Winfried Philippe Adalbert Karl Graf Kottulinsky Freiherr von Kottulin, better known as Freddy Kottulinsky (20 July 1932 – 4 May 2010), was a German-Swedish

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

and

rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

driver who won the Paris-

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

in 1980. He was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Biography

A member of old Austrian-Silesian nobility, in 1953 he went to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where he set up a repair shop. In the 1960s and mostly with a Swedish racing licence, Kottulinsky competed in

Formula 3 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 driv ...

Formula Vee Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Brazil and Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, Eme ...

and

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

. In F3 he became Swedish champion in 1966 on a Lotus 35 Cosworth. Together with

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 car ...

and

Torsten Palm Torsten Palm (born 23 July 1947 in Kristinehamn) 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 Rall ...

he in 1970 scored a Swedish win in the F3 European Cup for nations. In 1974 he won Formel Super V's European Gold Cup on a Lola T320. He also entered rallies, as did his daughter Susanne Kottulinsky who had been born in 1960. His granddaughter

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (born 13 November 1992 in Karlstad) is a Swedish racing driver currently competing in the Extreme E, Extreme E Championship for Rosberg X Racing. Career Early career Åhlin-Kottulinsky started racing at the age of 1 ...

is also a racing driver in Audi Sport TT Cup. In 1980 he won the Paris-

together with Gerd Löffelmann in a 4WD VW Iltis prepared by

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

. When asked for the first time to drive one of three cars that were supposed to support

Jean Ragnotti Jean "Jeannot" Ragnotti (born 29 August 1945 in Pernes-les-Fontaines, Vaucluse), is a French former rally driver for Renault in the World Rally Championship. Ranking among his achievements are his conquering of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1981, wh ...

, Kottulinsky, who had neither experience nor desire to race in a desert, declined indirectly by asking for a high salary. Shortly before the race began, the team hired him anyway, and Kottulinsky entered the race with hardly any preparation. He did not have tent nor sleeping bag, but enough spare parts to keep the car running without having to wait for support. The design of this four wheel drive system provided the basis for Audi's Quattro system, which debuted later in 1980 on the original

Audi Quattro The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991. Background The word ...

. In that time, Kottulinsky also trained the mechanics to drive the team's service vehicles quickly and safely. This developed into Audi Fahrsicherheitstraining (driving safety lessons), for which Kottulinsky worked 25 years until retirement. Kottulinsky lived in Görkwitz in

Thüringen Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

for several years, promoting the local race track Schleizer Dreieck. At over 70 years of age, he was still entering motorsport events, e.g. on 11 August 2006 with a

Datsun 240Z The Nissan S30 (sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z) is the first generation of Z GT 3-door two-seat coupés, produced by Nissan Motors, Ltd. of Japan from 1969 until ...

in the

AvD The German Motor Sport Federation (german: Deutscher Motor Sport Bund or ''DMSB'', formerly known as or ''ONS'') is Germany's motor racing governing body. It represents Germany at FIA and FIM. The , founded in 1972 by Herbert Linge as , is cons ...

-Historic-Marathon-400 on the Nordschleife of the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. He died in May 2010 in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 65,856 inhabitants in 2020 with 95,167 inhabitants ...

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship 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)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

(

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

References

External links

Freddy's story

WRC Driver Profile - Freddy Kottulinsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kottulinsky, Freddy 1932 births 2010 deaths Dakar Rally drivers Dakar Rally winning drivers Counts of Germany German racing drivers Swedish racing drivers Sportspeople from Munich Racing drivers from Bavaria World Sportscar Championship drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Formula Super Vee Champions Formel Super Vau drivers