Tom Kristensen Ends Unique Professional Career

As some in F-Chat know, I've had the privilege of knowing Tom Kristensen dating
to his driver audition test for the Alumax/Bettenhausen CART team at Sebring in 1997
and closely followed his career ever since.

Tom is a unique talent, very open and accessible, always with a smile and a joke. He takes
over a race in a way not seen since Mario Andretti but at the same time, he is able to take
in the whole scene.

We knew this day was coming obviously but it still comes as a bit of a shock. All the best
to Tom K, the best endurance sports car driver of all time.

Audi factory driver Tom Kristensen ends unique professional career

• Le Mans record winner to become representative and partner of Audi
• Last race on November 30 in WEC finale in Brazil
• Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Ullrich: “We’re happy that Tom Kristensen has been and continues to be an ‘Audian.’”

One of the really big names in sports is retiring: Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen will contest his last race as a professional race driver in São Paulo (Brazil) at the end of November. The 47-year-old Dane will be retained by the brand with the four rings as a representative and partner of Audi Sport.

“Naturally, the retirement of a remarkable personality like Tom Kristensen is a great loss for Audi Sport Team Joest and the entire endurance racing scene,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We can understand his decision to quit at the pinnacle of his career. He’s the last member of the generation that Audi began with in prototype racing. Tom has been competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) as the reigning World Champion this year and shown that he’s still one of the world’s fastest and best sports car drivers. We’ll miss him as a driver but he’s going to continue to support us with his wealth of experience and his personality. We’re happy that Tom Kristensen has been and will continue to be an ‘Audian’ with his heart and soul.”

“I’ve had the privilege of driving for the best team and the world’s coolest automobile manufacturer for 15 years,” emphasizes Tom Kristensen. “I’ve had great team-mates and worked together with fantastic people. With Audi, I’ve been able to win many titles and numerous races as well as experiencing some unforgettable, emotional moments. My string of victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours would not have been possible without Audi. Leaving this team as a driver is hard for me. But the day had to come at one time or another. I can only thank Audi and the entire staff for the great time I’ve had and look forward to my new tasks for the brand and the team of Audi Sport.”

Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich got the Dane to join Audi at the end of 1999. Together with Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, Tom Kristensen, in the 12-hour race at Sebring (USA) in March of 2000, achieved Audi’s first victory in a sports car race, plus the brand’s first victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June of 2000. In the Audi R8, the trio Biela/Pirro/Kristensen was the first driver team in history to win the world’s most famous endurance race three times in succession.

With Bentley and two Audi customer teams, Kristensen, from 2003 to 2005, celebrated three more triumphs at Le Mans, marking six consecutive wins – the iconic endurance race had never before seen such a string of victories. In 2008 and 2013, the Dane took two more victories, in the new Audi R10 TDI and the Audi R18 e-tron quattro. With a track record of nine victories in total, Tom Kristensen is the most successful Le Mans driver of all time. Seven of these wins he celebrated with Audi.

In 2002, Kristensen won the American Le Mans Series in the Audi R8. And in the DTM the Dane showed his class as well. With nine pole positions, four race victories and 18 podium places, he was one of the most successful and best drivers of the Audi A4 DTM from 2004 to 2009. However, the DTM, at the beginning of 2007, was also the series in which he had the most severe accident in his career that kept him from racing for several weeks.

Kristensen owed his ability to make a quick comeback to his outstanding fitness back then. The Dane is still a role model in this respect and will increasingly support Audi Sport in this area in the future.

His last race as a professional race driver will be the finale of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Brazil on November 30. Tom Kristensen will be tackling it in the car bearing the number that fits him best: car number ‘1.’

 

Unfortunately, Tom spent a good deal of time (five years) racing for Toyota in Japan alongside
Villeneuve and Irvine with the promise that when Toyota went to F-1, he would be their lead driver.
When that failed to materialize, Tom then tried out for the Bettenhausen ride at the driver audition
test at Sebring with McNish, Muller and Carpentier.

Even though Tom set the fastest time (by .4) over the other drivers and was .3 faster than Johansson's
time in his last Sebring test, Carpentier was selected for the ride.

Soon after though, Tom got the call from Joest to step into the TWR Porsche ride at Le Mans with Alboreto
and Johansson. Despite having never driven at Le Mans or testing the car, Tom set the three fastest laps of
the race, going on to win and being named "Man of the Race" by attending media.

Tom also won in his first attempt at the 1999 12 Hours of Sebring in the BMW LMR V12 teamed
with Lehto and Muller. Likewise, his famous final stint was historic in that he held off vastly more
experienced Sebring driver James Weaver in the final minutes for the closest (then) non-staged
victory in Sebring history, 9 seconds.

The dye was cast and even though some F-1 and CART rides were possible as late as 1999,
Tom said, "My birth certificate says the wrong date and my passport says the wrong country".

When Michelin returned to F-1, Tom was their official test driver driving the Williams and
Jaguar cars. He received high notices from the engineers of both teams as he not only never
put a wheel wrong after tens of thousands of kilometers testing but gave the teams excellent
feedback.

After the Michelin tests were complete, team engineers claimed Tom to be the best driver they'd
ever worked with and these were guys who had worked with the likes of Mansell, Prost, Senna, etc.

Tom's best shot at F-1 was perhaps after Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone. The word
went out that he was on top of Todt's short list to take over the ride. But, Irvine, who was always slower
than Tom while they were team mates for Toyota in Japan, blocked that and Ferrari opted for Salo instead.

BHW

 

Yeah, we tried that with CART teams and it didn't really work.

When teams like Walker and Rahal showed interest, Walker told us that we'd need to bring
$4M to get a look-in. Rahal had Shell as a sponsor and they wanted a driver with "Indy
500 winner" on his CV so they went with Kenny Brack.

There were other issues at play in F-1 but fortunately, Audi called and the rest is history.

BHW

 

Hi Rob, Tom is 47 now.

While I think he could race at this level well into his 50s as he is in awesome shape proven by
the 24 hour mountain bike race he did earlier this year, it is a young mans game.

I believe a lot of it is down to McNish's retirement at the end of last year and the loss
of Alboreto which struck close to home. Tom has nothing left to prove.

He has Hanne and the kids at home, etc. Don't think his pace has fallen off as he showed at
Le Mans this year when he put the Audi at the front of the field until being let down by a mechanical
issue which set the team back.

I believe he has a life long contact with Audi and so while he won't be driving, we'll
see him in the paddocks as we do McNish, Pirro, Biela, Werner, etc. and likely making
appearances at vintage/historic events such as Goodwood.

BHW

 

Andre Lotterer is the logical heir to the throne but a ways to go before he
gets to nine victories. But, there is a lot of respect for Lotterer in the team.

It's early days but all records are made to be broken. Before Tom came along,
no one would even conceive of Jacky Ickx' six victories at Le Mans being broken.

Of course, a lot depends on which manufacturer emerges in the future.

BHW

 

I think too that Tom achieving the one title that he did not have on his CV, the 2013
WEC World Championship rounded out his career.

In the interview I did with him at Sebring in 2013, I made an allusion to this when asking
if the winning the WEC World Championship would round out his CV and his response was an
enthusiastic "Yes!".

Tom Kristensen - All Time Winner at the 12h of Sebring, 24h of Le Mans: Anamera

BHW

 

Tom is still doing the ROC at Barbados as well.

BHW

 

From Audi Sport...

You announced the end of your professional career at a press conference on Wednesday and appeared to be very relaxed about it. How easy was it for you to take this step?

I’ve had a feeling inside that kept getting stronger in recent months. I felt that the right point in time to end my career had come. I’m very happy about and proud of what I’ve achieved. And I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to work for outstanding teams and together with great team-mates. Obviously, this is a big step now but I’ve always followed my intuition and it won’t mislead me now either. Allan McNish and Dindo Capello have confirmed to me how difficult it is to make a decision like this but at the same time I’m happy and will no doubt be able to enjoy my free time.

Have you already digested the fact that your career will be over shortly, in just a week from now, after the finale of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)?

Of course it’s not easy to really fathom the end of my career and I’m no doubt going to miss the fact that I won’t regularly be sitting in a race car anymore. But to me it was important to make this decision as long as I was still ahead of the power curve. I’m going to continue to contest a few races here and there in the future, such as the Race of Champions or some historic events. I’m also very much looking forward to my new role at Audi and to having more time for family and friends. I’ve had 35 near-perfect years in motorsport but I’m sure that there are a few other great things in life.

What were the most emotional responses you received?

It was incredible to see the tremendous amount of positive feedback and all the messages were very sympathetic. The news about my retirement on my Facebook page resulted in more than 45,000 ‘Likes’ and 3,500 direct comments. I owe a great debt of gratitude to many people, particularly my fans. I’ve received a flood of statements that deeply touched me – from the school class of my son Oswald, to Jacky Ickx and current race driver colleagues, through to politicians and members of the royal family.

Year after year, thousands of your fellow Danes have been flocking to Le Mans to see you. There’s even been a dedicated Danish camp alongside the track that you visited every year. What will become of this now?

My compatriots have really been showing huge enthusiasm. But I’m sure they’ll continue to show strong support in the future. I’m going to keep visiting them at Le Mans in the next years. Now I’ll even have more time for them and for all Audi fans. Plus, there are many other Danish race drivers at Le Mans who deserve their applause and encouragement.

 

Tom Kristensen will be enshrined into the Sebring Hall of Fame along with Dindo Capello
and Allan McNish in 2016.

At the same time, Sebring's Turn 3 will be designated "Kristensen Corner".

That is all.

BHW