Bernd Schneider (born 20 July 1964) is a German racing driver. He is a five-time

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 s ...

champion, and a Mercedes Brand Ambassador.

Career

Early years

Schneider was named after legendary driver

Bernd Rosemeyer Bernd Rosemeyer (14 October 1909 – 28 January 1938) was a German racing driver and speed record holder. He is considered one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Though he was not a member of the Nazi party, he was made a member of the ...

, winner of the 1936 European Drivers' Championship. Introduced to karting at an early age, he displayed an obvious talent for racing. After several years in the junior kart series, Schneider won the 1980 German Kart championship. Two years later, he would win the 1982 European Kart championship with the national team. In 1983, he won the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n kart championship.

Single seater racing

The next few years, Schneider would race in the various Formula Ford series in Germany and elsewhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In 1986, he joined the German Formula Three circuit, winning the title the following year in 1987 as well as finishing third in the 1987 Macau Grand Prix. This brought him to the attention of

Erich Zakowski Erich Zakowski (born 25 November 1934 in East Prussia) is a German master mechanic, and the founder and longtime head of the Zakspeed racing team. After the Second World War, Zakowski fled from Prussia with his mother and four siblings initia ...

, who signed Schneider to drive for his

Formula One 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, ...

team

Zakspeed Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit. 1973 to 1981: Saloon and s ...

in and . However, the small German-based squad did little to make an impression on the F1 circuit and Schneider only able to qualify for nine races out of the 32 he entered with the team (7 out of 16 with the

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

powered car in 1988 and only twice out of 16 attempts did he pre-qualify and actually qualify for a race in 1989). Schneider also briefly drove for Arrows, before leaving single seaters and racing Porsche

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s in the early 1990s for

Kremer Racing Kremer Racing is a motorsports team based in Cologne, Germany, founded by racing driver Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred. They have competed internationally with Porsches for nearly all of their existence, and were even one of the factory-bac ...

and

Joest Racing Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Early years As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began t ...

, in the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...

and the

Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series. Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Härl ...

and races such as the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

DTM championships

In 1992, Schneider moved to the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), driving for

AMG-Mercedes Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its head ...

. Finishing third his first season, he has since been a regular Mercedes driver. In 1995, he won his first DTM championship, piloting an AMG C-Class. In the years of the DTM's absence, Schneider raced the works Mercedes CLK GTR cars 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 ...

, winning the title in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

after winning six races. In 1998, now with the CLK-LM variant, although winning five races with teammate Mark Webber, he lost the title to teammates

Klaus Ludwig Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver. Biography He also known as ''König Ludwig'' ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing. In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche ...

and

Ricardo Zonta Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 10 Toyota Corolla E210 for RCM Motorsport. Early career Born in Curitib ...

. He was also a Mercedes works driver in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. The DTM returned in 2000 with silhouette bodies and

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

s, and Schneider took the championship crown three of the first four years (2000, 2001, and 2003) in an AMG CLK-Class; he was runner up in 2002. Still driving for AMG, Schneider has won a record four championships; in 2005, he was teammates with (among others) former F1 champion

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Fo ...

, and in 2006 won his fifth championship title. It was announced on 21 October 2008 that Schneider will retire from racing at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

Post-DTM

In recent years, Schneider has returned from retirement to take part in several endurance races. In 2013 he raced in and won the 24 Hours of Dubai, the Bathurst 12 Hour, 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 smalle ...

and the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an 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 conceived by Jules de Their ...

in a

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (C197 / R197) is a front mid-engine, 2-seater, limited production grand tourer developed by the Mercedes-AMG division of German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, with the assistance of David Coulthard. The car is ...

. Schneider currently races in the Pro-Am class of the Blancpain Sprint Series in the #70 GT Russian Team Viatti Mercedes.

Personal life

Schneider lives in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

with his girlfriend Svenja and their daughter Lilly-Sophie. He also has children Lisa-Marie and Luca Maximilian with his ex-wife Nicole,

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...

's older sister. Schneider still enjoys karting.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula One results

( key)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Overall race position shown. Registered WTCC points paying position may differ.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) - Shanghai was a non-championship round. *† — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete International Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA GT Championship results

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

References

External links

Bernd Schneider homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Bernd German expatriates in Monaco German racing drivers German Formula One drivers Zakspeed Formula One drivers Arrows Formula One drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers 1964 births Living people People from Sankt Ingbert Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champions 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Racing drivers from Saarland World Sportscar Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24H Series drivers FIA GT Championship drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Team Joest drivers HWA Team drivers Karting World Championship drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers