Christian Bakkerud

Christian Bakkerud
Nationality	Danish
Born	November 3, 1984(1984-11-03) Copenhagen
Died	September 11, 2011(2011-09-11) (aged 26) Tooting, London
Previous series
2002-2004 2005-2006 2007-2008 2009	Formula BMW British F3 Championship GP2 Series Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2009 - 2010
Teams	Kolles
Best finish	9th (2009)
Class wins	0

Christian Bakkerud (November 3, 1984 – September 11, 2011) was a Danish racing driver, who competed in the 2007 and 2008 GP2 Series seasons, albeit hindered by a recurrent back injury. Prior to GP2 he competed in British Formula Three and Formula BMW.

Career

Formula BMW

Bakkerud competed in Formula BMW from 2002 to 2004, joining the British version of the series in the latter year after two seasons in Germany.

Formula Three

Bakkerud competed in British Formula Three in 2005 and 2006. Having finished seventh in the championship in 2005, he improved to sixth place in 2006, and also scored his first series win for Carlin at Mugello in 2006 - arguably his career highlight. During this time he also competed in the Macau Grand Prix and the Ultimate Masters of Formula Three race.

GP2 Series

Bakkerud driving for Super Nova in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season.

Bakkerud took part in the 2007 GP2 Series season for the DPR team,^[1] paired with Spaniard Andy Soucek. The season was disappointing, as Bakkerud failed to score any points. He also suffered back injuries, trapping nerves whilst racing on two separate occasions.^[2]

He moved to the Super Nova team for the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, reinforcing his unlucky reputation by retiring from all but three of the races.^[3] He remained for the 2008 GP2 Series proper, he suffered a recurrence of his back injury after a collision with Ben Hanley in the first race.^[4] He was replaced by Soucek whilst he recovered,^[5] and made his return to the cockpit at Monaco, after missing the championship round at Istanbul. He crashed at the start of the sprint race at Monaco, briefly going airborne after hitting Kamui Kobayashi. He did not suffer a recurrence of his back injury despite a heavy landing.^[6] However, the injury flared up once more following a testing session, and he withdrew from the rest of the season on medical grounds. He was replaced by Soucek.^[7]

DTM

Christian Bakkerud on the Hockenheimring 2009

In 2009, Bakkerud raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in a two-year-old Audi A4 for Futurecom-TME.

Le Mans

Bakkerud also made his Le Mans début in 2009, driving an Audi R10 TDI privately entered by Colin Kolles's team. Paired with Christijan Albers and Giorgio Mondini, he finished ninth overall and in class. He returned to the event in 2010 with the same team and car, but on this occasion he, Albers and Oliver Jarvis failed to finish.

Retirement

Bakkerud retired from driving following the 2010 Le Mans race. In the year prior to his death, he worked as an import manager at a shipping company.^[8]

Death

On September 10, 2011, Bakkerud was involved in a car crash at the Tibbet's Corner roundabout at Putney Heath, near Wimbledon Common. He died a day later, in St George's Hospital, from his injuries. He was driving an Audi RS6 at the time of the accident; a police investigation is ongoing.^[8][9] Travelling south on the A219 on Tibbet's Ride from Putney Hill, the car appeared to fail to negotiate a left turn into the large roundabout itself and instead travelled onwards and hit a thick, 1.5-metre (4.9 ft) high concrete barrier on the inside of the dual lane roundabout. The car then flipped over the barrier, fell down a steep 3-metre (9.8 ft) grass incline before smashing through the steel fence separating the bridleway and pedestrian/cyclist underpass routes. Crash investigators used yellow spray paint to mark skid and impact points on the road and where the car flipped over the barrier. The straight skid marks showed his car crossed from nearside to inside lane, as the road veered left at the roundabout entry, before it made a glancing blow on a heavy steel crash barrier prior to the barrier impact some six metres later.^{[citation needed]}

Within a week a large number of flower bouquets were left at the location where the car came to rest. Police had also erected a yellow sign appealing for witnesses, which stated the accident occurred at about 6am on September 10.

Formula One team HRT, led by Colin Kolles, added a tribute to Bakkerud to the livery of their cars during the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix weekend.^[10] McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton also paid tribute to Bakkerud by wearing a helmet featuring his initials.

Racing record

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	David Price Racing	BHR FEA 13	BHR SPR Ret	ESP FEA 12	ESP SPR Ret	MON FEA Ret	FRA FEA Ret	FRA SPR 12	GBR FEA Ret	GBR SPR 21	EUR FEA Ret	EUR SPR 18	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR DNS	TUR FEA DNQ	TUR SPR DNQ	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	BEL FEA 12	BEL SPR Ret	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	32nd	0
2008	Super Nova Racing	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	MON FEA 10	MON SPR Ret	FRA FEA	FRA SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	EUR FEA	EUR SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR		27th	0

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2008	Super Nova Racing	UAE1 FEA Ret	UAE1 SPR 11	IND FEA Ret	IND SPR 14	MAL FEA Ret	MAL SPR Ret	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR Ret	UAE2 FEA Ret	UAE2 SPR 9	27th	0

Complete DTM results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos	Points
2009	Audi	HOC1 14	LAU 14	NOR 15	LAU DSQ	OSC	NÜR 13	BRH 16	CAT 17	DIJ Ret	HOC2 12	19th	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2009	LMP1	15	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Kolles	Christijan Albers Giorgio Mondini	360	9th	9th
2010	LMP1	15	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Kolles	Oliver Jarvis Christijan Albers	331	DNF	DNF

References

• Career statistics from driverdb.com, retrieved January 24, 2007.

1. ^ "DPR sign Bakkerud for 2007". autosport.com. 2007-01-17. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56352. Retrieved 2007-01-17. 
2. ^ Bradley, Charles (August 2007). "GP2's new faces suffer on debuts". Autosport 189 (6): p.15. 
3. ^ "'Bad luck' Bakkerud gets a break". crash.net. 2008-04-14. http://www.crash.net/motorsport/gp2/news/162036-0/bad_luck_bakkerud_gets_a_break.html. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
4. ^ "Mixed fortunes for Super Nova duo". autosport.com. 2008-04-27. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66939. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
5. ^ "Soucek replaces injured Bakkerud". autosport.com. 2008-05-06. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67175. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
6. ^ "Bakkerud fit after Monaco shunt". autosport.com. 2008-05-28. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67805. Retrieved 2008-05-28. 
7. ^ "Confirmed: Soucek back for Bakk". crash.net. 2008-06-18. http://www.crash.net/motorsport/gp2/news/165053-0/confirmed_soucek_back_for_bakk.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Oakes, Omar (2011-09-12). "Racing car champion Christian Bakkerud dies after A3 crash in Tibbets Corner, Wimbledon". yourlocalguardian.co.uk (Newsquest Media Group). http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/wimbledonnews/9245989.Racing_car_champion_dies_after_A3_crash/. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
9. ^ Freeman, Glenn. "Christian Bakkerud killed in car crash". Autosport.com. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94514. Retrieved September 12, 2011. 
10. ^ "Hamilton leads shortened first session". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 23 September 2011. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/9/12555.html. Retrieved 24 September 2011. "The cars bore messages to the late Christian Bakkerud, the Danish GP2 and F3 driver who died of brain injuries recently following a car accident in the UK." 

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Bakkerud, Christian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 3, 1984
Place of birth	Copenhagen
Date of death	September 11, 2011
Place of death	Wimbledon, United Kingdom