1996 German Formula Three Championship Explained

The 1996 German Formula Three Championship (German: 1996 Deutsche Formel-3-Meisterschaft) was the 22nd edition of the German Formula Three Championship. It commenced on 14 April 1996 and ended on 13 October. Italian driver Jarno Trulli won the title with six wins for the Swiss Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula.^[1]

Teams and drivers

1996 Entry List^[2]
Team		Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Class A
Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	1	Jarno Trulli	Dallara 396	Opel	All
	2	Tim Bergmeister	Dallara 396		1–5
	2	Rui Águas	Dallara 396		6–8
Opel Team BSR	3	Nick Heidfeld	Dallara 395	Opel	All
	4	Marcel Tiemann	Dallara 396		All
	5	Arnd Meier	Dallara 395		All
Marko RSM	6	Rui Águas	Dallara 395	Alfa Romeo	1–2
Marko RSM	7	Oliver Tichy	Dallara 395	Alfa Romeo	1–2
Opel Team GM Motorsport	8	Manuel Gião	Dallara 396	Opel	All
	9	Sascha Bert	Dallara 395		1–7
	10	Steffen Widmann	Dallara 395		All
Josef Kaufmann Racing	11	Wolf Henzler		Opel	All
Abt & Trella Motorsport	14	Tobias Schlesinger	Dallara 395	Opel	7–8
	15	Christian Menzel	Dallara 395		All
	16	Dirk Müller	Dallara 395		2–5
Hofmann Motorsport	14	Gianantonio Pacchioni	Dallara 395	Opel	3–5
	16	Dirk Müller	Dallara 395		6
	17	Emmanuel Clérico	Dallara 395		2–6
Tokmakidis Motorsport	18	Max Wilson	Dallara 395	Opel	1–2
		Rui Águas			3–5
		Tim Bergmeister			6–7
		Jarosław Wierczuk			8
	19	John Barlow	Dallara 395		1
		Markus Friesacher			2–5
		Richard Westbrook			6–8
Parma Motorsport	21	Markus Friesacher	Dallara 396	Alfa Romeo	1
	22	Vincent Vosse	Dallara 396	Alfa Romeo	1–2
	25	Tim Verbergt	Dallara 395	Fiat	6–8
Prema Powerteam	23	André Couto	Dallara 396	Fiat	All
Prema Powerteam	24	Max Wilson	Dallara 395	Fiat	3–6
MB Racing/Autoclub Excelsior	25	Tim Wergebt	Dallara 395	Fiat	1–5
Westwood Racing	30	Klaus Graf	Dallara 395	Toyota	1–4
Class B
TKF Racing	50	Philipp Sager	Dallara 394	Opel	1–7
	51	Dominik Schwager	Dallara 394		1-5
	51	Luciano Crespi	Dallara 394		6–8
IPS Motorsport	52	Johan Stureson	Dallara 394	Opel	All
Franz Wöss Racing	53	Jarosław Wierczuk			1–7
	53	Georg Holzer	Dallara 396	Alfa Romeo	8
	54	Tobias Schlesinger	Dallara 393	Opel	1–5
	54	Christoph Fuchs	Dallara 396	Alfa Romeo	8
	63	Florian Schnitzenbaumer	Dallara 396	Alfa Romeo	8
Divinol Oils	55	Mario Münch	Dallara 394	Opel	All
JB Racing	56	Yves Olivier	Dallara 394	Opel	All
Grand Prix Foundation	60	Dietmar Frischmann	Dallara 393	Fiat	2–3
Ingo Gerstl	65	Ingo Gerstl	Dallara 393	Opel	6

Race calendar and results

The series supported the International Touring Car Championship at seven rounds, with additional round at the . With the exception of round at Magny-Cours in France, all rounds took place on German soil.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	B Class Winner
1	R1	Hockenheimring	13 April	Jarno Trulli	not recorded^[3]	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Dominik Schwager
1	R2	Hockenheimring	14 April	Jarno Trulli	Jarno Trulli	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Dominik Schwager
2	R	Nürburgring	27 April	Jarno Trulli	Arnd Meier	Arnd Meier	Opel Team BSR	Johan Stureson
3	R1	Nürburgring	11 May	Rui Águas	Nick Heidfeld	Dirk Müller	Abt & Trella Motorsport	Yves Olivier
3	R2	Nürburgring	12 May	Dirk Müller	Rui Águas	Marcel Tiemann	Opel Team BSR	Johan Stureson
4	R1	Norisring	22 June	Rui Águas	Marcel Tiemann	Rui Águas	Tokmakidis Motorsport	Dominik Schwager
4	R2	Norisring	23 June	Rui Águas	Rui Águas	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Dominik Schwager
5	R1	Diepholz Airfield Circuit	6 July	Jarno Trulli	Wolf Henzler	Max Wilson	Prema Powerteam	Dominik Schwager
5	R2	Diepholz Airfield Circuit	7 July	Max Wilson	Emmanuel Clérico	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Dominik Schwager
6	R1	Nürburgring	31 August	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Johan Stureson
6	R2	Nürburgring	1 September	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Johan Stureson
7	R1	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	14 September	Jarno Trulli	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Opel Team BSR	Johan Stureson
7	R2	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	15 September	Nick Heidfeld	Nick Heidfeld	Arnd Meier	Opel Team BSR	Yves Olivier
8	R1	Hockenheimring	12 October	Jarno Trulli	Rui Águas	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Johan Stureson
8	R2	Hockenheimring	13 October	Jarno Trulli	Nick Heidfeld	Jarno Trulli	Opel Team KMS Benetton Formula	Johan Stureson

Championship standings

A-Class

Points are awarded as follows:

B-Class

Points are awarded as follows:

Pos	Driver	HOC1		NÜR1	NÜR2		NOR		DIE		NÜR3		MAG		HOC2		Pts
Class A
1	Jarno Trulli	1	1	4	6	5	3	1	3	1	2	2	11	5	1	1	206
2	Arnd Meier	3	Ret	1	2	6	4	Ret	5	2	4	4	2	1	3	6	159
3	Nick Heidfeld	6	Ret	2	4	4	Ret	3	Ret	11	1	1	1	2	17	4	138
4	Marcel Tiemann	2	Ret	3	3	1	2	2	6	8	NC	Ret	12	7	4	8	115
5	Manuel Gião	5	Ret	7	5	11	7	5	7	5	3	3	5	3	11	7	92
6	Rui Águas	14	9	DNS	Ret	7	1	4	9	14	8	7	3	11	2	2	87
7	Christian Menzel	7	4	6	7	2	5	20†	16	9	5	5	16	10	7	3	82
8	Dominik Schwager	4	2	14	14	20†	8	6	8	4							47
9	Steffen Widmann	Ret	10	5	10	12	11	7	DNS	12	7	6	4	4	18	Ret	44
10	Max Wilson	13	5	15	19	Ret	Ret	19†	1	6	17	Ret					34
11	Wolf Henzler	10	3	9	11	Ret	12	8	13	10	12	12	6	Ret	5	Ret	33
12	Dirk Müller			Ret	1	3	16	Ret	18	13	DNS	DNS					32
13	André Couto	Ret	11	8	16	21†	10	12	4	3	15	14	10	17	12	Ret	27
14	Tim Verbergt	12	13	Ret	13	8	9	10	Ret	Ret	14	16	7	6	8	5	27
15	Emmanuel Clérico			12	8	18†	15†	9	2	7	DNS	DNS					24
16	Johan Stureson	Ret	17	11	21	10	13	DNS	15	18	6	9	8	Ret	9	9	16
17	Tim Bergmeister	11	6	Ret	15	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNS	DNS	9	8	14	13			11
18	Sascha Bert	15	8	10	Ret	9	14	11	14	16	13	10	9	Ret			9
19	Oliver Tichy	8	7	DNS													7
20	Yves Olivier	16	16	20	9	19†	Ret	18	17	19	10	Ret	13	8	13	10	7
21	Richard Westbrook										11	11	17	12	6	13†	6
22	Gianantonio Pacchioni				12	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret							6
23	Luciano Crespi										18	15	19	9	10	Ret	3
24	Klaus Graf	9	14	13	18	DNS	Ret	14									2
25	Markus Friesacher	Ret	18	18	20	16	17	16	10	15							1
26	Mario Münch	18	12	16	17	14	18	13	11	Ret	16	13	19	Ret	DSQ	DSQ	0
27	Florian Schnitzenbaumer														14	11	0
28	Tobias Schlesinger	Ret	19	17	Ret	13	19†	15	12	17			15	14	Ret	Ret	0
29	Georg Holzer														19†	12	0
30	Philipp Sager	21†	15	22	23	15	Ret	17	Ret	20	19	17	20	15			0
31	Jarosław Wierczuk	17	Ret	19	24†	22†	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	21	20	18	Ret	16	15	Ret	0
32	Dietmar Frischmann			21	22	17											0
33	Christoph Fuchs														17	Ret	0
34	Vincent Vosse	19	20	23													0
35	Ingo Gerstl										21	19					0
36	John Barlow	20	21														0
Class B
1	Johan Stureson	Ret	17	11	21	10	13	DNS	15	18	6	9	8	Ret	9	9	81
2	Dominik Schwager	4	2	14	14	20†	8	6	8	4							66
3	Yves Olivier	16	16	20	9	19†	Ret	18	17	19	10	Ret	13	8	13	10	58
4	Mario Münch	18	12	16	17	14	18	13	11	Ret	16	13	19	Ret	DSQ	DSQ	50
5	Tobias Schlesinger	Ret	19	17	Ret	13	19†	15	12	17			15	14	Ret	Ret	27
6	Philipp Sager	21†	15	22	23	15	Ret	17	Ret	20	19	17	20	15			26
7	Luciano Crespi										18	15	19	9	10	Ret	26
8	Jarosław Wierczuk	17	Ret	19	24†	22†	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	21	20	18	Ret	16	15	Ret	13
9	Florian Schnitzenbaumer														14	11	7
10	Georg Holzer														19†	12	4
11	Dietmar Frischmann			21	22	17											4
12	Christoph Fuchs														17	Ret	2
13	Ingo Gerstl										21	19					1
Pos	Driver	HOC1		NÜR1	NÜR2		NOR		DIE		NÜR3		MAG		HOC2		Pts

Bold - Pole
Italics - Fastest Lap

† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Notes and References

News: 30 Years of Formula 3 history. formel3.de. German Formula Three Championship. 2010-04-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20100429020017/http://www.formel3.de/historie-30jahre.php?PHPSESSID=3e9591d1364fd87ae5914d521d1b6b01. 29 April 2010. dead.
Web site: Fotos 1996 Deutsche Formel 3 Meisterschaft. formel3guide.com. German. 2010-04-09.
News: RENNSPORTFESTIVAL – 1.LAUF DM. formel3guide.com. German. 2010-04-08. 24 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924014648/http://www.formel3guide.com/images/ergebnisse/1996-hockenheim2.pdf. dead.