Dieter Quester (born 30 May 1939 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) is an active

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

driver from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Dieter has participated in 53 24-Hour Races. He competed in a single

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, ...

race in which he finished ninth. Quester, Dieter, BMW F2 1969-08-01 C

Starting with motorboats in the 1950s, he became part of the

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 ...

team of BMW which intended to take part in the

1969 German Grand Prix The 1969 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 3 August 1969. It was race 7 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Twelve Formula Two ...

. Teammate

Gerhard Mitter Gerhard Karl Mitter (30 August 1935 – 1 August 1969) was a German Formula One and sportscar driver. Early life and career Mitter was born in Schönlinde (Krásná Lípa) in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg ...

was killed at 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 ...

while practising with the ''BMW 269'', though. As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Quester and

Hubert Hahne Hubert Hahne (28 March 1935 – 24 April 2019) was a racing driver from Germany. He was the older brother of Armin Hahne, as well as the uncle of Jörg van Ommen. Career He participated in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, two of ...

withdrew from the race, as did Mitter's teammate at Porsche,

Hans Herrmann Hans Herrmann (born 23 February 1928) is a retired Formula One and sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany. In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 August 1953. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a ...

. Quester participated in his home 1974 Austrian Grand Prix on 18 August 1974. He out-qualified his three team mates at Surtees and finished 9th ahead of Hans-Joachim Stuck and double World Champion

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

in the race, but scored no championship points. Quester then focused again on

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World T ...

to drive a BMW 3.0 CSL for

Schnitzer Motorsport Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team has operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and has remarkable results in touring car and sports car rac ...

. Quester had already won the 1973

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 ...

. Later racing in the DTM, he once slid on the roof of his

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

over the start/finish line of the

AVUS The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern p ...

for a 3rd place. His career was still active at age 70, sponsored by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

. On 15 January 2006 he won the 24 Hours race at the

Dubai Autodrome The Dubai Autodrome is an FIA sanctioned motorsports circuit located in Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The architects of the project were Populous and the circuit was designed by Clive Bowen of Apex Circuit Design. Opened in October ...

on a

together with Hans-Joachim Stuck,

Philipp Peter Philipp Peter (born 6 April 1969 in Vienna) is a race car driver from Austria. He started in junior formula cars with the highlight winning the Austria Formula 3 Cup in 1992. He represented Austria in the 1990 EFDA Nations Cup and also raced in ...

and

Toto Wolff Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff (, born 12 January 1972) is an Austrian billionaire motorsport executive, investor, and former racing driver. He holds a 33% stake in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and is Team Principal and CEO of the team. Wo ...

. Stuck and Quester returned in 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 ...

, but their BMW was destroyed in a crash at night that involved an

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

and seven cars. During the weekend of 9–10 September 2006, he won the Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone in a Duller Motorsport BMW M Roadster#Z4 M Roadster (2006–2008), and on 14 January 2007 he again won the 24 Hours race at the

in the Duller Motorsport

BMW Z4 (E85) The first generation of the BMW Z4 consists of the BMW E85 (roadster version) and BMW E86 (coupe version) sports cars. The E85/E86 generation was produced from 2002 to 2008. The E85/E86 replaced the Z3 and is the third model in the BMW Z Ser ...

. In September 2007 he and Duller won the 24 Hours of Silverstone in the Duller

, by a margin of 30 laps. Quester took part in his final race at the HSR Classic Daytona in November 2018 at the age of 79. Dieter Quester

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 Formula One results

(

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

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

(

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

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

(

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

Complete FIA GT Championship results

(

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

Britcar 24 Hour results

References

External links

Biography at F1 Rejects
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060522051555/http://bmw-motorsport.com/ms/en/fascination/history/bmw_touring/heroes/index.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20060627021546/http://www.john-w.de/bmwf2/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Quester, Dieter Austrian racing drivers Austrian Formula One drivers BMW (1950s–60s) Formula One drivers Surtees Formula One drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers Austrian motorboat racers 1939 births Living people 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Sportspeople from Vienna World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Britcar 24-hour drivers Oreca drivers BMW M drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers