Gerhard Mitter

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Gerhard Mitter
Nationality  Flag of Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 1963 - 1967, 1969
Teams Ecurie Maarsbergen, Team Lotus, BMW, non-works Brabham
Races 7 (5 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Career points 3
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 1963 Dutch Grand Prix
Last race 1969 German Grand Prix

Gerhard Karl Mitter (born 30 August 1935 - died 1 August 1969 [1]) was a German Formula One and sportscar driver.

Mitter was born in Schönlinde (now ) in the Sudetenland, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg near Stuttgart.

After racing motorbikes, he switched to Formula Junior, becoming the best German driver with 40 victories. In addition, he sold Two-Stroke-Engines for FJ. In 1963, Gerhard Mitter won the Formula Junior Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring.

Gerhard Mitter driving Lotus in 1965 at the Nürburgring
Gerhard Mitter driving Lotus in 1965 at the Nürburgring

Mitter also participated in seven Grands Prix, debuting on 23 June 1963. He scored a total of three championship points in his home 1963 German Grand Prix with an old Porsche 718 from 1961. Impressed by this, Team Lotus gave him a chance in the following years.

In sportscar racing and hillclimbing for Porsche, he scored many wins, eg. the 1966-1968 European Hillclimb Championships against Ferrari, the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona (Porsche 907) and the 1969 Targa Florio (Porsche 908) as his final major win.

Due to the long Nürburgring track, it was possible to take part in the German Grand Prix with Formula 2 cars that were classified in their own contest. Mitter was killed there at Schwedenkreuz while practising for the 1969 German Grand Prix with BMW's 269 F2 project. As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Hubert Hahne and Dieter Quester withdrew from the race, as did Mitter's teammate at Porsche, Hans Herrmann.

[edit] Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Points
1963 Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsche 718 Porsche Flat-4 MON
BEL
NED
Ret
FRA
GBR
GER
4
ITA
USA
MEX
RSA
12th 3
1964 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 MON
NED
BEL
FRA
GBR
GER
9
AUT
ITA
USA
MEX
- 0
1965 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 RSA
MON
BEL
FRA
GBR
NED
GER
Ret
ITA
USA
MEX
- 0
1966 Ron Harris /
Team Lotus
Lotus 44 F2 Cosworth
Straight-4
MON
BEL
FRA
GBR
NED
GER
DNS
ITA
USA
MEX
- 0
1967 Gerhard Mitter Brabham BT23 F2 Cosworth
Straight-4
RSA
MON
NED
BEL
FRA
GBR
GER
Ret
CAN
ITA
USA
MEX
- 0
1969 BMW BMW 269 F2 BMW Straight-4 RSA
ESP
MON
NED
FRA
GBR
GER
DNS
ITA
CAN
USA
MEX
- 0
Preceded by
Jo Schlesser
Formula One fatal accidents
August 1, 1969
Succeeded by
Piers Courage

[edit] External links

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Jenkins, Richard. The World Championship drivers - Where are they now?. OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.