Tom Kristensen (racing driver)


Tom Kristensen is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive. 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' 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 the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Elsewhere Kristensen also holds the record for most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring with a total of six.
In August 2014, Kristensen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark. In January 2018 he was inducted into the Danish Sports Hall of Fame.

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 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.
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. 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.

24 Hours of Le Mans

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. The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen did not 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. 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.

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLaps
1997 Joest Racing Michele Alboreto
Stefan Johansson		TWR Porsche WSC-95LMP3611st1st
1998 Team BMW Motorsport Hans-Joachim Stuck
Steve Soper		BMW V12 LMLMP160DNFDNF
1999 Team BMW Motorsport JJ Lehto
Jörg Müller		BMW V12 LMRLMP304DNFDNF
2000 Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP9003681st1st
2001 Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP9003211st1st
2002 Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP9003751st1st
2003 Team Bentley Rinaldo Capello
Guy Smith		Bentley Speed 8LMGTP3771st1st
2004 Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Seiji Ara
Rinaldo Capello		Audi R8LMP13791st1st
2005 ADT Champion Racing JJ Lehto
Marco Werner		Audi R8LMP13701st1st
2006 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP13673rd3rd
2007 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP1262DNFDNF
2008 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP13811st1st
2009 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R15 TDILMP13763rd3rd
2010 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R15 TDI plusLMP13943rd3rd
2011 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R18 TDILMP114DNFDNF
2012 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish
Rinaldo Capello		Audi R18 e-tron quattroLMP13772nd2nd
2013 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish
Loïc Duval		Audi R18 e-tron quattroLMP13481st1st
2014 Audi Sport Team Joest Marc Gené
Lucas di Grassi		Audi R18 e-tron quattroLMP1-H3762nd2nd

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLaps
1999 BMW Motorsport
Schnitzer Motorsport		 Jörg Müller
JJ Lehto		BMW V12 LMRLMP3131st1st
2000 Audi Sport North America Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP3601st1st
2001 Audi Sport North America Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP9003702nd2nd
2002 Audi Sport North America Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro		Audi R8LMP9003275th5th
2003 Team Bentley Guy Smith
Rinaldo Capello		Bentley Speed 8LMGTP3624th2nd
2005 ADT Champion Racing JJ Lehto
Marco Werner		Audi R8LMP13611st1st
2006 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP13491st1st
2007 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP13534th2nd
2008 Audi Sport North America Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R10 TDILMP13513rd1st
2009 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R15 TDILMP13831st1st
2011 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R15 TDI plusLMP13274th4th
2012 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish		Audi R18 TDILMP13251st1st
2013 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish
Lucas di Grassi		Audi R18 e-tron quattroP13642nd2nd

Complete Petit Le Mans results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

YearEntrant12345678910DCPoints
1996Edenbridge RacingNÜR
4		PAU
Ret		PERHOC
5		SIL
2		SPA
3		MAGESTMUG
4		HOC
Ret		7th18
1997Auto Sport RacingSIL
1		PAU
2		HEL
Ret		NÜR
3		PER
Ret		HOC
Ret		A1R
6		SPA
Ret		MUG
EX		JER
Ret		6th19

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

YearEntrant12345678910DCPoints
1994Navi Connection RacingSUZ
8		FUJ
9		MIN
9		SUZ
6		SUG
11		FUJ
9		SUZ
6		FUJ
Ret		FUJ
12		SUZ
4		9th5
1995Team CerumoSUZ
4		FUJ
C		MIN
1		SUZ
2		SUG
Ret		FUJ
4		TOK
3		FUJ
Ret		SUZ
5		3rd29
1996Navi Connection RacingSUZMINFUJTOKSUZSUGFUJMIN
8		SUZFUJNC0

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

YearTeamCarClass123456789101112131415161718192021222324PosPts
2000Redstone Team HondaHonda AccordTouringBRH
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*		7th143

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

YearTeamCar1234567891011PosPoints
2004Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2004HOC
4		EST
4		ADR
10		LAU
10		NOR
6		SHA1
Ret		NÜR
5		OSC
1		ZAN
6		BRN
2		HOC
4		4th43
2005Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2005HOC
Ret		LAU
2		SPA
3		BRN
2		OSC
5		NOR
7		NÜR
2		ZAN
4		LAU
3		IST
5		HOC
4		3rd56
2006Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2006HOC
2		LAU
2		OSC
1		BRH
18†		NOR
5		NÜR
5		ZAN
1		CAT
9		BUG
3		HOC
3		3rd56
2007Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2007HOC
Ret		OSCLAUBRHNOR
5		MUG
8		ZAN
18†		NÜR
8		CAT
9†		HOC
6		14th9
2008Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2008HOC
3		OSC
19†		MUG
3		LAU
16		NOR
7		ZAN
3		NÜR
Ret		BRH
7		CAT
13		BUG
8		HOC
5		8th27
2009Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2009HOC
1		LAU
12		NOR
8		ZAN
8		OSC
8		NÜR
Ret		BRH
19†		CAT
2		DIJ
18†		HOC
15		8th21
2011Abt SportslineAudi A4 DTM 2009HOCZANSPLLAU
7		NORNÜRBRHOSCVALHOC15th2

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

Other notable results