Joachim Winkelhock Explained

Joachim Winkelhock

Nationality:

German

Birth Date:

24 October 1960

Birth Place:

Waiblingen, West Germany

Relatives:

Manfred Winkelhock (brother)
Thomas Winkelhock (brother)
Markus Winkelhock (nephew)

Module:

Child:	yes
Team(S):	AGS
Races:	7 (0 starts)
Championships:	0
Wins:	0
Podiums:	0
Points:	0
Poles:	0
Fastest Laps:	0
First Race:	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last Race:	1989 French Grand Prix

Joachim Winkelhock (born 24 October 1960) is a German motor racing driver.

The younger brother of the late Manfred Winkelhock, Winkelhock was born in Waiblingen, near Stuttgart. The youngest brother, Thomas Winkelhock, and Manfred's son Markus Winkelhock are also racing drivers.

Career

Winkelhock started in the one-make Renault 5 Cup in 1979 but it would be almost a decade before he found his first major success, by winning the 1988 German Formula Three Championship as well as that year's F3 European Cup (at the unusually late age of 28). He progressed the following year to Formula One with the small French AGS team, who paired him with his future touring car rival Gabriele Tarquini; Winklehock's brief time in F1 was unsuccessful, failing to pre-qualify the car on 7 occasions. His reputation however remained strong enough that he was subsequently hired by BMW Motorsport for German's premier touring car racing series the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, first for the Bigazzi and then Schnitzer teams. He finished 6th, 7th and 8th in the final standings and scored three wins in total during his three years in the series, as well as winning the 1990 and 1991 24 Hours of Nürburgring races for BMW and Schnitzer.

When BMW exited the DTM at the end of 1992 Winkelhock moved with the manufacturer and Schnitzer to the British Touring Car Championship, where he and teammate Steve Soper dominated the first half of the 1993 season. The pair took 7 wins from the first 8 rounds (Winklehock four, Soper three). Although the second half of the year was more challenging for Winkelhock, seeing him earn only one more win, he was still eventually crowned champion. During his time in Britain, he was also commonly known as Smokin' Jo for his cigarette smoking habit. Winkelhock's next win was the 1994 Asia Pacific Touring Car Championship, and in 1995 he won the German Supertouring Championship (STW). He also triumphed in the 1995 Spa 24 Hours, and the 1994 and 1998 Macau Grand Prix's Guia touring car races. His last success for BMW came at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won driving the BMW V12 LMR prototype run by Schnitzer Motorsport.^[1]

In 2000, Winkelhock joined Opel in the new Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (a revived version of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, which had been defunct since 1995). In his first season in the new DTM Winkelhock was competitive, winning at the Norisring and finishing 5th in the final standings. However, the collapse in Opel's fortunes in DTM after 2000 saw a consequent decline in Winkelhock's fortunes and after a 2003 season in which he only scored a single point, he announced his retirement from motor racing at the age of 43.^[2]

He runs his family's Waiblingen-based truck-crane and towing business, occasionally getting personally involved in recovering crashed trucks.^[3]

A special edition of the BMW M5 has been made in honor of Joachim Winkelhock.

A 2005 poll run by Motor Sport magazine voted Winkelhock the 16th greatest touring car driver ever.^[4]