Bernd Schneider (born 20 July 1964) is 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 ...
. He is a five-time
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...
champion, and a Mercedes Brand Ambassador.
Career
Early years
Schneider was named after legendary driver
Bernd Rosemeyer
Bernd Rosemeyer (14 October 1909 – 28 January 1938) was a German racing driver and speed record holder. He is considered one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Though he was not a member of the Nazi party, he was made a member of the S ...
, winner of the
1936 European Drivers' Championship. Introduced to
karting
Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
at an early age, he displayed an obvious talent for racing. After several years in the junior kart series, Schneider won the 1980 German Kart championship. Two years later, he would win the 1982 European Kart championship with the national team. In 1983, he won the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n kart championship.
Single seater racing
The next few years, Schneider would race in the various Formula Ford series in Germany and elsewhere in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. In 1986, he joined the
German Formula Three
The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French Formula Three Championship to ...
circuit, winning the title the following year in 1987 as well as finishing third in the
1987 Macau Grand Prix. This brought him to the attention of
Erich Zakowski
Erich Zakowski (born 25 November 1934 in East Prussia) is a German master mechanic, and the founder and longtime head of the Zakspeed racing team.
After the Second World War, Zakowski fled from Prussia with his mother and four siblings initial ...
, who signed Schneider to drive for his
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
team
Zakspeed
Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit.
1973 to 1981: Saloon and s ...
in and . However, the small German-based squad did little to make an impression on the F1 circuit and Schneider only able to qualify for nine races out of the 32 he entered with the team (7 out of 16 with the
turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
powered car in 1988 and only twice out of 16 attempts did he pre-qualify and actually qualify for a race in 1989). Schneider also briefly drove for
Arrows, before leaving single seaters and racing
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
s in the early 1990s for
Kremer Racing
Kremer Racing is a motorsports team based in Cologne, Germany, founded by racing driver Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred. They have competed internationally with Porsches for nearly all of their existence, and were even one of the factory-back ...
and
Joest Racing
Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
Early years
As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began to ...
, in the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...
and the
Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series.
Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Härl ...
and races such as the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
.
DTM championships
In 1992, Schneider moved to 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 ...
(German Touring Car Championship), driving for
AMG-Mercedes
Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its head ...
. Finishing third his first season, he has since been a regular Mercedes driver. In 1995, he won his first DTM championship, piloting an AMG
C-Class.
In the years of the DTM's absence, Schneider raced the works
Mercedes CLK GTR cars in the
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
, winning the title in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
after winning six races. In 1998, now with the CLK-LM variant, although winning five races with teammate Mark Webber, he lost the title to teammates
Klaus Ludwig
Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver.
Biography
He also known as ''König Ludwig'' ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing.
In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche R ...
and
Ricardo Zonta
Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 10 Toyota Corolla E210 for RCM Motorsport.
Early career
Born in Curitiba, ...
. He was also a Mercedes works driver in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
and
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
.
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 ...
returned in 2000 with silhouette bodies and
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
s, and Schneider took the championship crown three of the first four years (2000, 2001, and 2003) in an AMG
CLK-Class; he was runner up in 2002. Still driving for AMG, Schneider has won a record four championships; in 2005, he was teammates with (among others) former F1 champion
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three For ...
, and in 2006 won his fifth championship title.
It was announced on 21 October 2008 that Schneider will retire from racing at the conclusion of the
2008 season.
Post-DTM
In recent years, Schneider has returned from retirement to take part in several endurance races. In 2013 he raced in and won the
24 Hours of Dubai
The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006.
Entrants and participants
As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dutch promoter C ...
, the
Bathurst 12 Hour
The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in ...
, the
24 Hours Nürburgring
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
and the
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was ...
in a
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (C197 / R197) is a front mid-engine, 2-seater, limited production grand tourer developed by the Mercedes-AMG division of German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, with the assistance of David Coulthard. The car is ...
.
Schneider currently races in the Pro-Am class of the
Blancpain Sprint Series
The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, officially known as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS for sponsorship reasons, formerly the FIA GT Series, is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) ...
in the #70 GT Russian Team Viatti Mercedes.
Personal life
Schneider lives in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
with his girlfriend Svenja and their daughter Lilly-Sophie. He also has children Lisa-Marie and Luca Maximilian with his ex-wife Nicole,
Oliver Bierhoff
Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association.
A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierho ...
's older sister. Schneider still enjoys karting.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula One results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
Complete World Touring Car Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
* Overall race position shown. Registered WTCC points paying position may differ.
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
- Shanghai was a non-championship round.
*† — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
Complete International Touring Car Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete FIA GT Championship results
Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results
References
External links
Bernd Schneider homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Bernd
German expatriates in Monaco
German racing drivers
German Formula One drivers
Zakspeed Formula One drivers
Arrows Formula One drivers
German Formula Three Championship drivers
1964 births
Living people
People from Sankt Ingbert
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champions
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
World Touring Car Championship drivers
Racing drivers from Saarland
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Blancpain Endurance Series drivers
24 Hours of Spa drivers
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
24H Series drivers
FIA GT Championship drivers
ADAC GT Masters drivers
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers
Team Joest drivers
HWA Team drivers
Karting World Championship drivers
Porsche Motorsports drivers
Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers