Volker Weidler

Template:Short description Template:BLP sources Template:Stack Volker Hermann Weidler (born 18 March 1962) is a retired racing driver from Germany, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991.

Career

Formula racing

In 1985, he became German Formula Three champion.

In the 1989 Formula One season, Weidler entered 10 Formula One Grands Prix, racing for the Rial team, but failed to qualify the uncompetitive car on every occasion.

After Formula One, he moved to Japan and raced in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. He often fought over the title with Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Ross Cheever and others in the Japanese Formula 3000, and became popular in Japan.

GT / Sportscars

In 1991, Weidler teamed with Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot to win Le Mans behind the wheel of the Wankel engine-powered Mazda 787B, marking also the first win of the legendary French race by both a Japanese manufacturer and engine supplier. This Wankel engine-powered car was noted for being very loud.

Possibly related to the hours spent in the noisy Mazda,Template:Citation needed Weidler began to suffer from an ear problem (sensorineural hearing loss) which eventually forced him to retire prematurely from the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship during the 1992 season though Weidler was leading the championship at that time.

When Weidler left the Japanese team, Nova Engineering, he recommended Heinz-Harald Frentzen as his successor.

Post-racing career

Weidler now works as a managing director for Weidler, a building cleaning company owned by his family, based in Weinheim.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1986	Bromley Motorsport with Rial	Ralt RT20	Cosworth	SIL Template:Small	VAL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	IMO	MUG Template:Small	PER Template:Small	ÖST Template:Small	BIR	BUG	JAR	NC	0
1988	Onyx Race Engineering	March 88B	Cosworth	JER Template:Small	VAL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small	PER Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	BIR Template:Small	BUG Template:Small	ZOL Template:Small	DIJ Template:Small	15th	5
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Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Template:Tooltip	Pts
Template:F1	Rial Racing	Rial ARC2	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	BRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	USA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0
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Complete Japanese Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1990	Team Take One	SUZ Ret	FSW Ret	MIN 11	SUZ 5	SUG 21	FSW 3	FSW Ret	SUZ 20	FSW 1	SUZ DSQ		6th	15
1991	Team Nova	SUZ 15	AUT DNQ	FSW 19	MIN 3	SUZ 3	SUG 8	FSW 3	SUZ 10	FSW C	SUZ 3	FSW 1	3rd	25
1992	Team Nova	SUZ 3	FSW Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 1	AUT 3	SUG 1	FSW	FSW	SUZ	FSW	FSW	4th	26
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Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Template:Flagicon Kris Nissen Template:Flagicon Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	C1	6	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd	Template:Flagicon Yojiro Terada Template:Flagicon Marc Duez	Mazda 767	GTP	339	12th	3rd
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Template:Flagicon Bertrand Gachot Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert	Mazda 787	GTP	148	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert Template:Flagicon Bertrand Gachot	Mazda 787B	C2	362	1st	1st
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Template:Flagicon Oreca	Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert Template:Flagicon Bertrand Gachot Template:Flagicon Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda MXR-01	C1	336	4th	4th
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References

Footnotes

Sources

• Profile at F1 Rejects
• Template:DriverDB driver