BERND SCHNEIDER (RACECAR DRIVER)

'Bernd Schneider' (born July 20, 1964) is a champion touring car driver from Germany.

Contents

Career

Early years

Single seater racing

DTM championships

Personal

Complete Formula One results

External links

Career

Early years

Born in St. Ingbert, Schneider was named after legendary driver Bernd Rosemeyer, winner of the 1936 European Drivers Championship. Introduced to karting at an early age, he displayed an obvious talent for racing. After several years in the junior kart series, Schneider won the 1980 German Kart championship. Two years later, he would win the 1982 European Kart championship with the national team. In 1983, he won the African kart championship.

Single seater racing

The next few years, Schneider would race in the various Formula Ford series in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In 1986, he joined the German Formula Three circuit, winning the title the following year in 1987. This brought him to the attention of Erich Zakowski, who signed Schneider to drive for his Formula One team Zakspeed in and . However, the small German-based squad did little to make an impression on the F1 circuit, with Schneider only able to qualify for nine races. Schneider also briefly drove for Arrows, before racing Porsche sports cars in the early 1990s for Joest Racing, in the World Sportscar Championship and races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

DTM championships

In 1992, Schneider moved to the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), driving for AMG-Mercedes. Finishing third his first season, he has since been a regular Mercedes driver. In 1995, he won his first DTM championship, piloting an AMG C-Class.
In the years of the DTM's absence, Schneider raced the works Mercedes CLK GTR cars in the FIA GT Championship, winning the title in 1997 after winning six races. In 1998, now with the CLK-LM variant, although winning five races, he lost the title to teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta. He was also a Mercedes works driver in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998 and 1999.

The DTM returned in 2000 with silhouette bodies and V8 engines, and Schneider took the championship crown three of the first four years (2000, 2001, and 2003) in an AMG CLK-Class; he was runner up in 2002. Still driving for AMG, Schneider has won a record four championships; in 2005, he was teammates with (among others) former F1 champion Mika Häkkinen, and in 2006 won his fifth championship title.

Personal

Schneider lives in Monte Carlo with his girlfriend Svenja and their daughter Lilly-Sophie. He also has children Lisa-Marie and Luca Maximilian with his ex-wife Nicole. Schneider still enjoys karting.

Complete Formula One results

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Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1988	West Zakspeed Racing	Zakspeed 881	Zakspeed Straight-4	BRA DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON DNQ	MEX Ret	CAN DNQ	USA DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ	GER 12	HUN DNQ	BEL 13	ITA Ret	POR DNQ	ESP DNQ	JPN Ret	AUS DNQ	-	0
1989	West Zakspeed Racing	Zakspeed 891	Yamaha V8	BRA Ret	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	ITA DNPQ	POR DNPQ	ESP DNPQ	JPN Ret	AUS DNPQ	-	0
1990	Footwork Arrows Racing	Arrows A11	Cosworth V8	USA 12	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR				-	0
		Arrows A11B															ESP DNQ	JPN	AUS

External links

★ Bernd Schneider homepage