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Walter Röhrl
Walter Roehrl 2012.jpg
Röhrl at Retro Classics Stuttgart, Germany 2012-03-23
Personal information
Nationality Germany German
Born (1947-03-07) 7 March 1947 (age 78)
Regensburg, Germany
World Rally Championship record
Active years 1973–1987
Co-driver Germany Jochen Berger
Sweden Claes Billstam
Germany Willi-Peter Pitz
Germany Christian Geistdörfer
United Kingdom Phil Short
Teams Porsche, Fiat, Opel, Lancia, Audi
Rallies 75
Championships 2 (1980, 1982)
Rally wins 14
Podiums 31
Stage wins 420
Total points 494
First rally 1973 Monte Carlo Rally
First win 1975 Acropolis Rally
Last win 1985 San Remo Rally
Last rally 1987 Acropolis Rally

Walter Röhrl (German pronunciation: [ˈvaltɐ ˈʁøːɐ̯l]; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl has scored 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements including winning the World Rally Championship twice: in 1980 in a Fiat Abarth and in 1982 while driving for Opel. He has also competed in other forms of motorsport, such as endurance racing, winning in the GTP +3.0 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981 with the Porsche System team. Röhrl also set the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record in 1987 driving an Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2. He is often regarded as one of the greatest rally drivers of all time.

Career

Röhrl grew up as the youngest of three children of a stonemason in Regensburg, Bavaria, near Munich. His parents separated when he was ten years old. From then on he lived with his mother. After leaving school he completed a commercial education at Bishop's Ordinariate Regensburg. At the age of 16, Röhrl began working for the commercial director of a company that legally represented the Bishop of Regensburg along with six further Bishops in Bavaria, and skied in his spare time. In time he became a qualified ski instructor and a keen driver, and became the chauffeur to the commercial director, covering up to 120,000 kilometres annually. Some unqualified reports have stated he was once the Bishop's own driver, but this has been acknowledged as untrue. Having also now been active in sports like skiing, Röhrl was invited to drive his first rally in 1968.

Röhrl was a World Rally Championship favourite throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times with four different marques. His co-driver for many years was Christian Geistdörfer. His Fiat 131 Abarth carried him to the 1980 title, clinched with his victory in that year's San Remo rally, but it was arguably his equivalent success in 1982 that impressed most of all, with Röhrl fending off audacious four-wheel drive opposition, led by Audi's resurgent Michèle Mouton, to take the title, by virtue of consistency, in his increasingly outmoded rear-drive Opel Ascona 400. It was also during this time that he won the African Rally Championship, in 1982. However, shortly after winning the championship he was fired from the team by team manager Tony Fall because he disliked competing in the RAC rally (the rally he had little success in). Röhrl had already had severe arguments with Tony Fall about publicity activities for the team sponsor, tobacco company Rothmans. Röhrl, as a strict nonsmoker, simply refused to do any filming for Rothmans publicity spots, claiming that he had been hired as a driver, not an actor, and that he could not see any sense in promoting tobacco as a nonsmoker anyway.

Audi S1 Pikes Peak
Audi S1 Pikes Peak

In 1983, he joined Lancia to pilot the new, rear-wheel drive Lancia 037, before finally changing his machinery, in 1984, to the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro, an automobile actually produced in his home state of Bavaria.

In 1987 Röhrl set up a new record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for being the first driver to win the 12.42 miles (19.99 km) long mountain track to the Pikes Peak in less than 11 minutes. In his 600 hp (440 kW) Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 he did the famed American hillclimb in 10 minutes and 47.850 seconds to reach Pikes Peak on the road which at that time was mainly covered with gravel.

Despite being selective in his choice of top-level events (he declined to do the famed 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland due to his dislike of jumps and cars getting airborne, he did the RAC Rally in Britain only once more after 1979 and he only did the Swedish Rally twice, despite finishing third in 1982), albeit during a time when this was a less unusual occurrence for top-line drivers in the championship, Röhrl still scored 14 WRC victories in his career.

Röhrl was also successful in road racing events, and was called "Genius on Wheels" by Niki Lauda. In the 1992 24 Hours Nürburgring race which saw fog and heavy rain in the night, he hardly slowed down, anticipating the corners by timing. The race was nevertheless interrupted for hours.

In Italy, he was elected "Rallye driver of the century". In France he was elected "Rallye driver of the millennium" in November 2000. A jury out of 100 worldwide motorsports experts meeting in Italy elected him "Best Rallye driver ever".

In recent years, he has been retained as the senior test driver for Porsche road cars, famously setting quick laptimes for them testing round the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, for example with the Porsche Carrera GT.

Röhrl was expected to make his competitive return to the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2010 at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. However, he was forced to withdraw from the event due to a back injury. It was to be his first 24-hour race in 17 years, since his last start in 1993. In 2011, Röhrl was inducted into the Rally Hall of Fame along with Hannu Mikkola and in July 2016 was inducted into Germany's Sports Hall of Fame.

Complete WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 WDC Points
1973 Irmscher Tuning Opel Commodore GS/E MON
45		 SWE POR KEN MOR GRE POL FIN N/A N/A
Opel Ascona AUT
Ret		 ITA USA GBR
Ret		 FRA
1974 Opel Euro Händler Team Opel Ascona MON
C		 SWE
C		 POR
Ret		 KEN GRE
C		 FIN ITA CAN USA GBR
5		 FRA N/A N/A
1975 Opel Euro Händler Team Opel Ascona MON
Ret		 SWE KEN GRE
1		 MOR
Ret		 POR
Ret		 FIN N/A N/A
Opel Kadett GT/E ITA
Ret		 FRA GBR
Ret
1976 Opel Euro Händler Team Opel Kadett GT/E MON
4		 SWE POR
Ret		 KEN
Ret		 GRE MOR FIN ITA
Ret		 FRA
Ret		 GBR
Ret		 N/A N/A
1977 Opel Euro Händler Team Opel Kadett GT/E MON
Ret		 SWE POR KEN NZL GRE
Ret		 FIN GBR
Ret		 NC 0
Fiat S.p.A. Fiat 131 Abarth CAN
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 FRA
1978 Alitalia Fiat Fiat 131 Abarth MON
4		 SWE KEN POR
Ret		 GRE
1		 FIN CAN
1		 ITA
Ret		 CIV FRA GBR
6		 6th 13
1979 Alitalia Fiat Fiat 131 Abarth MON
Ret		 SWE POR KEN
8		 GRE NZL FIN CAN ITA
2		 FRA GBR
8		 CIV 9th 21
1980 Fiat Italia Fiat 131 Abarth MON
1		 SWE POR
1		 KEN GRE
5		 ARG
1		 FIN NZL
2		 FRA
2		 GBR CIV 1st 118
Jolly Club ITA
1
1981 Eminence Porsche 911 SC MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE ARG BRA FIN ITA
Ret		 CIV GBR NC 0
1982 Rothmans Opel Rally Team Opel Ascona 400 MON
1		 SWE
3		 POR
Ret		 KEN
2		 FRA
4		 GRE
2		 NZL
3		 BRA
2		 FIN ITA
3		 CIV
1		 GBR 1st 109
1983 Martini Racing Lancia 037 Rally MON
1		 SWE POR
3		 KEN FRA
2		 GRE
1		 NZL
1		 ARG FIN ITA
2		 CIV GBR 2nd 102
1984 Audi Sport Audi Quattro A2 MON
1		 SWE POR
6		 KEN NZL
Ret		 ARG FIN 11th 26
Audi Sport Quattro FRA
Ret		 GRE
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 CIV GBR
1985 Audi Sport Audi Sport Quattro MON
2		 SWE
Ret		 POR
3		 KEN FRA
Ret		 GRE
Ret		 NZL
3		 ARG FIN 3rd 59
Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 ITA
1		 CIV GBR
Ret
1986 Audi Sport Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 MON
4		 SWE POR
Ret		 KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR USA 22nd 10
1987 Audi Sport Audi 200 Quattro MON
3		 SWE POR KEN
2		 FRA GRE
Ret		 USA NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR 11th 27

WRC victories

1985 Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2
Röhrl's final WRC victory came at the wheel of an Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 at the 1985 Rallye Sanremo. The car was paraded at the Ignition Festival of Motoring in 2017.
 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Greece Acropolis Rally 1975 Germany Jochen Berger Opel Ascona
2 Greece Acropolis Rally 1978 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
3 Canada Critérium du Québec 1978 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
4 Monaco Rally Monte Carlo 1980 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
5 Portugal Rally Portugal 1980 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
6 Argentina Rally Argentina 1980 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
7 Italy Rally Sanremo 1980 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Fiat 131 Abarth
8 Monaco Rally Monte Carlo 1982 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Opel Ascona 400
9 Ivory Coast Rallye Côte d'Ivoire 1982 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Opel Ascona 400
10 Monaco Rally Monte Carlo 1983 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally
11 Greece Acropolis Rally 1983 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally
12 New Zealand Rally New Zealand 1983 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Lancia 037 Rally
13 Monaco Rally Monte Carlo 1984 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Audi Quattro A2
14 Italy Rally Sanremo 1985 Germany Christian Geistdörfer Audi Quattro Sport S1

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1981 Germany Porsche System Germany Jürgen Barth Porsche 944 LM GTP +3.0 323 7 1st
1993 Germany Le Mans Porsche Team United States Hurley Haywood
Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck		 Porsche 911 Turbo S LM-GT GT 79 DNF DNF

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Walter Röhrl para niños

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