Marcel Fässler (born 27 May 1976) is a Swiss retired racing driver. From 2010 to 2016 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of

Audi Sport Team Joest Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Early years As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began ...

with co-drivers

André Lotterer André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver currently racing for Avalanche Andretti Formula E in the FIA Formula E Championship. He is best known for his success in endurance racing with the works Audi tea ...

and

Benoît Tréluyer Benoît Tréluyer (; born 7 December 1976) is a French professional racing driver. Early career Beginning his motorsport career in motocross and karting, Alençon-born Tréluyer switched to single-seaters in Formula Renault Campus for 1995. He w ...

, winning the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

three times (2011, 2012, and 2014) and capturing the World Endurance Drivers' Championship in 2012.

Professional career

Touring car racing

Born in Einsiedeln, Fässler began competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes-Benz when it resumed in 2000. He finished 4th with no wins in 2000, 4th with one win in 2001 and in 2002 and 3rd with one win in 2003, all four seasons with a

Mercedes-Benz CLK The Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class is a former series of mid-size or entry-level luxury coupés and convertibles produced by Mercedes-Benz between 1997 and 2010. Although its design and styling was derived from the E-Class, the mechanical underpinnings ...

. He moved to

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

and an Opel Vectra GTS V8 for 2004 and 2005, where he finished 9th and 12th with no wins after which the brand retired from the DTM. Marcel also drove the Formula One Mercedes-Benz safety car for one event in Canada, while regular driver

Bernd Mayländer Bernd Mayländer (born 29 May 1971 in Waiblingen) is a German racing driver and current Formula One safety car driver. Racing career Bernd started his career in karting sport at the end of the 1980s. In the following years he made his way to t ...

was off due to an injury. He was on track for three laps after a crash involving Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and Ferrari's

Rubens Barrichello Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 Toy ...

. He also worked as a successor in Monaco.

Sports car racing

Fässler switched to sports cars in 2006, finishing second at the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...

in a Phoenix Aston Martin DBR9 and collecting two overall podiums at the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

for Swiss Spirit. In 2007, he returned to open-wheel racing for

A1 Team Switzerland A1 Team Switzerland is the Swiss team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the third season, 2007-08. Management A1 Team Switzerland is owned by Max Welti. History In the inaugural s ...

in the 6th round of the A1 Grand Prix series held in Taupo, New Zealand, and in the 9th round at the

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a motorsport race track in Mexico City, Mexico, named after the racing drivers Ricardo (1942–1962) and Pedro Rodríguez (1940–1971). The circuit got its name shortly after it opened when Ricardo Rodr� ...

, Mexico. He also won the

on a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R for Phoenix Carsport. For 2008, Fässler joined the team for the full

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughou ...

season. Sharing a GT1 class Corvette with Jean-Denis Delétraz, he won two races, finished 7th in the standings and helped the team finish 2nd at the teams championship. The same year he finished 2nd at the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

Road America race on a works

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 design ...

for Audi Sport North America. LMP1 team Sebah hired Fässler for the

2009 Le Mans Series season The 2009 Le Mans Series was the sixth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It was contested over five events between 5 April and 13 September 2009. Aston Martin Racing trio Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished e ...

, having a 2nd-place finish as best result. In addition, he and Joël Camathias were crowned International GT Open overall and Super GT class champions in a Trottet-fielded Ferrari F430. He also retired at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a works GT1 class Corvette and finished 4th in the GT2 class of the petit Le Mans, also for Corvette Racing. Audi works team Joest hired Fässler to drive the Audi R15 TDI plus at three 2010 races: Spa (12th), Le Mans (2nd) and Petit Le Mans (6th). He also retired at the 24 Hours of Spa running a Phoenix

Audi R8 LMS The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...

. In 2016 Marcel re-joined

Corvette Racing Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and ...

for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and won the GTLM Class in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with regular season drivers

Oliver Gavin Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972), is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, five 12 Hours of Sebring class wins ...

and

Tommy Milner Tommy Milner (born January 28, 1986), is an American GM factory racing and test driver, also currently employed full-time in Corvette Racing. He is also the co-owner of Team Hype Sim. He was featured in 2011 racing video game Shift 2: Unleashed ...

by the smallest ever margin of victory 0.034 seconds.

Racing record

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters 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 (ma ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) *† — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance. ¹ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Britcar 24 Hour results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

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

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fassler, Marcel 1976 births Living people Swiss racing drivers Formule Campus Renault Elf drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers A1 Team Switzerland drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers FIA GT Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers International GT Open drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers People from Einsiedeln 24H Series drivers Sportspeople from the canton of Schwyz Audi Sport drivers HWA Team drivers Team Joest drivers W Racing Team drivers Oreca drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Corvette Racing drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Rebellion Racing drivers La Filière drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers