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Roland Ratzenberger

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Roland Ratzenberger

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Austrian racing driver (1960–1994)

Key facts

Born
Roland Walter Ratzenberger , ( 1960-07-04 ) 4 July 1960, Salzburg , Austria
Died
30 April 1994 (1994-04-30) (aged 33), Bologna , Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Cause of death
Injuries sustained at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix
Spouse
Bente ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1991 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1992 ) ​
Nationality
Austrian
Teams
Simtek
Entries
3 (1 start)
First entry
1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry
1994 San Marino Grand Prix
Participating years span years
1989 – 1993
Best finish
5th ( 1993 )
Class wins
1 ( 1993 )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Roland
Gender
male
Citizenship
Austria
Place of birth
Salzburg
Place of death
Bologna
Languages spoken
German
Participant in
24 Hours of Le Mans
Image
Ratzenberger (cropped).jpg
Show 12 more facts
Commons category
Roland Ratzenberger
date of birth
1960-07-04
date of death
1994-04-30
place of burial
Salzburg
manner of death
accidental death
points for
0
number of wins
0
pole positions
0
podium finishes
0
number of matches played/races/starts
3
name in native language
Roland Ratzenberger
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Roland Walter Ratzenberger ( German: [ˈroːlant ˈratsn̩bɛrɡɐ]; 4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994) was an Austrian racing driver, who competed in Formula One at three Grands Prix in 1994.

Born and raised in Salzburg, Ratzenberger began his racing career as a protégé of Walter Lechner, joining the Lechner Racing School at the Salzburgring upon graduating from technical school, aged 18. Ratzenberger progressed to Formula Ford in 1983, winning multiple national and continental titles, as well as the Festival in 1986. Ratzenberger balanced his next two seasons between touring car racing and Formula Three; he contested the World Touring Car Championship in 1987 with Schnitzer, achieving four podium finishes in 10 races whilst driving the BMW E30 M3. After finishing third in the 1989 British Formula 3000 Championship and retiring from his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut, Ratzenberger moved into Japanese motorsport with Toyota. Amongst competing in World Sportscar, All-Japan Sports Prototype, Japanese Touring Car and Japanese Formula 3000, Ratzenberger also entered four further editions of Le Mans from 1990 to 1993, winning the C2 class at the latter in the Toyota 93C-V with SARD.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Roland Ratzenberger” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)