Claudia Hürtgen (born 10 September 1971 in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

) is a German racing driver.

Biography

Hürtgen started her career in

karting 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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

and moved to German

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 ...

. In 1993, during the F3 invitational race of the

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...

weekend, she suffered hand injuries in a roll-over crash, which ended her single-seater career. She began racing again with

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

in 1995, winning the Austrian championship, followed with

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

, in which she scored class wins, in an LMP-675 class car or a

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

, in 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 racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

as well as in the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

and 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 2000, she returned to the site of her crash, to win the Monaco Historic Grand Prix in a

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

. Between 2003 and 2004, she was champion in Germany's

Deutsche Tourenwagen Challenge Deutsch ( , ) or Deutsche ( , ) may refer to: * or : the German language or in particular Standard German, spoken in central European countries and other places *Old High German language refers to Deutsch as a way to define the primary characteris ...

(DTC), which was renamed ''

DMSB The German Motor Sport Federation ( or ''DMSB'', formerly known as or ''ONS'') is Germany's motor racing governing body. It represents Germany at FIA and FIM. The , founded in 1972 by Herbert Linge as , is considered the first mobile track ma ...

-Produktionswagen-Meisterschaft'' (DPM). In 2005, Team Schubert and Hürtgen moved on the VLN endurance racing series on the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

Nordschleife. Hürtgen won the VLN championship in 2005, making her the first female champion since

Sabine Schmitz Sabine Schmitz (; 14 May 1969 – 16 March 2021) was a German professional motor racing driver and Celebrity, television personality. She was born in Adenau to a family in the hotel and catering business, and raised in one of the villages nestl ...

in 1998. At the 2006

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

, Hürtgen drove two cars for a total of 11 hours, scoring 5th place among 220 cars with a 245 bhp BMW 120d. 2011 saw Hürtgen compete with Team Schubert (as Team

Need for Speed ''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games (the developers of the ''Burnout'' series). Most entries in the series are generally arcade racing games centered ...

) in the

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

and in various endurance races. She won the

Dubai 24 Hour The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome in Dubai, UAE. It was inaugurated in 2006. Entrants and participants As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dut ...

and finished 2nd overall 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 CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

having started from 49th on the grid, in addition to her three podiums in the FIA GT3 season. In 2021, Hürtgen was set to compete in

Extreme E Extreme E was an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series that used spec silhouette electric SUVs to race in remote parts of the world, such as the Saudi Arabian desert or the Arctic. All racing locations were chosen to raise awaren ...

with ABT CUPRA XE alongside

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 ...

. She only took part in the opening event, the 2021 Desert X-Prix. Hürtgen won the Série A2 (open to pre-1961 front-engined Grand Prix cars) race of the 2022 Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, onboard a Ferrari 246.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Extreme E results

( key)

References

External links

* 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Aachen Racing drivers from Cologne (region) German female racing drivers German racing drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers European Touring Car Cup drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Extreme E drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Abt Sportsline drivers {{Germany-autoracing-bio-stub RSM Marko drivers Cupra Racing drivers 24H Series drivers