TOM KRISTENSEN

:''For the poet, see Tom Kristensen (poet).''
'Tom Kristensen' (born 7th July 1967 in Hobro) is a Danish racing driver. He has won many championships in auto racing but his most famous achievement is being the first person to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans seven times, six of which have been consecutive. In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing team, driving a Tom Walkinshaw Racing-designed and Porsche-powered WSC95, after being a late inclusion in the team following Davy Jones' accident that eventually ruled him out of the race.
Tom's career began in 1984, winning several karting titles. He raced in Japan in the early 90s, concurrently in Formula 3 and Touring Cars. He was Japanese Formula 3 champion in 1993, and runner-up in JTCC in 1992 and 1994. He was 6th in Formula 3000 in both 1996 and 1997, and test driver for Tyrrell in their final Formula One season in 1998, and for Michelin as they prepared their F1 tyres using an older Williams car in 2000. He was 3rd in the STW Cup in Germany in 1999, 7th in the British Touring Car Championship in 2000, and winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring in both those years.
On April 22, 2007, Tom Kristensen was involved in an accident while racing on the Hockenheimring race course in Hockenheim, Germany^[1]. The crash resulted in a long break from training for Kristensen, and his participation in the 2007 Le Mans race was in jeopardy. However, Kristensen recouperated quickly, and was cleared by the Le Mans doctors to start the race. It was reported, that a new type of collar may have prevented him suffering a broken neck in the crash.^[2].

Contents

24 Hours of Le Mans

Notes

External links

24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2000, 2001, and 2002 he won the 24 Hours at Le Mans race with the powerful Audi R8 along with Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, becoming the first three drivers since Jacky Ickx in 1977 to win the race on three straight occasions. In 2003, he won the race with Bentley. In 2004, he equaled Ickx's record of six Le Mans victories in Team Goh's Audi R8. 2005 saw Kristensen win a record seventh time with an American R8 entry. The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen didn't finish the 2007 race following Capello's crash. The car was leading the race with 4 laps at the time of the accident.

Notes

1. http://politiken.dk/sport/article288794.ece
2. http://politiken.dk/sport/article288849.ece

External links

★ Official Tom kristensen Website