Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver. A long-term

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG (Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG v ...

and

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

factory driver, he currently works for

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

. He is the 2012 DTM champion.

Career

Early career

Spengler was born near Strasbourg, France but moved with his parents to Saint-Hippolyte, Quebec, Canada, when he was 3. He went to school in Canada but continued to go back to France where he started competing in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

in 1995. Spengler continued karting in both France and Canada and then moved on to competing in the French Formula Renault. Eventually this led to him being signed by Mercedes-Benz motorsport and in 2003 he was racing for ASM in the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

DTM

From 2005 until the end of 2011, Spengler drove a Mercedes in the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, commonly abbreviated as the DTM, is a sports car racing series sanctioned by ADAC. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The series currently races a modified version of Group GT3 gra ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 2005 he ran with Persson Motorsport and he convinced AMG directors to have an official car in 2006. That year he finished the 2006 season second behind his teammate and five times champion Bernd Schneider. He completed the 2007 season campaign once again in second place, this time behind Audi driver

Mattias Ekström Bengt Mattias Ekström (born 14 July 1978) is a racing and rally driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship ...

, despite Audi's mass pull-out in Barcelona. In August 2007 he was mentioned in a possible move to the new

Prodrive F1 Prodrive F1 Team was the name of a proposed Formula One team to be run by Prodrive. The team was selected by the FIA in 2006 to be the 12th entry into the 2008 Formula One season, 2008 Formula One world championship. In November 2007, a legal ch ...

team for 2008, and possibly for a drive with McLaren. Spengler was a leading candidate for an F1 driver's seat based on his performances and also it was thought to help drive up interest in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

for

Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

. With Prodrive gone and

Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish auto racing, racing and rally driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren. In sportscar racing, Kovalainen won Super GT ...

signed for McLaren, this did not happen for 2008. While leading the DTM in points during the 2010 season, Spengler's name was again brought up as a possible candidate to drive in F1. Norbert Haug Mercedes motorsports director commented that if Spengler were to win the DTM championship he would earn a ride in F1. However, he lost the championship in the last few races to Paul di Resta who went on to drive for

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...

in the next F1 season. 2014 DTM HockenheimringII Bruno Spengler by 2eight 8SC1927

For the 2012 season, Spengler left Mercedes and joined

Team Schnitzer for the latter's return to DTM. Spengler had a strong season, coming into the last race at the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring, officially Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other mot ...

three points behind leader and Mercedes driver Gary Paffett. He overtook Paffett at the start and held on to win the race. With this victory, his fourth of the season, Spengler took the Driver's Championship by four points and helped Team Schnitzer to the Teams' Championship and BMW to the Manufacturers' Championship.

Formula E

Spengler became, alongside Beitske Visser, one of the test and reserve drivers for

Andretti Autosport Andretti Global is an American motorsports organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, Indy NXT, Formula E, and joint entries in IMSA and the Australian Supercars Championship. Starting in 2026, Andretti will also operate the Cad ...

ahead of the 2018–19 Formula E season.

Sportscar racing

Spengler left the DTM after the 2019 season and switched focus to endurance racing. He debuted in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

in 2020 for ByKolles Racing, won once for BMW Team RLL in the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

's GTLM class, and was crowned Italian GT Sprint champion in 2023. After two years in the Japanese Super GT Championship, he parted ways with BMW at the end of 2024. In 2025, Spengler joined Alsatian sports car manufacturer

in the role of "Pilote Officiel", taking over from Pierre-Henri Raphanel.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

( key) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Spengler was a guest driver he was ineligible to score points.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Super GT results

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spengler, Bruno 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Schiltigheim Canadian people of French descent Canadian people of German descent Racing drivers from Quebec Karting World Championship drivers North American Formula Renault drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champions 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers ART Grand Prix drivers BMW M drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers HWA Team drivers Racing Bart Mampaey drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Kolles Racing drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Rowe Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Canadian racing drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers Bugatti people