Timo Bernhard (born 24 February 1981) is a former driver from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He was a

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 ...

driver from Porsche, but was seconded to Audi for selected events in 2009 and 2010. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing. On 29 June 2018, he became the first person in 35 years to break the all-time Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record, set by

Stefan Bellof Stefan Bellof (20 November 1957 – 1 September 1985) was a German racing driver. Bellof was the winner of the Drivers' Championship in the 1984 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for the factory Rothmans Porsche team. His lap record ...

in 1983 with a Porsche 956, in a derestricted Porsche 919 Evo with a time of 5:19.546.5:19.55 minutes – Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo takes record on Porsche Newsroom
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Early career

Bernhard was born in

Homburg, Saarland Homburg (; french: Hombourg, pfl, Humborch) is a town in Saarland, Germany and the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz district. With a population of 43,029 inhabitants (2022), it is the third largest town in the state. The city offers over ...

. He debuted in karting in 1991. He finished 5th at the CIK/FIA Junior World Championship and was crowned German junior champion. The next two years, Bernhard was 6th and 3rd at the German Karting Championship. In 1998 he moved to formula cars as he joined

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

, finishing 6th in both the German series and the Eurocup in 1998. In his last year in open-wheelers, 1999, Bernhard finished 3rd in the German Formula Ford.

Sports cars

For 2000, Bernhard drove in

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche ...

as a UPS Porsche Junior driver, finishing 3rd in the championship. In 2001, he made his

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, where he finished 2nd in the GT class with Randy Pobst and

Christian Menzel Christian Menzel (born 22 June 1971 in Langenfeld (Rheinland)) is a German racecar driver. His career started in 1981 in Karts. Since 1991 he competed in ADAC BMW Formula Junior, later Formula Renault and since 1994 Formula 3. In 1998 he wo ...

, driving for Alex Job Racing. He also made four other ALMS starts, and won the Porsche Carrera Cup championship.

2002

In 2002 he began the season with a class win in the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layo ...

for The Racer's Group. He then finished second overall 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 smalle ...

driving for Alzen Motorsport. The crowning achievement of the year was winning the GT class at 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 ...

, with

Kevin Buckler Kevin Buckler (born c. 1959) is an American race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded Adobe Road Winery and currently owns The Racer's Group, a professional sports car racing team; TRG Motorsports, formerly a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team; and ...

and

Lucas Luhr Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. Early career Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...

. He also finished 3rd in the Carrera Cup, and won his first ALMS race (with

Jörg Bergmeister Jörg Bergmeister (born 13 February 1976, in Leverkusen) is a former racing driver from Germany and an ambassador of Porsche. His late father, Willi Bergmeister, owned a workshop and dealership where Michael Schumacher learned his trade as a c ...

) and finished 4th in the championship.

2003

Bernhard began the season by winning the

outright in a

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

-RS, driving with Buckler, Michael Schrom, and Bergmeister. Bernhard and Bergmeister won 3 ALMS races, including

Petit Le Mans The Petit Le Mans (French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which ...

, and finished second in the championship. He also finished 3rd at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

2004

In 2004, Bernhard again partnered with

in the ALMS. The duo took six wins from nine starts and won the GT class driver's championship. Their successes included class wins at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, both time joined by Sascha Maassen. Bernhard also finished 4th overall and 2nd in class in 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 ...

. He finished on the podium at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the 3rd straight year, finishing in third in a Manthey Racing Porsche.

2005

Bernhard joined Romain Dumas in the ALMS for 2005. They scored four class wins, and Bernhard won four poles, but finished second in the championship. Dumas also finished 2nd in the GT2 class at the

, driving with

and Patrick Long.

2006

In 2006, Bernhard moved to

Penske Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organizati ...

who owned and captained by legendary owner

Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur involved in professional auto racing and a retired professional auto racing driver. He is most famous for his ownership of Team Penske, DJR Team Penske, t ...

and the new Porsche RS Spyder in the LMP2 class of the ALMS, again partnering Dumas. After a frustrating start to the season, Bernhard and Dumas took advantage of the Audi R10's absence from the series to take the overall win at

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regi ...

. This was the first overall win for an LMP2 class car, and the first win for an under-class car since 2003. Bernhard also won the LMP2 class at

(with Sascha Maassen and

Emmanuel Collard Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques. Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Serie ...

), and took four class victories in total and finished 3rd in the championship. He also won the

outright, partnering

, Marcel Tiemann, and Mike Rockenfeller.

2009

Bernhard and Dumas moved to

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 which he ran the new Audi R15 TDI. Along with

Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, ...

, the #3 car finished 17th in the

2009 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: 24 Heures du Mans 2009) was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance racing (motorsport), endurance auto racing, auto race run over 24 hours. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, ...

2010

Along with Dumas and Rockenfeller, Bernhard took the overall win in the

2010 24 Hours of Le Mans The 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''78e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) cars held from 12 to 13 June 2010 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near L ...

. This was the first win for either driver and set records throughout and after the race, including breaking the distance record of ; the car (#9) ran 397 laps and . Bernhard's victory made him the eleventh driver to complete the Triple Crown in endurance racing, with Bernhard also winning not only the 2003 24 Hours of Daytona but also the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring with Penske (also with Dumas but also with Collard). Bernhard partnered Klaus Graf in the Muscle Milk Team CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder to second place at Road America, the seventh round of the 2010 ALMS season.

Racing achievements

* ALMS LMP2 class champion: 2007,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* ALMS GT class champion: 2004 *

GT class winner: 2002 *

Overall winner: 2010,

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 s ...

* 12 Hours of Sebring GT class winner: 2004 * 12 Hours of Sebring Overall winner:

LMP2 class winner: 2006 *

GT class winner: 2003, 2004 *

overall winner: 2003 *

GT class winner: 2002, 2003 *

winner: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 *

Porsche Carrera Cup Germany The Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, also known as Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, between 1986-1989 as Porsche 944 Turbo Cup; is a one-make racing series by Porsche based in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, ...

champion: 2001

Racing record

Career summary

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

^* Season still in progress. ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard, Timo 1981 births Living people People from Homburg, Saarland Racing drivers from Saarland German racing drivers American Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers FIA GT Championship drivers Formula Ford drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Porsche Supercup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Sports car racing team owners 12 Hours of Sebring drivers Team Penske drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Audi Sport drivers Team Joest drivers Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers KCMG drivers Rowe Racing drivers Phoenix Racing drivers