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 ...

and in 2003 he was racing for ASM in the

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 ...

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. 2014 DTM HockenheimringII Bruno Spengler by 2eight 8SC1927

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 ...

ahead of the 2018–19 Formula E season.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series 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 ...

) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Spengler was a guest driver he was ineligible to score points.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spengler, Bruno 1983 births Living people People from Schiltigheim Canadian people of French descent Racing drivers from Quebec Karting World Championship drivers North American Formula Renault drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champions 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Sportspeople from Bas-Rhin BMW M drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers HWA Team drivers Racing Bart Mampaey drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Kolles Racing drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Rowe Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers