Bernd Schneider (racing driver)

Bernd Schneider

Born	20 July 1964 (1964-07-20)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	German
Active years	1988 - 1990
Teams	Zakspeed, Arrows
Races	34 (9 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last race	1990 Spanish Grand Prix

Bernd Schneider (born 20 July 1964 in St. Ingbert) is a retired racing driver from Germany.

Career

Early years

Schneider was named after legendary driver Bernd Rosemeyer, winner of the 1936 European Drivers Championship. Introduced to karting at an early age, he displayed an obvious talent for racing. After several years in the junior kart series, Schneider won the 1980 German Kart championship. Two years later, he would win the 1982 European Kart championship with the national team. In 1983, he won the African kart championship.

Single seater racing

The next few years, Schneider would race in the various Formula Ford series in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In 1986, he joined the German Formula Three circuit, winning the title the following year in 1987. This brought him to the attention of Erich Zakowski, who signed Schneider to drive for his Formula One team Zakspeed in 1988 and 1989. However, the small German-based squad did little to make an impression on the F1 circuit and Schneider only able to qualify for nine races out of the 32 he entered with the team (7 out of 16 with the turbo powered car in 1988 and only twice out of 16 attempts did he pre-qualify and actually qualify for a race in 1989). Schneider also briefly drove for Arrows, before leaving single seaters and racing Porsche sports cars in the early 1990s for Joest Racing, in the World Sportscar Championship and races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

DTM championships

Schneider won his fifth DTM championship in 2006.

In 1992, Schneider moved to the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), driving for AMG-Mercedes. Finishing third his first season, he has since been a regular Mercedes driver. In 1995, he won his first DTM championship, piloting an AMG C-Class.

In the years of the DTM's absence, Schneider raced the works Mercedes CLK GTR cars in the FIA GT Championship, winning the title in 1997 after winning six races. In 1998, now with the CLK-LM variant, although winning five races, he lost the title to teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta. He was also a Mercedes works driver in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998 and 1999.

Bernd Schneider at the Sachsenring in 2002

The DTM returned in 2000 with silhouette bodies and V8 engines, and Schneider took the championship crown three of the first four years (2000, 2001, and 2003) in an AMG CLK-Class; he was runner up in 2002. Still driving for AMG, Schneider has won a record four championships; in 2005, he was teammates with (among others) former F1 champion Mika Häkkinen, and in 2006 won his fifth championship title.

It was announced on 21 October 2008 that Schneider will retire from racing at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

Personal

Schneider lives in Monte Carlo with his girlfriend Svenja and their daughter Lilly-Sophie. He also has children Lisa-Marie and Luca Maximilian with his ex-wife Nicole. Schneider still enjoys karting.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1988	West Zakspeed Racing	Zakspeed 881	Zakspeed Straight-4	BRA DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON DNQ	MEX Ret	CAN DNQ	DET DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ	GER 12	HUN DNQ	BEL 13	ITA Ret	POR DNQ	ESP DNQ	JPN Ret	AUS DNQ	NC	0
1989	West Zakspeed Racing	Zakspeed 891	Yamaha V8	BRA Ret	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	ITA DNPQ	POR DNPQ	ESP DNPQ	JPN Ret	AUS DNPQ	NC	0
1990	Footwork Arrows Racing	Arrows A11	Cosworth V8	USA 12	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR				NC	0
		Arrows A11B															ESP DNQ	JPN	AUS

Partial DTM 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	Pos	Points
2000	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 1	OSC 1 3	OSC 2 12	NOR 1 4	NOR 2 1	SAC 1 3	SAC 2 3	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 1	OSC 1 2	OSC 2 1	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 4	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 Ret	1st	221
2001	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	HOC1 1	NÜR1 2	OSC 2	SAC 1	NOR 2	LAU 2	NÜR2 6	A1R 1	ZAN 3	HOC2 3							1st	161
2002	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	HOC1 4	ZOL 3	DON 12	SAC 2	NOR 2	LAU 1	NÜR 3	A1R 2	ZAN 2	HOC2 1							2nd	64
2003	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes CLK 2003	HOC1 1	ADR 5	NÜR1 4	LAU 1	NOR 3	DON 2	NÜR2 3	A1R 2	ZAN 2	HOC2 6							1st	68
2004	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004	HOC1 17	EST 5	ADR 11	LAU 3	NOR 3	SHA1 2	NÜR 3	OSC Ret	ZAN 5	BRN 10	HOC2 1						6th	36
2005	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005	HOC1 3	LAU1 Ret	SPA Ret	BRN Ret	OSC 4	NOR 10	NÜR 5	ZAN 8	LAU2 Ret	IST 3	HOC2 1						4th	32
2006	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006	HOC1 1	LAU 1	OSC 5	BRH 3	NOR 2	NÜR 2	ZAN 2	CAT 2	BUG 5	HOC2 4							1st	71
2007	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007	HOC1 7	OSC 6	LAU 4	BRH 1	NOR 2	MUG 11	ZAN 12	NÜR 7	CAT Ret	HOC2 5							6th	31.5
2008	HWA Team	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008	HOC1 8	OSC 12	MUG 4	LAU 7	NOR 6	ZAN 9	NÜR 1	BRH 9	CAT 3	BUG 5	HOC2 6						6th	34

¹ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

External links

• Bernd Schneider homepage

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kris Nissen	German Formula Three champion 1987	Succeeded by Joachim Winkelhock
Preceded by Klaus Ludwig	German Touring Car Champion (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) 1995	Succeeded by Bernd Schneider (2000) (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters)
Preceded by none	International Touring Car Champion 1995	Succeeded by Manuel Reuter
Preceded by Ray Bellm James Weaver (BPR Global GT Series)	FIA GT Champion 1997	Succeeded by Klaus Ludwig Ricardo Zonta
Preceded by Bernd Schneider (1995) (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft)	German Touring Car Champion (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) 2000-2001	Succeeded by Laurent Aïello
Preceded by Laurent Aïello	German Touring Car Champion 2003	Succeeded by Mattias Ekström
Preceded by Gary Paffett	German Touring Car Champion 2006	Succeeded by Mattias Ekström