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1982-83
Scores points in FF2000 before stepping up to German F3 |
Coming from Weinheim, near Mannheim in Germany, Volker Weidler was one of the brace of luckless F1 pilots from 1989 caught up in the pre-qualifying mælstrom. However, prior to that he had crossed paths with some big names, none bigger than when he competed in the EFDA Euroseries Formula Ford 2000 in 1982. Although in that series he only scored points once, he scored them at Hockenheim in a race won by the late great Ayrton Senna. As a matter of fact, Senna won the whole championship.
In 1983, Weidler moved up to German F3, driving a Ralt RT3 with a Volkswagen engine for the Walter Lechner Racing School team. He won his very first non-championship race, but in the actual championship it took him longer to get up to speed. But by round 4 at Wunstorf, he had taken a hat-trick of pole, win and fastest lap. More competitive results followed, including another pole, a 2nd place and two 3rds, for 72 points and 3rd place overall. |
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1984-85
Wins races for VW before joining Kaufmann and becoming champion |
1984 saw Volker switch to the works Volkswagen Motorsport team, providing engines to go with a Ralt RT3 chassis. Building on his achievements from the previous year, he took 5 poles, scored 3 wins, recorded 4 fastest race laps, and had a brace of podium finishes, but more often than not he had to give best to eventual champion Kurt Thiim, and accordingly Weidler finished 2nd overall on 154 points. In the same car he had also done rounds of the British championship, coming 16th with 4 points.
For 1985, Weidler remained in German F3 for a third season, and despite switching to Josef Kaufmann Racing in a Martini MK45 Volkswagen, he was the red hot favourite. He didn't disappoint. With 6 poles, 6 wins and 4 fastest laps, he became champion with three rounds remaining, although truth be told, it was generally a close battle with Danish driver Kris Nissen. Eventually Weidler scored a grand total of 195 points. |
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1985-86
No luck at Macau; takes to sports cars with Joest and Kramer |
With the demise of the European F3 championship after 1984, international F3 races were few and far between in 1985, but there was the F3 Eurocup at Paul Ricard, where Weidler finished 3rd behind Thomas Danielsson and Alex Caffi. Volker also went to the prestigious end-of-year F3 race at Macau, where he drove a Ralt RT30 Volkswagen, but it was a disappointing experience, Weidler only managing 7th place.
1985 had also seen Weidler make his debut in sports car racing, sharing a Porsche 956 for the Joest team with Marc Duez and 'John Winter' at the World Championship round at Spa, where they came 6th. In 1986, Weidler had further WSC outings, coming 10th at the Nurburgring with Greek driver Costas Los in a Cosmic Racing March 84G Porsche, and then sharing a Kremer Racing Porsche 962 C with Bruno Giacomelli to 12th at Spa and 4th at Fuji, for 39th place overall with 14 points. |
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1986-87
Main focus becomes DTM, but he drops in on F3000 thanks to Rial |
But in fact 1986 was a very busy year for Weidler, and sports cars were not his main focus. For one thing, he had switched successfully to German touring cars, winning two rounds at the Nurburgring and Avus and setting two fastest laps in his Team Marko Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3-16 en route to 2nd overall in the series. He had also raced in F3000 in a Bromley Motorsport Ralt RT20 Cosworth with sponsorship from Rial wheels, but a string of midfield performances and two DNQs did little to impress.
Perhaps all the jumping around between categories had hurt him, so for 1987 he stuck to sports cars, rejoining Kremer to drive their Porsche 962C alongside old rival Nissen (with Allen Berg and Kunimitsu Takahashi joining them for a round each). However, after a 4th in the first round at Jarama and a 2nd in round two at Jerez, the season went downhill, culminating in an embarrassing DNF for running out of fuel at Fuji. With 31 points, Weidler was equal 20th in the standings. |
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1987-88
Judged good enough for F3000, spends a difficult year with Onyx |
But perhaps single-seaters was where he really wanted to race, and in 1987 he also participated in a test day at Donington where promising young drivers were judged by Ron Dennis and James Hunt. Weidler was chosen with Jean Alesi to compete in F3000 in 1988, while Eddie Irvine and JJ Lehto were chosen for F3, and Mika Hakkinen and Allan McNish were chosen for the Vauxhall Lotus Challenge.
Accordingly, 1988 saw Weidler race with the Onyx team in a March 88B Cosworth in F3000. Again it was a poor season, with more mid to low grid placings and even a DNQ at Pau. Only 6th places at Brands Hatch and Dijon and a 4th at Birmingham restore his credibility, and with 5 points he ended up equal 15th. Meanwhile, 4 more drives for Kremer in the WSC in a Porsche 962C/CK6 with Nissen, Giacomelli and Manuel Reuter had netted Weidler 22 points, enough for 36th overall. |
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1989 Rial Connections gain him a drive for Schmid alongside Danner |
It's fair to say that, despite these rather mediocre results, Weidler got his F1 break in 1989 with Gunter Schmid's Rial team thanks to his connections. After all, Rial had backed him in 1986, and Marlboro was behind his 1987 Donington test. And so, when Rial expanded to a two-car team in 1989, Weidler got himself a ride alongside fellow German, and the team's undisputed number one, Christian Danner.
But things started going wrong right from the outset. Not only was the team managerially weak with the volatile Schmid at the helm, the ARC2 chassis was also no more than an update of the 1988 Gustav Brunner-designed car, which admittedly had done respectably in the hands of Andrea de Cesaris. But in 1989, powered by the ubiquitous Cosworth V8 engine, it was an outdated model with little prospect of improvement. |
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1989
Danner's 4th place at Phoenix rescues Volker from the PQ lottery |
Furthermore, Weidler was significantly out of his depth. Due to de Cesaris' results from 1988, Danner didn't have to pre-qualify, but Volker did, and really he stood next to no chance. With only 4 going through in each pre-qualifying session, he was 7th in Brazil, but from there things got worse, not better. At Imola, he was bottom of the pile, even 3.6 seconds slower than Bernd Schneider's lamentable Zakspeed.
He was 11th quickest in Monaco, 8th in Mexico, 10th at Phoenix, 11th in Canada, 7th in France, but last in Britain. And that was the just the first half of the season, folks. But in that time, Danner had actually managed to qualify the car into the race four times, and in one of these, at Phoenix, he finished an amazing 4th, scoring 3 points. This unjustly rescued Weidler out of pre-qualifying, and for the second half of the year he was an automatic starter in the qualifying draw. |
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1989
Internal split with Schmid sees Fober and Volker leave Rial |
It was a travesty. The Rials, which were just getting slower and slower, were now simply hogging spots that should have gone to more deserving cars. Weidler never looked like qualifying, and he got little help from his team. Not only was he the slowest qualifier at Hockenheim, but when he stopped with electrical problems, his mechanics worked on his car on the side of the track, attracting a US$5,000 fine and disqualification from the meet.
Then in Hungary, in what would prove to be Volker's last F1 outing, his first session times were excluded when it was discovered his rear wing was mounted too far back - another race, another fine! Schmid blamed technical director Stefan Fober for the error, and made Fober pay the fine himself! After Weidler recorded the slowest time again on Saturday, his relationship with Schmid cracked as well, and both he and Fober left the team. Rial never survived its 1989 debacle, and wasn't to be seen in 1990. |
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1990
Off to Japan to race both single seaters and sports prototypes |
The Rial experience had plunged Weidler's European career into disarray, and so for 1990 he turned to Japan. He took up a drive in Japanese F3000 in a Team Take One Lola T90/50 Mugen, and he improved as the season went on, scoring a 5th at Suzuka, a 3rd at Fuji, and finally a victory at Fuji as well. With 15 points he came 6th overall.
He also raced in sports cars in the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, sharing a From A Racing (a lot of Japanese team names are very weird) Porsche 962C with Akihiko Nakaya and Yukihiro Hane. Notable results included 5th at Fuji and 2nd at Suzuka, for 27 points, placing them equal 11th. When the World Sportscar Championship held a round in Suzuka, Weidler joined Nakaya in a Swiss Team Salamin Porsche 962C, coming home in 10th place. |
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1991
Takes a history making victory for a Japanese team at Le Mans 24hrs |
1991 again saw Weidler race in both categories. In F3000, he drove his Kawai Steel Team Nova Lola T91/50 Mugen to 3rds at Sendai, Suzuka twice, and Fuji, and to victory at another race at Fuji, for 25 points and 3rd outright. In the JSPC, he and Nakaya remained with From A Racing, and driving a Nissan R91CK they scored three 2nds at Fuji, Suzuka and Sugo to come equal 7th with 52 points.
For many years, Japanese marques had also had their eyes set on the Le Mans 24 hour classic. Toyota and Nissan had tried in vain to win it, and Mazda had also joined the fray. In 1991, Mazda entered again via their works Mazdaspeed team, and placed their 787B chassis in the hands of Weidler, Bertrand Gachot and Johnny Herbert. In a major upset, they came through to record a famous win, by two laps. It was their only outing in the WSC that year, but it earned them 20 points and equal 16th overall. |
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1992
Medical grounds ends Volker's career; gets HHF a drive |
In 1992 Weidler's program remained similar. He again raced in F3000, and with his From A Nissan R91CK, shared now with Mauro Martini and Katsutomo Kaneishi, he had finished 2nd, 3rd and 3rd in the first three rounds of the JSPC. As Mazda prepared for their Le Mans defence with their new MXR-01 car, Weidler had raced with Maurizio Sala in the first round of the WSC at Monza, retiring with engine problems, before coming 4th at Le Mans with Gachot and Herbert, but 16 laps down.
But then, just as his career was on the way back up, Volker was diagnosed with tinnitus, a hereditary disease causing deafness, a constant buzzing in the ear, and a loss of balance. He was advised to take time off for an operation, but he decided to retire altogether, recommending to take over his drives a fellow German whose career had floundered, called Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Weidler ended up 8th in the 1992 JSPC with 39 points, and equal 23rd in the WSC with 10 points. |
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