Roelof Wunderink

Nationality:	Dutch	Races Entered:	6
Date of Birth:	12 December, 1948	DNQ/DNPQ:	3
Teams:	Ensign (1975)	Best Result:	DNF (41 laps) USA, 1975

BIOGRAPHY

Before Formula One

Nowadays, the idea of drivers making their way up the racing ladder all the way to F1 with the assistance of a big sponsor is a fairly common occurrence. Enrique Bernoldi is where he is these days thanks to the help of Red Bull, and Alex Yoong has the weight of massive Malaysian backing behind him. But all this is nothing new; the convenient marriage of willing sponsor and grateful team has been around for decades, as the story of Roelof Wunderink from Eindhoven in Holland shows. Wunderink was by no means a natural, nor an early starter in motorsport. It took him until the age of 21 before he began competing in his homeland, racing a Simca in 1970. The following year he switched to open wheelers, racing in Formula Ford 1600. The experience helped; a second season in that class in 1972 saw Roelof walk away with the Dutch title. By this stage he had strong support from HB Bewaking Alarm Systems helping him along, and in 1973 he moved up to compete in F3 machinery.

Despite a lack of any notable results to speak of, by 1974 HB had pushed him into European F5000. Certainly there was nothing wrong with his machinery; although his Chevron B24 Chevrolet was second hand, it happened to be chassis number B24-73-04, the same car with which Teddy Pilette had won the title the previous year. But as Bob Evans headed towards the 1974 championship in his Lola T332, Wunderink made very little impression, and showed that he may have been pushed too far too soon. Nevertheless, by 1975 he had made it to F1 thanks to his HB support, although his results in lower formulae certainly did not suggest that he deserved a place amongst the elite. Perhaps Roelof felt the same way; after failing to qualify at the Monaco GP, he decided to use a spare weekend to compete in the European F5000 round at Zandvoort driving another Chevron B24, only to suffer a very nasty practice accident that left him with a broken cheekbone and concussion, and on the sidelines for several Grands Prix.

Formula One

At the start of 1975, HB was busy fast-tracking Wunderink into F1 whilst Mo Nunn was reflecting on a difficult first two seasons running his Ensign team in the World Championship. It fitted like a glove; HB could provide Ensign with much-needed sponsorship money, whilst Roelof could take advantage of Nunn's wealth of experience to learn the F1 ropes in a no-pressure atmosphere. The fact that Ensign were still running the previous year's N174 meant that little by way of results was expected. Wunderink's initial F1 outings came in two non-championship events. First there was the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. Here, Tom Pryce in the Shadow put himself on pole by a full second and went on to win the race. In contrast, Wunderink's Ensign N174 Cosworth was 8.7s slower in 18th spot, although only 0.4s off defending World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi's McLaren. He went on to finish, though, taking 10th place despite being 5 laps down. It would be his best ever result in an F1 race of any sort.

Less than a month later came the International Trophy at Silverstone. Here Roelof impressed in qualifying, recording the 17th fastest time, only 3.2s off the time set by James Hunt in the Hesketh. But when Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson and Arturo Merzario all pulled out before the race began, Wunderink found himself starting in 13th place in his N174, only for him to be forced into retirement after 29 of 40 laps due to some dangerously loose front bodywork. Wunderink's World Championship debut would then come in round 4 at the Spanish GP at Montjuich Park. As fate would have it, this would be one of the most controversial races in F1 history. After Emerson Fittipaldi sat on an armco barrier before practice, only for it to collapse under his weight, the leading figures in the Grand Prix Drivers' Association asked for the walls to be strengthened lest the drivers boycott the event. When the organisers refused, it looked as though Roelof's race was over before it began.

Practice on Friday saw only two drivers venture onto the grossly unsafe track, but by Saturday the drivers' resolve was beginning to crack. With enthusiasm to be expected from rookies, both Wunderink and Evans went out, and eventually all the drivers gave in to their team bosses' wishes for them to race, with the single exception of Fittipaldi. Perhaps showing a little less restraint than others, Roelof manage to qualify an excellent 19th, 3.2s off pole and ahead of the likes of Alan Jones and Wilson Fittipaldi. The barriers were certainly put to the test in the race, as Jones, Hunt, Pryce, Niki Lauda, Patrick Depailler, Mark Donohue and Carlos Pace all crashed out. Wunderink was up to 9th after 20 laps when his transmission failed and he was forced out. Eventually, of course, the race was stopped when Rolf Stommelen, in the lead in his Hill car, had his rear wing break and crashed into spectators, killing four of them and seriously injuring himself as the inadequacies of the armco barriers finally took their toll.

Jochen Mass was awarded the win, with Lella Lombardi becoming the only woman ever to score points by being classified 6th. But considering that she had started 24th whilst Wunderink had qualified 19th, this was very much a 'what might have been' story'. There was nothing unlucky about the next round at Monaco though, where Jones was the last man to qualify in 18th spot. By comparison, Wunderink was 23rd, 2.48s slower than the Australian and 5.2s off Lauda's pole, joining seven others in non-qualification. Then came his Zandvoort crash of course, after which countryman Gijs van Lennep temporarily took his seat, debuting the new Ensign N175 in the process, and even scoring a point with it at the Nurburgring. But when Roelof returned for round 10 at Silverstone, his efforts suggested that he might not have been fully fit. Qualifying left him and Hiroshi Fushida as the two non-qualifiers, with Wunderink some 5.66s away from pole, and 2.16s away from John Nicholson, who was 26th and last on the grid.

After missing the following event, Roelof was back for the Austrian GP, by which stage Ensign had gone back to the more reliable N174. Here Wunderink did make the grid, but in truth was as far off the pace as ever. With 28 cars allowed to start, he was 27th, some 7.73s off Lauda's pole time, and 2.86s slower than Harald Ertl who was 26th. The subsequent race then proved to be yet another controversial event, when the chequered flag was flown at half-distance due to the teeming rain. Vittorio Brambilla claimed the win in his March, before taking his hands off the wheel on the slow-down lap and promptly aquaplaning into a wall, destroying the front end of his car! Wunderink, meanwhile, had been pottering around at the back of the pack, running last in 18th spot and four laps down on Brambilla when the event was halted. But considering that only 29 laps of the race had been run, Roelof was not classified. Had he been lapped only three times he would have be been counted as finishing.

Then came the Italian GP at Monza, where once again the Dutchman failed to qualify. This time, though, he was only 5.4s behind Lauda's pole time, and only 0.31s slower than Merzario in the Fittipaldi, who was 26th and last on the grid. For the final race of the year at Watkins Glen, Wunderink was back in the N175, and he put it 22nd on the grid. In another race of attrition, Roelof was up to 10th place when his gearbox broke after 41 of the 59 laps, forcing him into retirement once again. In eight Formula One races in total and six World Championship outings, Wunderink had proven himself to be a driver capable of keeping the car on the road, but nonetheless somewhat out of his depth and unable in truth to be genuinely competitive. When Ensign returned for 1976, it was the brilliant New Zealander Chris Amon at the wheel. Wunderink, instead, could satisfy himself with the fact that he had had a decent go in F1, and brought his short motorsport career to an end in order to pursue other interests.

CAREER SUMMARY

Before Formula One
1970	• Began competing in a Simca in Holland.
1971	• Competed in Dutch Formula Ford 1600.
1972	• Dutch Formula Ford 1600, 1st overall.
1973	• Competed in selected F3 events.
1974	• Competed in European F5000 in a Chevron B24 Chevrolet.
1975	• European F5000, drove a Chevron B24 Chevrolet in practice at Zandvoort, injured in practice accident.
Formula One
1975	• Ensign N174/N175 Cosworth V8, 6 World Championship entries, 3 DNQs. • Race of Champions, 10th place in an Ensign N174 Cosworth. • International Trophy, retired in an Ensign N174 Cosworth.

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