Franz Engstler (born 25 July 1961) is a German

auto racing 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 ...

driver.

Racing career

Franz Engstler 2011 WTCC Race of Japan (Practice 1)

Born in

Kempten im Allgäu Kempten (, (Swabian German: )) is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town ' ...

, Engstler started racing in the European Hillclimbing Championship and the German Long Distance Cup, which he won. From 1988 he competed in German Formula Three, winning the class B title in 1989. In 1993 he switched to

Touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...

, where he was German Touring Car Championship Class 2 champion in an

Alfa Romeo 155 The Alfa Romeo 155 (Type 167) is a compact executive car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Alfa Romeo between 1992 and 1998. It was unveiled in January 1992 at Barcelona, with the first public launch in March 1992, at the Geneva Motor S ...

. Between 1994 and 1999, he raced in the German Super Touring Championship for various teams. He finished first in the 2000 German Touring Car Challenge, with two wins. Two more seasons were spent racing in this series in 2002 and 2003. After a season in the 2004 German Production Car Championship, he moved to the

Asian Touring Car Championship The Asian Touring Car Series (ATCS) is a touring car racing series that takes place each year across several Asian nations. It includes events at circuits in Malaysia, China and Indonesia. It ran as the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) betwee ...

. He dominated the championship, which bought him back to back titles in 2005 and 2006. Another title came in 2007, winning the German

ADAC Procar Series The Deutsche Tourenwagen Cup (DTC, formerly known as ADAC Procar Series) was a yearly motorsport series in Germany and some surrounding countries. The series has been running since 1995 and was folded in 2017. Current status Currently the DTC is ...

for the second year. 2008 first saw him enter the WTCC. A solid first season saw him finish second in the independents Trophy. The highlight of the year was sixth place overall finish in the final race in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. Before the end of the 2008 season, he won the BMW Sports Trophy for independent drivers, ahead of one hundred and forty other BMW drivers around the world.http://www.automobilsport.com/fia-wtcc-curitiba-engstler-franz-bmw-sports-trophy-munich---38488.html Engstler claims BMW Sports Trophy Engstler was involved in a bizarre incident at the 2009 WTCC meeting at Pau. Having finished sixth in race one, he started race two from second position. He took the lead from

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...

at the start and led the first lap. The safety car was deployed following three separate incidents on the first lap. The safety car jinked left right into the middle of the circuit, and with the nature of the circuit, Engstler was unsighted as he slammed into the safety car causing substantial damage to both cars, ending his race.

Racing record