Bert Anders Olofsson (31 March 1952 – 22 January 2008) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Racing career

He won back-to-back Swedish

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

titles in 1977 and 1978 and finished runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in the same seasons. He won three consecutive Japanese Touring Car titles as a works Nissan driver and triumphed in the 1991

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 CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

, driving a

Nissan Skyline The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in ...

with

David Brabham David Philip Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians to have ...

and

Naoki Hattori is a motoring journalist and racing driver from Japan. After he won the Japanese Formula 3 championship in 1990, he failed to pre-qualify for two Formula One Grands Prix with Coloni in 1991 as a late-season replacement for Pedro Chaves. He ra ...

. From 1988 to 1995, Olofsson competed six times in the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

touring car race in Australia, all with

Gibson Motorsport Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1985 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Serie ...

. He drove in the 1988 Tooheys 1000 with

Glenn Seton Glenn Michael Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship, 1993 and 1997 Australian Touring Car Championship, 1997 while driving for his own ...

in a

Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in ...

, though the pair failed to complete a lap after the gearbox broke when Seton changed from second to third gear only seconds after the rolling start (the same fate had befallen Seton and Olofsson on lap 3 of the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (commercially titled Penrite, Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Auto racing, motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The even ...

just three weeks earlier, the traditional lead in to Bathurst). In

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

he returned, driving with

George Fury George Fury (born 31 January 1945, in Hungary) is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Aus ...

in a HR31 Skyline to finish fourth. After a two-year absence he returned for Winfield Racing (Gibson) in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

(the final year of

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

) in a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R to finish third outright with television commentator turned racer

Neil Crompton Neil Crompton (born 30 July 1960) is an Australian former racing driver and current Supercars presenter and commentator. Racing career Highlights According to the official V8 Supercars website, Crompton has competed in 357 various motor raci ...

. Despite Australian touring car racing abandoning Group A at the end of 1992 and moving to a V8 formula, Olofsson was held in such regard by the Fred Gibson run team that he was invited to return in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and finished fourth with

in a

Holden VP Commodore The Holden Commodore (VP) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 1991 to 1993. It was the second iteration of the second generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VP) and Holden Calais (V ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

to drive with veteran

Colin Bond Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian former racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...

(the 1969 race winner) to finish sixth in a VP Commodore. Olofsson's last Bathurst 1000 was again with the Gibson team in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

where he teamed with

Steven Richards Steven James Richards (born 11 July 1972) is a New Zealand-Australian racing driver, currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. Richards, the son of seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Jim Richards (race driver), Jim Ri ...

in a

Holden VR Commodore The Holden Commodore (VR) is a full-size car which was produced by Holden from 1993 to 1995. It was the third iteration of the second generation of the Holden Commodore. The VR range included the luxury variants, Holden Commodore Berlina (VR) a ...

to again finish fourth. Olofsson finished second overall and won the GT1 class of the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Gulf

McLaren F1 The McLaren F1 is a sports car that was the first Motor vehicle type approval, type approved road-going sportscar manufactured by British Formula One team McLaren. It was the last road-legal, series-produced sportscar to win the 24 Hours of Le ...

with

Jean-Marc Gounon Jean-Marc Gounon (born 1 January 1963) is a French racing driver. He raced in Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédérati ...

and

Pierre-Henri Raphanel Pierre-Henri Raphanel (born 27 May 1961) is a French former racing driver. He participated in 17 Formula One Grands Prix for Larrousse, Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems, Coloni and Rial Racing, Rial, debuting on 13 November 1988. He only qualified ...

. He retired from racing at the end of 1997 and worked in driver management with Swedish racers in the

Swedish Touring Car Championship Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) was a touring car racing series based in Sweden, but also with rounds in Norway. They began operating in 1996, heavily influenced by the British Touring Car Championship and the success of BTCC racing on ...

Death

Olofsson died in his sleep on 22 January 2008, aged 55.

Career Results

Complete European Formula 3 results

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

Complete Spa 24 Hour results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (–1993) results

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

Complete JGTC results

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

Complete FIA GT Championship results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olofsson, Anders 1952 births 2008 deaths Swedish racing drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers FIA European Formula 3 Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Japanese Touring Car Championship drivers Nismo drivers Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers Team LeMans drivers