Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver, currently racing for the BMW factory/works team. Nicknamed 'The Secret Canadian', he won the 2012 DTM Drivers' Championship.
Career
Early career
Spengler was born near
Strasbourg, France
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian dialect, Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian dialect, Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Re ...
but moved with his parents to
Saint-Hippolyte, Quebec
Saint-Hippolyte is a municipality within La Rivière-du-Nord Regional County Municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian mountains about 45 km north of Montreal. The name comes from Saint Hippolytus.
Part of ...
, Canada, when he was 3. He went to school in Canada but continued to go back to France where he started competing in
kart racing
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 kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...
in 1995. Spengler continued karting in both France and Canada and then moved on to competing in the
French Formula Renault
The Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup (WEC) was a Formula Renault 2.0 championship that replaced the Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 as of 2008, Eventually this led to him being signed by
Mercedes-Benz motorsport
Throughout its long history, Mercedes-Benz has been involved in a range of successful motorsport activities, including sportscar racing, touring car racing, Grand Prix racing, and rallying. It is currently active in GT racing, Formula E and Form ...
Formula Three Euroseries
The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...
.
DTM
From 2005 until the end of 2011, Spengler drove a Mercedes in the
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 ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. In 2005 he ran with
Persson Motorsport
Persson Motorsport was an auto racing team based in Germany. Managed by Ingmar Persson, they have competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (formerly Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) since their formation in 1993 until 2012, running private ...
and he convinced AMG directors to have an official car in 2006. That year he finished the 2006 season second behind his teammate and five times champion Bernd Schneider. He completed the 2007 season campaign once again in second place, this time behind Audi driver
Mattias Ekström
Mattias Ekström (born 14 July 1978 in Falun, Sweden) is a racing driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship ...
, despite Audi's mass pull-out in Barcelona.
In August 2007 he was mentioned in a possible move to the new
Prodrive F1
Prodrive F1 Team was the name of a proposed Formula One team to be run by Prodrive. The team was selected by the FIA in 2006 to be the 12th entry into the 2008 Formula One world championship. In November 2007, a legal challenge to the team's pro ...
team for 2008, and possibly for a drive with McLaren. Spengler was a leading candidate for an F1 driver's seat based on his performances and also it was thought to help drive up interest in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
for
Formula 1
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, ...
. With Prodrive gone and
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
signed for McLaren, this did not happen for 2008. While leading the DTM in points during the 2010 season, Spengler's name was again brought up as a possible candidate to drive in F1.
Norbert Haug
Norbert Friedrich Haug (born 24 November 1952) is a German journalist and the former vice president of Mercedes-Benz motorsport activity, including Formula One, Formula 3 and DTM. Under his direction, Mercedes-Benz enjoyed considerable succes ...
Mercedes motorsports director commented that if Spengler were to win the DTM championship he would earn a ride in F1. However, he lost the championship in the last few races to
Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...
who went on to drive for
Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
in the next F1 season.
For the 2012 season, Spengler left Mercedes and joined BMW
Team Schnitzer
Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team has operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and has remarkable results in touring car and sports car rac ...
for the latter's return to DTM. Spengler had a strong season, coming into the last race at the
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...
three points behind leader and Mercedes driver
Gary Paffett
Gary Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British racing driver. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, afte ...
. He overtook Paffett at the start and held on to win the race. With this victory, his fourth of the season, Spengler took the Driver's Championship by four points and helped Team Schnitzer to the Teams' Championship and BMW to the Manufacturers' Championship.
Formula E
Spengler became, alongside
Beitske Visser
Beitske Visser (born 10 March 1995) is a Dutch racing driver.
She has raced in kart, single-seater, GT and prototype series.
Career
Karting
Born in Dronten, Visser began karting in 2007 and raced in various European and International champi ...
, one of the test and reserve drivers for
Andretti Autosport
Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...
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 ...
)
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen 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)
† Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance.
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 FIA World Endurance 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)
† As Spengler was a guest driver he was ineligible to score points.