Timo Scheider (born 10 November 1978 in

Lahnstein Lahnstein () is a ''verband''-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the pre ...

) is a German racing driver who competes in the

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...

for Münnich Motorsport. He won the DTM title in 2008 and 2009.

Career

Karting

Like most other drivers, Scheider started his racing career in

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 ...

in 1989. In 1992, he went on to win the Kerpen Winter Cup and earned seventh place in the German Junior Kart NRW-Cup a year later. His seventh place disappointment led to success the next year when he won the cup.

Formula Renault

In 1995, Scheider joined the German

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

1800 championship and won it in his first year. The next year, he jumped to the 2000 championship and earned fourth place.

Formula Three

After only two years in Formula Renault, the German moved to

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

in 1997, in the German series. He clinched second place behind

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver. Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...

in 1997 with three wins but his performance deteriorated the next year when he finished seventh, despite three victories. In 1999 he finished sixth, bringing an end to his rise through the single-seater ranks.

DTM

Scheider spent the next five years of his racing career in DTM for

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

. In his first year in 2000, he finished twelfth followed by a disappointing 19th the next year. He improved to finish eighth in 2002. The following year he finished eighth again and scored a pole position. He also finished in first place at 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 ...

. In 2004, Scheider retained his eighth place in DTM and was tenth in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

GTs

Scheider left the DTM in 2005, which became a busy year for Scheider. He joined

Vitaphone Racing Vitaphone Racing is a German racing team who participate in the FIA GT Championship. The team is actually Bartels Motor & Sport GmbH but runs under the title of their primary sponsor, Vitaphone GmbH. In 2011 Vitaphone Racing was renamed Vita4One. ...

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 ...

, where he finished second. He won 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 ...

and also at Istanbul. He was 13th overall and class winner in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. He was also selected for

A1 Team Germany A1 Team Germany was the German team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the second season, 2006-07. They were run by the English Super Nova Racing team until the end of 2007-08. GU-Rac ...

that year. Timo Scheider 2006 DTM

Return to DTM

After one year away, Scheider returned to the DTM in 2006 with Audi Sport Team Rosberg, finishing the season in 10th place. In 2007 he joined the works Audi team, Abt Sportsline, finally taking his first podium finish as he finished seventh overall. 2008 showed great improvement from Scheider winning three races as he won the 2008 DTM Championship, finishing four points ahead of

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 ...

of Mercedes-Benz. In 2009 he repeated his title success for Audi, beating closest rival

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 ...

by five points over the ten rounds, taking two victories. He therefore become the only second DTM driver after Bernd Schneider to defend his title.

Retirement from DTM

As of October 2016, Scheider announced his retirement from DTM, effective at the end of the season.

Rallycross

After making sporadic appearances in the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

for Münnich Motorsport, Scheider signed with

MJP Racing Team Austria MJP Racing Team Austria is an auto racing team founded by Austrian racing driver and entrepreneur Max Pucher. The team has been competing in rallycross since its creation. The team uses Supercar specification Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is ...

for a full

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

campaign. He finished second in the opening round in Barcelona.

Racing record

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) ¹ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(

)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar/RX1

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

(

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

References

External links

Timo Scheider official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheider, Timo 1978 births Living people People from Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Racing drivers from Rhineland-Palatinate A1 Team Germany drivers FIA GT Championship drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers German racing drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champions Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Motorsport team owners World Touring Car Cup drivers Extreme E drivers World Rallycross Championship drivers Abt Sportsline drivers Audi Sport drivers Josef Kaufmann Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Team Rosberg drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers AF Corse drivers W Racing Team drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers