Marcel Fässler (racing driver)

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Marcel Fässler
Marcel Fassler 2013 WEC Silverstone.jpg
Fässler in 2013
NationalitySwitzerland Swiss
Born (1976-05-27) 27 May 1976 (age 45)
Einsiedeln, Switzerland
FIA World Endurance Championship
Years active20122016
Former teamsAudi Sport Team Joest
Starts41
Championships1 (2012)
Wins10
Podiums24
Poles7
DTM
Years active20002005
Former teamsHWA Team
Phoenix Racing
Team Holzer
Starts87
Wins5
Podiums19
Poles6
Fastest laps4
Best finish3rd in 2003
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years2006
TeamsSwiss Spirit
Team Oreca-Matmut
Corvette Racing
Audi Sport Team Joest
Best finish1st (2011, 2012, 2014)
Class wins3 (2011, 2012, 2014)

Marcel Fässler (born 27 May 1976) is a Swiss retired racing driver. From 2010 to 2016 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of Audi Sport Team Joest with co-drivers André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times (2011, 2012, and 2014) and capturing the World Endurance Drivers' Championship in 2012.

Professional career[]

Touring car racing[]

Born in Einsiedeln, Fässler began competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes-Benz when it resumed in 2000. He finished 4th with no wins in 2000, 4th with one win in 2001 and in 2002 and 3rd with one win in 2003, all four seasons with a Mercedes-Benz CLK. He moved to Opel and an Opel Vectra GTS V8 for 2004 and 2005, where he finished 9th and 12th with no wins after which the brand retired from the DTM.

Marcel also drove the Formula One Mercedes-Benz safety car for one event in Canada, while regular driver Bernd Mayländer was off due to an injury. He was on track for three laps after a crash involving Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello. He also worked as a successor in Monaco.[1]

Sports car racing[]

Fässler switched to sports cars in 2006, finishing second at the Spa 24 Hours in a Phoenix Aston Martin DBR9 and collecting two overall podiums at the Le Mans Series for Swiss Spirit. In 2007, he returned to open-wheel racing for A1 Team Switzerland in the 6th round of the A1 Grand Prix series held in Taupo, New Zealand, and in the 9th round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico. He also won the Spa 24 Hours on a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R for Phoenix Carsport.

For 2008, Fässler joined the team for the full FIA GT Championship season. Sharing a GT1 class Corvette with Jean-Denis Délétraz, he won two races, finished 7th in the standings and helped the team finish 2nd at the teams championship. The same year he finished 2nd at the American Le Mans Series Road America race on a works Audi R10 TDI for Audi Sport North America. LMP1 team Sebah hired Fässler for the 2009 Le Mans Series season,[2] having a 2nd-place finish as best result. In addition, he and Joël Camathias were crowned International GT Open overall and Super GT class champions in a Trottet-fielded Ferrari F430. He also retired at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a works GT1 class Corvette and finished 4th in the GT2 class of the petit Le Mans, also for Corvette Racing.

Audi works team Joest hired Fässler to drive the Audi R15 TDI plus at three 2010 races: Spa (12th), Le Mans (2nd) and Petit Le Mans (6th). He also retired at the 24 Hours of Spa running a Phoenix Audi R8 LMS. In 2016 Marcel re-joined Corvette Racing for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and won the GTLM Class in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with regular season drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner by the smallest ever margin of victory 0.034 seconds.[3]

Racing record[]

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2000 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC
1

2
HOC
2

2
OSC
1

9
OSC
2

3
NOR
1

13
NOR
2

7
SAC
1

10
SAC
2

4
NÜR
1

3
NÜR
2

3
LAU
1

C
LAU
2

C
OSC
1

NC
OSC
2

12
NÜR
1

4
NÜR
2

2
HOC
1

5
HOC
2

Ret
4th 116
2001 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC
QR

7
HOC
CR

2
NÜR
QR

8
NÜR
CR

5
OSC
QR

1
OSC
CR

1
SAC
QR

6
SAC
CR

9
NOR
QR

4
NOR
CR

Ret
LAU
QR

2
LAU
CR

8
NÜR
QR

7
NÜR
CR

Ret
A1R
QR

7
A1R
CR

6
ZAN
QR

6
ZAN
CR

5
HOC
QR

Ret
HOC
CR

5
4th 76
2002 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC
QR

6
HOC
CR

Ret
ZOL
QR

10
ZOL
CR

9
DON
QR

4
DON
CR

6
SAC
QR

9
SAC
CR

4
NOR
QR

Ret
NOR
CR

DNS
LAU
QR

6
LAU
CR

3
NÜR
QR

4
NÜR
CR

4
A1R
QR

10
A1R
CR

1
ZAN
QR

1
ZAN
CR

3
HOC
QR

Ret
HOC
CR

5
4th 30
2003 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes CLK 2003 HOC
2
ADR
4
NÜR
2
LAU
10
NOR
2
DON
4
NÜR
5
A1R
1
ZAN
6
HOC
3
3rd 57
2004 OPC Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8 2004 HOC
Ret
EST
20†
ADR
Ret
LAU
7
NOR
Ret
SHA1
14†
NÜR
4
OSC
8
ZAN
10
BRN
4
HOC
Ret
9th 13
2005 OPC Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8 2005 HOC
9
LAU
13
SPA
5
BRN
15
OSC
8
NOR
Ret
NÜR
13
ZAN
5
LAU
Ret
IST
10
HOC
6
12th 12
  • † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

1 - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results[]

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2006 Switzerland Swiss Spirit Switzerland Harold Primat
Austria Philipp Peter
Courage LC70-Judd LMP1 132 DNF DNF
2007 Switzerland Swiss Spirit Switzerland Jean-Denis Délétraz
Switzerland Iradj Alexander
Lola B07/18-Audi LMP1 62 DNF DNF
2008 France Team Oreca-Matmut France Olivier Panis
France Simon Pagenaud
Courage-Oreca LC70-Judd LMP1 147 DNF DNF
2009 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
Monaco Olivier Beretta
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 311 DNF DNF
2010 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R15 TDI plus LMP1 396 2nd 2nd
2011 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 TDI LMP1 355 1st 1st
2012 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 378 1st 1st
2013 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 338 5th 5th
2014 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1-H 379 1st 1st
2015 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 393 3rd 3rd
2016 Germany Audi Sport Team Joest Germany André Lotterer
France Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 LMP1 367 4th 4th
2017 United States Corvette Racing - GM United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTE
Pro
335 24th 8th
2018 United States Corvette Racing - GM United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTE
Pro
259 DNF DNF
2019 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTE
Pro
82 DNF DNF

Britcar 24 Hour results[]

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Car No. Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2007 Austria Duller Motorsport Italy Luca Cappellari
Switzerland Gabriele Gardel
Italy Fabrizio Gollin
BMW M3 E46 GTR 32 GTC 562 4th 2nd

Complete American Le Mans Series results[]

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2008 Audi Sport North America LMP1 Audi R10 TDI Audi 5.5L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
SEB STP LNB UTA LIM MID AME
ovr:2
cls:2
MOS DET
ovr:DSQ
cls:DSQ
PET MON 19th 21
2009 Corvette Racing GT1 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8
(E85 ethanol)
SEB
ovr:7
cls:2
STP LNB UTA LIM MID AME MOS 6th 26
GT2 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet 6.0L V8 PET
ovr:11
cls:4
MON 31st 20
2010 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R15 TDI plus Audi 5.5L Turbo V10
(Diesel)
SEB LNB MON UTA LIM MID AME MOS PET
ovr:6
cls:5
NC -
2011 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 TDI Audi 3.7L Turbo V6
(Diesel)
SEB LNB LIM MOS MID AME BAL MON PET
ovr:Ret
cls:Ret
NC -
2013 Audi Sport Team Joest P1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi 3.7L Turbo V6
(Diesel)
SEB
ovr:1
cls:1
LNB MON LIM PET NC -

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results[]

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2012 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SEB
11
SPA
2
LMS
1
SIL
1
SÃO
2
BHR
1
FUJ
2
SHA
3
1st 172.5
2013 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL
2
SPA
1
LMS
5
SÃO
1
COA
3
FUJ
14
SHA
1
BHR
2
2nd 149.25
2014 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL
Ret
SPA
5
LMS
1
COA
1
FUJ
6
SHA
4
BHR
4
SÃO
5
2nd 127
2015 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
SIL
1
SPA
1
LMS
3
NÜR
3
COA
2
FUJ
3
SHA
3
BHR
2
2nd 161
2016 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 Audi R18 Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6
(Hybrid)
SIL
EX
SPA
5
LMS
4
NÜR
3
MEX
2
COA
6
FUJ
Ret
SHA
6
BHR
2
5th 104

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2016 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet 5.5 V8 DAY
1
SEB
1
LBH LGA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR COA PET
3
12th 103
2017 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT 5.5 V8 DAY
9
SEB
10
LBH COA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET
4
16th 71
2018 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 V8 DAY
4
SEB
6
LBH MOH WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET
2
12th 85
2019 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT 5.5 V8 DAY
8
SEB
8
LBH MDO WGL MOS
8
LIM
6
ELK VIR LGA PET
7
13th 118
2020 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 DAY
7
DAY SEB ELK VIR ATL MDO CLT PET
4
LGA SEB
6
10th 77

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results[]

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Points
2017 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Pro MIS
QR

9
MIS
CR

Ret
BRH
QR

18
BRH
CR

5
ZOL
QR

13
ZOL
CR

4
HUN
QR

1
HUN
CR

1
NÜR
QR

3
NÜR
CR

10
5th 62

References[]

  1. ^ Hust, Fabian (16 June 2001). "Marcel Fässler auf dem Weg in die Formel 1". motorsport-total.com (in German). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  2. ^ Codling, Stuart (2013). Art of the Le Mans Race Car: 90 Years of Speed. Motorbooks. p. 230. ISBN 9780760344378. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Chevrolet Corvette C7.R wins Rolex 24 GTLM class in closest finish ever". Autoweek. 31 January 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2017.

External links[]

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Andrea Montermini
Michele Maceratesi
International GT Open
Champion

2009
With: Joël Camathias
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Timo Bernhard
Romain Dumas
Mike Rockenfeller
Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
20112012
With: André Lotterer & Benoît Tréluyer
Succeeded by
Allan McNish
Tom Kristensen
Loïc Duval
Preceded by
Inaugural
FIA World Endurance Champion
2012
With: André Lotterer & Benoît Tréluyer
Succeeded by
Allan McNish
Tom Kristensen
Loïc Duval
Preceded by
Allan McNish
Tom Kristensen
Loïc Duval
Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
2014
With: André Lotterer & Benoît Tréluyer
Succeeded by
Preceded by F1 Safety Car Driver
2001 Canadian Grand Prix
Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""