Marc Surer
Marc Surer is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1979. He scored a total of 17 championship points.
Racing career
Surer started his career in karting in 1972. Due to the racing ban established in Switzerland after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, he moved to Germany in 1974 where he finished second in the local Formula Vee Championship. In 1976 he switched to European Formula 3, where he was noticed by Jochen Neerpasch who hired him as a member of the BMW Junior Team alongside Eddie Cheever and Manfred Winkelhock. In 1978 he finished second in the Formula 2 Championship, eventually winning the series the following year in a works March-BMW.Surer's debut in Formula 1 took place at the end of 1979 and was somewhat troubled. He broke his legs in qualifying at the South African Grand Prix in an ATS at Kyalami in 1980, and again racing there in 1981 for Ensign. He recovered to give Ensign their best result with a 4th place at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, also setting the fastest lap of the race. He later drove for Theodore before establishing himself at Arrows for a couple of seasons, until BMW's support earned him a seat at Brabham for 1985. Surer returned to Arrows in 1986 but eventually retired from Formula One halfway through the season.
Surer moved on to rallying, but a serious accident at the 1986 ADAC Hessen-Rallye in his Ford RS200 severely injured him and killed his co-driver and friend Michel Wyder. BMW retained him as a driver, coach and later director of motorsport activities. In 1994 and 1995 Surer, alongside Johnny Cecotto and Jo Winkelhock won the German Super Touring Car Championship.
In 1996 Surer began working as a television commentator at all Formula 1 events for Sky Sport next to the lead commentator, Jacques Schulz. After Schulz's withdrawal prior to the 2013 season, he has remained commentator alongside Sascha Roos.
Formula One all-time ranking
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Surer was ranked the 17th best Formula One driver of all time.Personal life
Surer has been married twice to former Playboy models, first to Playmate Jolanda Egger, and then to Christina Surer between 1997 and 2000. On 3 December 2011 he married his longtime partner Silvia Renée Arias.Racing record
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pts | |
| Hohmann Racing | Chevron B35 | BMW | HOC | THR | VAL | SAL | PAU | HOC | ROU | MUG | PER | EST | NOG | HOC DNQ | NC | 0 | ||
| Hohmann Auto Technik | March 762 | BMW | SIL 9 | THR 7 | HOC Ret | NÜR | VAL 7 | PAU | MUG 5 | ROU Ret | NOG 7 | PER | MIS | EST | 13th | 5 | ||
| March Engineering | March 772P | BMW | DON 4 | 13th | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Polifac BMW Junior Team | March 782 | BMW | THR 2 | HOC 2 | NÜR 4 | PAU 3 | MUG 2 | VAL 9 | ROU 3 | DON 3 | NOG 2 | PER Ret | MIS 2 | HOC 2 | 2nd | 51 | ||
| Polifac BMW Junior Team | March 792 | BMW | SIL DNS | HOC Ret | THR 9 | NÜR 1 | VAL 1 | MUG Ret | PAU 3 | HOC 5 | ZAN 3 | PER Ret | MIS 3 | DON 2 | 1st | 38 | ||
| Marcus Hotz Racing | March 812 | BMW | SIL | HOC Ret | THR 12 | NÜR | VAL | MUG | PAU | PER | SPA | DON | MIS | MAN | NC | 0 |
Complete Formula One World Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
| 1979 | Team Ensign | Ensign N179 | Cosworth V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | BEL | MON | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA DNQ | CAN DNQ | USA Ret | NC | 0 | |
| 1980 | Team ATS | ATS D3 | Cosworth V8 | ARG Ret | BRA 7 | NC | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 1980 | Team ATS | ATS D4 | Cosworth V8 | RSA DNS | USW | BEL | MON | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | GER 12 | AUT 12 | NED 10 | ITA Ret | CAN DNQ | USA 8 | NC | 0 | ||||
| 1981 | Ensign Racing | Ensign N180B | Cosworth V8 | USW Ret | BRA 4 | ARG Ret | SMR 9 | BEL 11 | MON 6 | ESP | 16th | 4 | |||||||||
| 1981 | Theodore Racing Team | Theodore TY01 | Cosworth V8 | FRA 12 | GBR 11 | GER 14 | AUT Ret | NED 8 | ITA DNQ | CAN 9 | CPL Ret | 16th | 4 | ||||||||
| 1982 | Arrows Racing Team | Arrows A4 | Cosworth V8 | RSA | BRA | USW | SMR | BEL 7 | MON 9 | DET 8 | CAN 5 | NED 10 | GBR Ret | FRA 13 | GER 6 | AUT Ret | ITA Ret | 21st | 3 | ||
| 1982 | Arrows Racing Team | Arrows A5 | Cosworth V8 | SUI 15 | CPL 7 | 21st | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 1983 | Arrows Racing Team | Arrows A6 | Cosworth V8 | BRA 6 | USW 5 | FRA 10 | SMR 6 | MON Ret | BEL 11 | DET 11 | CAN Ret | GBR 17 | GER 7 | AUT Ret | NED 8 | ITA 10 | EUR Ret | RSA 8 | 15th | 4 | |
| 1984 | Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW | Arrows A6 | Cosworth V8 | BRA 7 | RSA 9 | BEL 8 | FRA Ret | MON DNQ | CAN Ret | DET Ret | 20th | 1 | |||||||||
| 1984 | Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW | Arrows A7 | BMW Str-4 t/c | SMR Ret | DAL Ret | GBR 11 | GER Ret | AUT 6 | NED Ret | ITA Ret | EUR Ret | POR Ret | 20th | 1 | |||||||
| 1985 | Motor Racing Developments Ltd. | Brabham BT54 | BMW Str-4 t/c | BRA | POR | SMR | MON | CAN 15 | DET 8 | FRA 8 | GBR 6 | GER Ret | AUT 6 | NED 10 | ITA 4 | BEL 8 | EUR Ret | RSA Ret | AUS Ret | 13th | 5 |
| 1986 | Barclay Arrows BMW | Arrows A8 | BMW Str-4 t/c | BRA Ret | ESP Ret | SMR 9 | MON 9 | BEL 9 | CAN | DET | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | AUT | ITA | POR | MEX | AUS | NC | 0 |