Karl Wendlinger

20/12/1968

Record updated 12-Mar-07

Austrian motor racing driver. He gained prominence when he won the 1989 German Formula 3 Championship, beating stern rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher by a single point. The trio were signed to the Mercedes sports car junior team, and Karl also raced in Formula 3000. Wendlinger continued Formula 3000 and sports cars before making his F1 debut with the Leyton House team. After steady progress, Wendlinger looked to have a good 1994 season, alongside Frentzen. But in Monaco that year he suffered a bad crash, knocking him into a coma. He eventually came out of it, but upon his return to Sauber the next year he was clearly not the same driver, and after a couple of further races in 1995 his F1 career was over. Since then, he has competed successfully in sports cars and touring cars, winning the FIA GT championship (with Olivier Beretta) in 1999. After a spell racing for Abt Audi in DTM in 2002 and 2003 he currently races for JMB Racing in FIA GT again, driving a Maserati MC12 (with Andrea Bertolini).

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