Axel Felder (16 August 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a German

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who is best known for being a two-time winner of the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. In 1985, he finished both 1st and 2nd in the race, completing stints in both BMW's during the event. Felder was killed in a plane crash in 1987.

Career

Felder began racing in the Nürburgring 24h race in 1978. His greatest successes at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

would come in 1984 where he won his first race alongside Franz-Josef Bohling and Peter Oberndorfer in a

BMW 635CSi The BMW E24 is the first generation of BMW 6 Series range of grand tourer cars, which was produced from January 1976 to 1989 and replaced the BMW E9 coupé. The E24 was produced solely in a 2-door coupé body style. All models used petrol strai ...

run by Auto Budde Racing Team. In 1985, Felder won the race again in the BMW this time alongside Jurgen Hamelmann and Robert Walterscheid-Muller. As he completed stints in both the winning car and second placed BMW, Felder took home two trophies and was classified in the top two positions. Felder was recognised on BMW's 50th anniversary livery used in the 2020 race. Also in 1984, Felder moved into Touring Cars. With his Nürburgring 24h winning team in European Touring Car Championship, competing in 10 races. For 1985, he competed in one race of the World Sportscar Championship in a

BMW M1 The BMW M1 (model code E26) is a mid-engined sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer BMW from 1978 until 1981. In the late 1970s, Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini entered into an agreement with BMW to build a production ...

for Helmut Gall. He also completed one race of the

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Deterministic T ...

season scoring 4 points. In 1986, Felder competed in 7 European Touring Car Championship races scoring 18 points. By 1987, he returned to DTM this time with Ford Ringshausen Motorsport and their Sierra XR4Ti. He completed two races, scoring 1 point and was classified 38th in the Championship.

Death

On 15 October 1987, Felder was a passenger on Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 which was a scheduled flight from

Milan Linate Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest ...

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

. The ATR-42 plane crashed into Mount Crozza, Conca di Crezzo, Italy. Felder, along with all passengers and crew were killed in the accident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felder, Alex 1949 births 1987 deaths German racing drivers Sportspeople from Wuppertal Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Italy Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1987 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Racing drivers from North Rhine-Westphalia