	11th
2009	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	10	0	0	11	10th
2010	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Rosberg	11	0	0	7	12th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Phoenix Racing	1	1	0	N/A	1st
2011	GT1 World Championship	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	20	3	0	102	5th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	1	0	?	N/A	2nd
2012	GT1 World Championship	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	18	1	0	145	1st
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	1	1	0	N/A	1st
2013	Blancpain Endurance Series	Phoenix Racing	5	0	0	12	23rd
	FIA GT Series		2	0	0	0	NC†
	Rolex Sports Car Series - GT	Audi Sport Customer Racing	1	0	0	24	54th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	G-Drive Racing by Phoenix	1	0	0	N/A	5th
2014	Blancpain Sprint Series	Phoenix Racing	14	0	0	32	11th
	Blancpain Endurance Series		1	1	0	43	10th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9		1	1	0	N/A	1st
	United SportsCar Championship - GTD	Flying Lizard Motorsports	2	0	0	34	56th
	World Rallycross Championship	EKS RX	1	0	0	0	56th
2015	Blancpain Sprint Series	Phoenix Racing	14	0	0	48	9th
	Blancpain Endurance Series		5	0	0	0	NC
	United SportsCar Championship - GTD	Flying Lizard Motorsports	1	0	0	1	58th
	FFSA GT Championship	Saintéloc Junior Team	2	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2016	ADAC GT Masters	Phoenix Racing	10	0	0	22	30th
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup		8	0	0	0	NC
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		1	0	0	18	21st
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Phoenix Racing	1	0	0	33	5th
		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	2	0	0
	24H Series - A6	Car Collection Motorsport
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2017	ADAC GT Masters	BWT Mücke Motorsport	12	0	0	14	33rd
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	9	1	0	74	2nd
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	1	0	0	30	8th
		Audi Sport Team Saintéloc	2	1	0
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Jamec Pem Racing	1	0	0	50	1st
		Audi Sport Team Saintéloc	1	1	0
		Audi Sport Team Magnus	1	1	0
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Land / Land-Motorsport	1	1	0	N/A	1st
2018	ADAC GT Masters	BWT Mücke Motorsport	14	0	0	42	14th
	24H GT Series - A6
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Saintéloc Racing	10	0	0	1	25th
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup - Pro-Am		10	5	2	134.5	1st
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		5	0	0	27	18th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup - Pro-Am		3	0	0	36	12th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Magnus Racing	1	0	0	25	52nd
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi Sport Team MPC	1	0	0	58	4th
		Audi Sport Team Saintéloc	1	1	0
		Audi Sport Team Absolute Racing	1	0	0
		Audi Sport Team WRT	1	0	0
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team BWT	1	0	0	N/A	11th
2019	ADAC GT Masters	BWT Mücke Motorsport	14	0	0	80	12th
	Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe	Saintéloc Racing	9	0	0	3	22nd
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		4	0	0	12	19th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup - Pro-Am		3	0	0	30	11th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Moorespeed	1	0	0	20	56th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi Sport Team Valvoline	1	0	0	40	11th
		Audi Sport Team Land	2	0	0
		Audi Sport Team Saintéloc	1	0	0
		Audi Sport Team Absolute Racing	1	0	0
	24H GT Series - A6	BWT Mücke Motorsport
		Car Collection Motorsport
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Car Collection	1	0	0	N/A	3rd
2020	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Saintéloc Racing	4	0	0	22	15th
	ADAC GT Masters	EFP Car Collection by TECE	6	0	0	0	NC†
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Team Hardpoint	1	0	0	18	54th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi Sport Team Valvoline	1	0	0	26	9th
		Audi Sport Team Hardpoint WRT	1	0	0
		Audi Sport Team Saintéloc Racing	1	0	0
		Audi Sport Team WRT	1	0	0
	24H GT Series - GT3	Car Collection Motorsport
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Car Collection	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
2021	ADAC GT Masters	Car Collection Motorsport	14	0	0	29	25th
	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup	ROFGO Racing with Team WRT	2	0	0	1	33rd
		Saintéloc Racing	4	0	0
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Saintéloc Racing	1	0	0	2	9th*
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Team Abt Sportsline	2	0	0	0	23rd
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Audi Sport Team Saintéloc Racing	3	1	0	50	2nd
	24H GT Series - GT3	Attempto Racing
		Rutronik Racing by TECE
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Audi Sport Team Car Collection	1	0	0	N/A	5th
2022	ADAC GT Masters	Car Collection Motorsport	14	0	0	26	26th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Attempto Racing	5	0	0	19	20th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	The Bend Motorsport Park Team Valvoline
		Audi Sport Team Attempto
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Scherer Sport Team Phoenix	1	0	0	N/A	5th
2023	GT Winter Series	Phoenix Racing	?	?	?	8	85th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Scherer Sport PHX	1	0	0	N/A	11th
2023-24	Middle East Trophy - GT3	Goroyan RT by Car Collection Motorsport
		Eastalent Racing Team
2024	GT World Challenge Asia	Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute	10	1	0	68	9th
	Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - SP9	Scherer Sport PHX
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9

† As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
^* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2003	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	Dallara F302/012	HWA-Mercedes	HOC 1 3	HOC 2 4	ADR 1 Ret	ADR 2 17	PAU 1 21	PAU 2 Ret	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 5	LMS 1 8	LMS 2 18	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 2	A1R 1 4	A1R 2 6	ZAN 1 4	ZAN 2 4	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 2	MAG 1 1	MAG 2 9	4th	71

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	DC	Points
2005	Draco Multiracing USA	ZOL 1 NC	ZOL 2 3	MON 1 DNS	VAL 1 11	VAL 2 12	LMS 1 1	LMS 2 5	BIL 1 Ret	BIL 2 7	OSC 1 Ret	OSC 2 3	DON 1 5	DON 2 1	EST 1 4	EST 2 2	MNZ 1 3	MNZ 2 1	3rd	114

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	WDC	Points
2006	MF1 Racing	Midland M16	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	BHR TD	MAL	AUS TD	SMR	EUR	ESP	MON	GBR	CAN	USA	FRA	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA	–	–
2007	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	Spyker F8-VII	Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR Ret	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA		NC	0

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Points
2004	Persson Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2003	HOC 15	EST 17	ADR Ret	LAU 13	NOR Ret	SHA 9‡	NÜR Ret	OSC 16	ZAN 14	BRN 18	HOC 13						19th	0
2007	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC	OSC	LAU Ret	BRH 14	NOR												19th	0
	Futurecom TME	Audi A4 DTM 2005						MUG 9	ZAN 13	NÜR Ret	CAT 12†	HOC 13
2008	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC 12	OSC 6	MUG 7	LAU Ret	NOR 11	ZAN 8	NÜR 9	BRH 11	CAT 12	BUG 11	HOC Ret						11th	6
2009	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 4	LAU Ret	NOR 13	ZAN DSQ	OSC Ret	NÜR 4	BRH 18†	CAT Ret	DIJ 10	HOC 8							10th	11
2010	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 15	VAL 15†	LAU 10	NOR Ret	NÜR Ret	ZAN DNS	BRH 15†	OSC Ret	HOC Ret	ADR 4	SHA 7						12th	7
2021	Abt Sportsline	Audi R8 LMS Evo	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	LAU 1	LAU 2	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	NÜR 1 16	NÜR 2 14	RBR 1	RBR 2	ASS 1	ASS 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	23rd	0

^† - Driver did not finish, but completed 90% of the race distance. ^‡ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2011	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Lamborghini Murciélago LP670 R-SV	ABU QR 6	ABU CR 3	ZOL QR 1	ZOL CR 1	ALG QR 7	ALG CR 6	SAC QR 9	SAC CR Ret	SIL QR Ret	SIL CR 5	NAV QR 1	NAV CR 2	PRI QR 7	PRI CR 8	ORD QR DSQ	ORD CR 8	BEI QR 12	BEI CR Ret	SAN QR 6	SAN CR Ret	5th	102
2012	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	NOG QR 6	NOG CR 3	ZOL QR 6	ZOL CR 9	NAV QR 5	NAV QR 2	SVK QR 4	SVK CR 3	ALG QR 1	ALG CR 2	SVK QR 3	SVK CR 2	MOS QR 2	MOS CR 5	NUR QR 3	NUR CR 2	DON QR 5	DON CR DSQ			1st	145

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Points
2013	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR	NOG CR	ZOL QR	ZOL CR	ZAN QR	ZAN CR	SVK QR	SVK CR	NAV QR	NAV CR	BAK QR 9	BAK CR 12	NC	0‡

‡ — Guest driver – Not eligible for points.

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Points
2014	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR 2	NOG CR Ret	BRH QR 5	BRH CR Ret	ZAN QR Ret	ZAN CR 11	SVK QR 15	SVK CR Ret	ALG QR Ret	ALG CR 6	ZOL QR 16	ZOL CR 18	BAK QR 6	BAK CR 3	11th	32
2015	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Pro	NOG QR Ret	NOG CR 8	BRH QR 6	BRH CR 8	ZOL QR 4	ZOL CR 5	MOS QR 10†	MOS CR 6†	ALG QR 3	ALG CR 2	MIS QR 12	MIS CR 12	ZAN QR 3	ZAN CR Ret	9th	48
2016	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	MIS QR 15	MIS CR 27	BRH QR 13	BRH CR 11	NÜR QR 21	NÜR CR 22	HUN QR WD	HUN CR WD	CAT QR Ret	CAT CR 16					NC	0
2017	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	MIS QR Ret	MIS CR DNS	BRH QR 11	BRH CR 3	ZOL QR 3	ZOL CR 1	HUN QR 7	HUN CR 5	NÜR QR 5	NÜR CR 2					2nd	74
2018	Saintéloc Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Pro-Am	ZOL 1 15	ZOL 2 15	BRH 1 17	BRH 2 11	MIS 1 11	MIS 2 9	HUN 1 18	HUN 2 19	NÜR 1 12	NÜR 2 15					1st	134.5
2019	Saintéloc Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 Ret	MIS 1 Ret	MIS 2 Ret	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 DNS	NÜR 1 18	NÜR 2 7	HUN 1 19	HUN 2 12					22nd	3
2021	ROFGO Racing with Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Pro	MAG 1	MAG 2	ZAN 1 16	ZAN 2 18											33rd	1
	Saintéloc Racing							MIS 1 15	MIS 2 15	BRH 1	BRH 2	VAL 1 13	VAL 2 9

^† Winkelhock was ineligible to score points during the Moscow weekend due to Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof's absence.

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2014	EKS RX	Audi S1	POR	GBR	NOR	FIN 24	SWE	BEL	CAN	FRA	GER	ITA	TUR	ARG	57th	0

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2014	Flying Lizard Motorsports	GTD	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Audi 5.2L V10	DAY 2	SEB 8	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	IND	ELK	VIR	COA	COA	56th	34
2015	Flying Lizard Motorsports	GTD	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Audi 5.2L V10	DAY 10†	SEB	LGA	BEL	WGL	LIM	ELK	VIR	AUS	ATL		58th	1
2018	Magnus Racing	GTD	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY 6	SEB	MOH	BEL	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET	52nd	26
2019	Moorespeed	GTD	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY 11	SEB	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET	56th	20
2020	Team Hardpoint	GTD	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY	DAY	SEB	ELK	VIR	ATL	MDO	CLT	PET 13	LGA	SEB	54th	18

^† Winkelhock did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

• Official website
• Markus Winkelhock career summary at DriverDB.com
• Who's Who: Markus Winkelhock at F1Fanatic

Sporting positions
Preceded by Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr	FIA GT1 World Championship Champion 2012 With: Marc Basseng	Succeeded by None (Series ended)
Preceded by Laurens Vanthoor	Intercontinental GT Challenge Champion 2017	Succeeded by Tristan Vautier
Preceded by Daniel Keilwitz Alexander Mattschull	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Pro-Am Champion 2018 With: Nyls Stievenart	Succeeded by Phil Keen Hiroshi Hamaguchi (GT World Challenge Europe)
Preceded by Alexander Mattschull	Blancpain GT Series Pro-Am Champion 2018 With: Nyls Stievenart	Succeeded by Andrea Bertolini Louis Machiels