Tom Kristensen

Le Mans drivers
Name = Tom Kristensen


Nationality = flagicon|Denmark Danish
Years = 1997 -
Team(s) = Joest Racing, BMW Motorsport, Audi Sport Joest, Team Bentley, Audi Sport Goh, Champion Racing
Best Finish = 1st (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008)
Class Wins = 8 (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008)

Tom Kristensen (born July 7 1967 in Hobro) is a Danish racing driver. He has won many championships in auto racing but his most famous achievement is being the only person to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans eight times, six of which were consecutive (from 2000-2005). 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.

Career

Tom's career began in 1984, winning several karting titles. He raced in Japan in the early 90s, concurrently in Formula 3 and Touring Cars. He was Japanese Formula 3 champion in 1993, and runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) 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.

On April 22, 2007, Tom Kristensen was involved in an accident while racing on the Hockenheimring race course in Hockenheim, Germany. [http://politiken.dk/sport/article288794.ece da icon] 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 recouperated 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. [http://politiken.dk/sport/article288849.ece da icon]

24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2000, 2001, and 2002 he won the 24 Hours at Le Mans race with the powerful 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 equaled Ickx's record of six Le Mans victories in Team Goh's Audi R8. 2005 saw Kristensen win a record seventh time with an American R8 entry. The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen didn't finish the 2007 race following Capello's crash while the car was leading the race by eight laps. But Kristensen returned in 2008 to claim an eighth victory. Which was a record breaking win, most winning driver at the Le Mans 24 with 8 wins. cite web | title = Audi edges Peugeot in classic Le Mans 24 Hours duel | publisher = MaximumMotorsport.co.uk | date = 2008 | url = http://www.maximummotorsport.co.uk/2008/06/15/audi-edges-peugeot-in-classic-le-mans-24-hours-duel/ | accessdate =2008-06-15]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete DTM results

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

** Season in progress

Notes

External links

* [http://tomkristensen.com Official Tom Kristensen website]