Christian Bakkerud (3 November 1984 – 11 September 2011) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

racing driver, who competed in the 2007 and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

seasons, albeit hindered by a recurrent back injury. Prior to GP2 he competed in British Formula 3 and

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young k ...

Career

Formula BMW

Bakkerud competed in

from 2002 to 2004, joining the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

version of the series in the latter year after two seasons in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Formula Three

Bakkerud competed in British Formula 3 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 The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

and the Ultimate Masters of Formula Three race.

GP2 Series

Bakkerud took part in the 2007 GP2 Series season for the DPR team, paired with

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...

Andy Soucek Andy may refer to: People * Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pi ...

. The season was disappointing, as Bakkerud failed to score any points. He also suffered back injuries, trapping nerves whilst racing on two separate occasions. He moved to the

Super Nova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a mass ...

team for the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, reinforcing his unlucky reputation by retiring from all but three of the races. He remained for the 2008 GP2 Series proper, he suffered a recurrence of his back injury after a collision with

Ben Hanley Benjamin Michael Hanley is a British racing driver who was a part of Renault F1 Team's Renault Driver Development Program from 2006 to 2008. He raced two seasons part time in the NTT IndyCar Series. Currently he is racing in the FIA World Endu ...

in the first race. He was replaced by Soucek whilst he recovered, and made his return to the cockpit at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, after missing the championship round at

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. He crashed at the start of the sprint race at Monaco, briefly going airborne after hitting

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...

. He did not suffer a recurrence of his back injury despite a heavy landing. 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.

DTM

In 2009, Bakkerud raced in the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

in a two-year-old Audi A4 for Futurecom-TME.

Le Mans

Bakkerud also made his

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

début in , driving an

Audi R10 TDI The Audi R10 TDI, usually abbreviated to R10, is a diesel-powered racing car from the German car manufacturer Audi. The car dominated Le Mans, winning each year from its 2006 introduction until it was replaced by the R15 in 2009. It was designe ...

privately entered by

Colin Kolles Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic 13 December 1967 in Timișoara) is a Romanian-German former team principal and managing director of the Hispania Racing F1 Team, previously holding a similar position at the team known under the names Jordan, ...

's team. Paired with Christijan Albers and

Giorgio Mondini Giorgio Mondini (Born July 19, 1980) is an automobile racing driver from Geneva, Switzerland. Career Mondini began his competitive racing career at the age of 21, when he came 26th in the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup series. In 2002 he made his ...

, he finished ninth overall and in class. He returned to the event in with the same team and car, but on this occasion he, Albers and

Oliver Jarvis Oliver Jarvis (born 9 January 1984) is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Mazda Team Joest. Jarvis won the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona with Meyer Shank Racing. Early life Bor ...

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.

Death

On 10 September 2011, Bakkerud was involved in a car crash at the Tibbet's Corner roundabout at Putney Heath, near

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...

. He died a day later, in St George's Hospital, from his injuries. He was driving an

Audi RS6 The Audi RS 6 is a high-performance variant of the Audi A6 range, produced by the high-performance subsidiary company Audi Sport GmbH, for its parent company Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, from 2002 onwards. The first and se ...

at the time of the accident; a police investigation followed. 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, high concrete barrier on the inside of the dual lane roundabout. The car then flipped over the barrier, fell down a steep 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 Traffic barriers (sometimes called Armco barriers,AK Steel (formerly Armco) genericized trademark also known in North America as guardrails or guard rails and in Britain as crash barriers) keep vehicles within their roadway and prevent them fro ...

prior to the barrier impact some six metres later. 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 10 September. 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.

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

driver

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...

also paid tribute to Bakkerud by wearing a helmet featuring his initials.

Racing record

Complete GP2 Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(

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

Complete DTM results

(

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

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

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakkerud, Christian 1984 births 2011 deaths GP2 Series drivers Danish racing drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Formula BMW ADAC drivers Formula BMW UK drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Road incident deaths in London Carlin racing drivers Sportspeople from Copenhagen Audi Sport drivers Kolles Racing drivers Super Nova Racing drivers David Price Racing drivers Team Rosberg drivers