Torsten Palm (born 23 July 1947 in

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 17,839 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt' ...

) is a former racing driver from Sweden.

Racing career

The younger brother of famous rally co-driver Gunnar Palm, Torsten competed as a co-driver as well. In 1967 he came second in the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

with

Simo Lampinen Simo Lampinen (born 22 June 1943) is a Finnish former rally driver, and one of the first of the "Flying Finns" who came to dominate the sport. Biography Lampinen was born in Porvoo. Having contracted polio at a young age, he was left with a pr ...

. Palm competed internationally in formula racing and rallies. He made his debut in Formula 3 in 1969 and came second to

Ronnie Peterson Bengt Ronnie Peterson (; 14 February 1944 – 11 September 1978) was a Swedish racing driver. Known by the nickname 'SuperSwede', he was a two-time runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Peterson began his motor racing caree ...

in the Swedish Championship that year, before winning the Championship in 1970 and 1971. During the European Formula 2 Championship in 1973 he set the record on the raceway in

Karlskoga Karlskoga () is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality, Sweden. Located within Örebro County, 45 km (28 mi) west of Örebro, and 10 km (6 mi) north of Degerfors. With a 2020 population of 27,386 distributed over 10.55 square miles (2 ...

, Sweden, in front of 40,000 spectators. Palm finished third in his

Surtees The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000. History The team was formed by John Surtees, a four-time 500cc motorcycle champion and the ...

, with Peterson in fifth place. Nobody beat the record before the circuit was rebuilt in the end of the decade. Sponsored by

Polar Caravans Polar Caravans ( sv, Polarvagnen, often abbreviated to Polar) is a Swedish manufacturer of caravans. The caravans are manufactured in Dorotea, Västerbotten County, and the company employs nearly 100 people. The company is now called SoliferPola ...

he made his Formula 1 debut in a Hesketh in 1975. In

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

he failed to qualify to the race. In Anderstorp, Sweden, he qualified for the race and finished 10th. From 1993-2003 he ran a car dealership, Torsten Palm Bil AB, which was the representative for Ferrari for three years.

Complete Formula One results

( key)

References

Swedish racing drivers Swedish Formula One drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers 1947 births Living people People from Kristinehamn Sportspeople from Värmland County {{F1-bio-stub