Tom Kristensen (racing driver)

This article is about the Danish racing driver. For the Danish poet, see Tom Kristensen (poet). For the Norwegian author, see Tom Kristensen (author).

Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2014.
Nationality	Danish
Born	(1967-07-07) 7 July 1967 Hobro, Denmark
WEC career
Debut season	2012
Current team	Audi Sport Team Joest
Car no.	1
Starts	16
Wins	6
Poles	4
Best finish	1st in 2013
Previous series
2004–2011 2001–2002 2000 1998–1999 1996–1997 1994–1995 1994–1995 1992–1993 1989, 1991	DTM American Le Mans Series BTCC German Supertouring International Formula 3000 Japanese Formula 3000 JTCC Japanese Formula Three German Formula Three
Championship titles
2013 2001 1993 1991	FIA World Endurance Championship American Le Mans Series Japanese Formula Three German Formula Three

Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish professional racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). 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's accident that eventually ruled him out of the race. All of his wins since then have come driving an Audi prototype, except in 2003, when he drove a Bentley prototype. In both 1999 and 2007 Kristensen's team crashed out of comfortable leads in the closing hours of the race. He is considered by many to be the greatest driver ever to have raced in 24 Hours of Le Mans, earning the nickname "Mr Le Mans".^[1] Elsewhere Kristensen also holds the record for most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring with a total of six.^[2]

Kristensen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark.

Career

Kristensen was born in Hobro. His career began in 1984, winning several karting titles. He raced in Japan in the early 1990s, concurrently in Formula 3 and Touring Cars. He was German Formula 3 Champion in 1991, Japanese Formula 3 champion in 1993, and runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship (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.

Kristensen driving for Audi (Abt) at the Hockenheimring in the 2008 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season.

On 22 April 2007, Kristensen was involved in an accident while racing on the Hockenheimring race course in Hockenheim, Germany.^[3] 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 recuperated 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.^[4]

24 Hours of Le Mans

Kristensen took his 9th 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro in 2013.

In 2000, 2001, and 2002, he won the 24 Hours at Le Mans race with the 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 equalled Ickx's record of six Le Mans victories in Team Goh's Audi R8. 2005 saw Kristensen win a seventh time with an American R8 entry, making him the most successful driver at the Le Mans 24-hour race (Ickx left a message on Kristensen's answering machine congratulating him on breaking his record). The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen didn't finish the 2007 race following Rinaldo Capello's crash while the car was leading the race by four laps. Kristensen returned in 2008 to claim an eighth victory and extend the record for most wins.^[5] In 2013, he took his ninth victory at the event, extending his record and legendary status even further. Also he has received nickname "Mr Le Mans" because of the record of winning Le Mans 9 times total.

On 19 November 2014, Kristensen announced at a press conference in Copenhagen that he was retiring from motorsport at the end of the current World Endurance Championship season.^[6]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1997–2014
Teams	Joest Racing, BMW Motorsport, Audi Sport Joest, Team Bentley, Audi Sport Goh, Champion Racing
Best finish	1st (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2013)
Class wins	9 (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2013)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1997	Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson	TWR Porsche WSC-95	LMP	361	1st	1st
1998	Team BMW Motorsport	Hans-Joachim Stuck Steve Soper	BMW V12 LM	LMP1	60	DNF	DNF
1999	Team BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Jörg Müller	BMW V12 LMR	LMP	304	DNF	DNF
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	368	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	321	1st	1st
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	375	1st	1st
2003	Team Bentley	Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Bentley Speed 8	LMGTP	377	1st	1st
2004	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Seiji Ara Rinaldo Capello	Audi R8	LMP1	379	1st	1st
2005	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP1	370	1st	1st
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	367	3rd	3rd
2007	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	262	DNF	DNF
2008	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	381	1st	1st
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	376	3rd	3rd
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R15 TDI plus	LMP1	394	3rd	3rd
2011	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R18 TDI	LMP1	14	DNF	DNF
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	LMP1	377	2nd	2nd
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Allan McNish Loïc Duval	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	LMP1	348	1st	1st
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	Marc Gené Lucas di Grassi	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	LMP1-H	376	2nd	2nd

Tom Kristensen's helmet.

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Kristensen driving the Audi R15 TDI which led him to a fifth win at Sebring.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1999	BMW Motorsport Schnitzer Motorsport	Jörg Müller JJ Lehto	BMW V12 LMR	LMP	313	1st	1st
2000	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP	360	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	370	2nd	2nd
2002	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	327	5th	5th
2003	Team Bentley	Guy Smith Rinaldo Capello	Bentley Speed 8	LMGTP	362	4th	2nd
2005	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP1	361	1st	1st
2006	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	349	1st	1st
2007	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	353	4th	2nd
2008	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	351	3rd	1st
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	383	1st	1st
2011	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R15 TDI plus	LMP1	327	4th	4th
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Audi R18 TDI	LMP1	325	1st	1st
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Allan McNish Lucas di Grassi	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	P1	364	2nd	2nd

Complete Petit Le Mans results

Year	Result	Team	Car	Class
2000	2	Audi Sport North America	Audi R8	LMP
2001	Ret	Audi Sport North America	Audi R8	LMP900
2002	1	Audi Sport North America	Audi R8	LMP900
2010	3	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI plus	LMP1
2011	DNF	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	LMP1

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1996	Edenbridge Racing	NÜR 4	PAU Ret	PER	HOC 5	SIL 2	SPA 3	MAG	EST	MUG 4	HOC Ret	7th	18
1997	Auto Sport Racing	SIL 1	PAU 2	HEL Ret	NÜR 3	PER Ret	HOC Ret	A1R 6	SPA Ret	MUG EX	JER Ret	6th	19

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1994	Navi Connection Racing	SUZ 8	FUJ 9	MIN 9	SUZ 6	SUG 11	FUJ 9	SUZ 6	FUJ Ret	FUJ 12	SUZ 4	9th	5
1995	Team Cerumo	SUZ 4	FUJ C	MIN 1	SUZ 2	SUG Ret	FUJ 4	TOK 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ 5		3rd	29
1996	Navi Connection Racing	SUZ	MIN	FUJ	TOK	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	MIN 8	SUZ	FUJ	NC	0

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead feature races for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos	Pts
2000	Redstone Team Honda	Honda Accord	Touring	BRH 1 7	BRH 2 Ret	DON 1 5	DON 2 6	THR 1 9	THR 2 Ret	KNO 1 5	KNO 2 Ret	OUL 1 3	OUL 2 1*	SIL 1 3	SIL 2 6*	CRO 1 4	CRO 2 9	SNE 1 2	SNE 2 Ret	DON 1 10	DON 2 Ret	BRH 1 2	BRH 2 8	OUL 1 8	OUL 2 Ret	SIL 1 1	SIL 2 1*	7th	143

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2004	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC 4	EST 4	ADR 10	LAU 10	NOR 6	SHA¹ Ret	NÜR 5	OSC 1	ZAN 6	BRN 2	HOC 4	4th	43
2005	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2005	HOC Ret	LAU 2	SPA 3	BRN 2	OSC 5	NOR 7	NÜR 2	ZAN 4	LAU 3	IST 5	HOC 4	3rd	56
2006	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2006	HOC 2	LAU 2	OSC 1	BRH 18†	NOR 5	NÜR 5	ZAN 1	CAT 9	BUG 3	HOC 3		3rd	56
2007	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC Ret	OSC	LAU	BRH	NOR 5	MUG 8	ZAN 18†	NÜR 8	CAT 9†	HOC 6		14th	9
2008	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 3	OSC 19†	MUG 3	LAU 16	NOR 7	ZAN 3	NÜR Ret	BRH 7	CAT 13	BUG 8	HOC 5	8th	27
2009	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2009	HOC 1	LAU 12	NOR 8	ZAN 8	OSC 8	NÜR Ret	BRH 19†	CAT 2	DIJ 18†	HOC 15		8th	21
2011	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2009	HOC	ZAN	SPL	LAU 7	NOR	NÜR	BRH	OSC	VAL	HOC		15th	2

¹ – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

† — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90 per cent of the winner's race distance.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Hybrid Diesel)	SEB 1	SPA 3	LMS 2	SIL 3	SÃO 3	BHR 2	FUJ 3	SHA 2	2nd	159
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Hybrid Diesel)	SIL 1	SPA 2	LMS 1	SÃO 2	COA 1	FUJ 2	SHA 3	BHR Ret	1st	162
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid Diesel)	SIL Ret	SPA 2	LMS 2	COA 2	FUJ 5	SHA 5	BHR 5	SÃO 3	4th	117

Notes

↑ Richards, Giles (19 November 2014). "Nine-times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours Tom Kristensen retires". theguardian.com. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
↑ Richards, Giles (19 March 2012). "Audi secures 10th victory in 12 Hours of Sebring endurance classic". theguardian.com. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
↑ http://politiken.dk/sport/article288794.ece (Danish)
↑ http://politiken.dk/sport/article288849.ece (Danish)
↑ "Audi edges Peugeot in classic Le Mans 24 Hours duel". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
↑ http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116830

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Kristensen.

Official website

Tom Kristensen sporting positions

Sporting positions
Preceded by Michael Schumacher	German Formula Three champion 1991	Succeeded by Pedro Lamy
Preceded by Anthony Reid	All-Japan Formula Three Champion 1993	Succeeded by Michael Krumm
Preceded by Manuel Reuter Davy Jones Alexander Wurz	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1997 with: Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson	Succeeded by Laurent Aïello Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli
Preceded by Pierluigi Martini Yannick Dalmas Joachim Winkelhock	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2000, 2001 and 2002 with: Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Succeeded by Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith
Preceded by Emanuele Pirro	American Le Mans Series champion 2002	Succeeded by Frank Biela Marco Werner
Preceded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2003 with: Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Succeeded by Seiji Ara Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello
Preceded by Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004 with: Seiji Ara Rinaldo Capello	Succeeded by J.J. Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen
Preceded by Seiji Ara Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2005 with: J.J. Lehto Marco Werner	Succeeded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner
Preceded by Jean Alesi Sébastien Loeb	Race of Champions Nations' Cup 2005 with: Mattias Ekström	Succeeded by Marcus Grönholm Heikki Kovalainen
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 with: Rinaldo Capello Allan McNish	Succeeded by David Brabham Marc Gené Alexander Wurz
Preceded by André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2013 with: Allan McNish Loïc Duval	Succeeded by André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler
Preceded by André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler	FIA World Endurance Champion 2013 with: Allan McNish Loïc Duval	Succeeded by Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson
Preceded by Michael Schumacher Sebastian Vettel (2012)	Race of Champions Nations' Cup 2014 With: Petter Solberg	Succeeded by Jason Plato Andy Priaulx

German Formula Three champions

Three-time	Walter Komossa

Two-time	Schäfer Jelinski

One-time	Albers van Dam Deutsch Deutz Dillmann Elkmann Eriksson Fontana Francia Heidfeld Kaneishi Kirchhöfer Kolmsee Konrad Korten Kreuzer Kristensen Lamy Lang Leinders Maring Mohr Müller Nielsen Nissen Oliveira Paffett Pantano Pommer Scharmann Schneider Schumacher Sommer Stanaway Thiim Trulli Tung Vanthoor Verstappen Vervisch Weidler Wendlinger Winkelhock

Winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Nine-time	Tom Kristensen

Six-time	Jacky Ickx

Five-time	Derek Bell Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro

Four-time	Yannick Dalmas Olivier Gendebien Henri Pescarolo

Three-time	Woolf Barnato Rinaldo Capello Luigi Chinetti Marcel Fässler Hurley Haywood Phil Hill Al Holbert André Lotterer Klaus Ludwig Allan McNish Benoît Tréluyer Marco Werner

Two-time	Tim Birkin Ivor Bueb Ron Flockhart Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Gérard Larrousse JJ Lehto Manuel Reuter André Rossignol Raymond Sommer Hans-Joachim Stuck Gijs van Lennep Jean-Pierre Wimille Alexander Wurz

One-time	Aïello Alboreto Amon Ara Attwood Baldi Bamber Bandini Barilla Barth Benjafield Benoist Bernhard Bianchi Bloch Blundell Bouchut D. Brabham G. Brabham Brundle Chaboud Clement Cobb Davis de Courcelles Dickens Duff Dumas Dumfries Duval Étancelin Fontés Foyt Frère Gachot Gené González Gregory Guichet Gurney Hamilton Hawthorn Hélary Herbert Herrmann G. Hill Hindmarsh Howe Hülkenberg Johansson Jones Kidston Krages Lagache Lammers Lang Léonard Marko Martini Mass McLaren Mitchell-Thomson Nielsen Nuvolari Oliver Ortelli Pironi Riess Rindt Rockenfeller Rodríguez Rolt Rondeau J. Rosier L. Rosier Rubin Salvadori Sanderson Scarfiotti Schuppan Sekiya Shelby Smith Tandy Trémoulet Trintignant Vaccarella Veyron Walker Wallace Warwick Weidler Whitehead B. Whittington D. Whittington Winkelhock

Winners of the 12 Hours of Sebring

Six-time	Tom Kristensen

Five-time	Rinaldo Capello

Four-time	Frank Biela Allan McNish

Three-time	Mario Andretti Marco Werner

Two-time	Bob Akin Geoff Brabham Derek Daly Andy Evans Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio II Olivier Gendebien Hurley Haywood Hans Herrmann Phil Hill Al Holbert Jacky Ickx Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto Emanuele Pirro Brian Redman Hans-Joachim Stuck Eric van de Poele Fermín Vélez Andy Wallace Phil Walters

One-time	Aïello Alboreto Baker Baldi Barbosa Barbour Behra Bernhard Bianchi Bonnier Bourdais Gary Brabham Castellotti Collard Collins Daigh Dalmas Davidson de Narváez Dumas Duval Dyer Earl Elford Fässler Fitch Fittipaldi Fitzpatrick Foyt Franchitti Frisselle Garretson Gartner Gené Giunti Gray Gregg Gurney Hall Hawthorn Helmick Herbert Heyer Jarvis Kaffer Keyser Kulok Lapierre Larrousse Leven Lloyd Ludwig Luyendyk Maglioli Mass McFarlin McLaren Mendez Miles Millen Moffat Moretti Morton Moss Mullen Müller Nierop O'Connell Oliver Pace Panis Parkes Paul, Jr. Paul, Sr. Pescatori Peter Pruett Rahal Robinson Rojas Ruby Scarfiotti Sharp Siffert Surtees Taylor Theys Tréluyer Vaccarella Wollek Woods Wurz

Audi Sport Team Joest 24 Hours of Le Mans driver timeline, 1999–present

Drivers	Christian Abt (2000) Michele Alboreto (1999–2000) Filipe Albuquerque (2014–2015) Laurent Aïello (1999–2001) Timo Bernhard (2009–2011) Frank Biela (1999–2002; 2006–2008) Marco Bonanomi (2012; 2014–2015) Rinaldo Capello (1999–2002; 2006–2012) Lucas di Grassi (2013–2015) Romain Dumas (2009–2012) Loïc Duval (2012–2013; 2015) Marcel Fässler (2010–2015) Marc Gené (2012–2014) Johnny Herbert (2002) Oliver Jarvis (2014–2015) Tom Kristensen (2000–2002; 2006–2014) Michael Krumm (2002) André Lotterer (2010–2015) Lucas Luhr (2007–2009) Allan McNish (2000; 2006–2013) Stéphane Ortelli (2000) Christian Pescatori (2001–2002) Philipp Peter (2002) Emanuele Pirro (1999–2002; 2006–2008) Alexandre Prémat (2007–2009) René Rast (2015) Mike Rockenfeller (2007–2012) Didier Theys (1999) Benoît Tréluyer (2010–2015) Marco Werner (2002; 2006–2009)

Cars	R8R (1999) R8 (2000, 2001, 2002) R10 TDI (2006, 2007, 2008) R15 TDI (2009) R15 TDI plus (2010) R18 TDI (2011) R18 Ultra & E-Tron (2012) R18 E-Tron (2013, 2014, 2015)

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