Marcel Tiemann (born 19 March 1974) is a retired racing driver from Germany. He is best known for being a five-time winner of the

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

race with

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

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

Career

Early series

Tiemann started his career in

Formula König Formula König was an open wheel racing series based in Germany and sponsored by German automobile company König Komfort- und Rennsitze GmbH (König comfort and racing seats GmbH). It ran from 1988 to 2004 as a single-seater feeder series. Its ...

before moving to

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

Germany. In 1994 he won the championship, and graduated to Formula 3. In 1996, Tiemann won the Formula 3 Monaco Grand Prix driving for Opel.

Sportscars

In 1997 Tiemann switched from single seaters to sportscars, and competed in the

FIA GT1 Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation, SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. ...

season for AMG. He won the round in Suzuka, and secured podiums at four other races. Returning for 1998, his best result was 2nd at Oschersleben. In 1999, he was entered to race at the

Le Mans 24h The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

endurance race. However, the Mercedes-Benz CLR he was driving was involved in two high profile accidents with Mark Webber driving, and the car was pulled out of the race. In 2001, he drove for Zakspeed in

V8Star The V8Star Series was a touring car racing series based in Germany that ran for three seasons between 2001 and 2003. The series featured privateer (motorsport), privateers racing One-Design#Motor_racing, identical cars that were covered in differ ...

Series finishing 2nd in the championship with two wins. Tiemann began racing in America in 2005, where he joined the American Le Mans Series and

Grand American Rolex Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. In 2008, he scored his best finish in GrandAm at Watkins Glen driving for GM.

DTM

In 2000, Tiemann joined the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series with Team Persson driving a Mercedes CLK in Original-Teile livery. Over 16 races, Tiemann scored 53 points and finished 10th in the Championship. In 2001, he switched to Manthey Racing, still driving a Mercedes, and over 3 races he scored his best finish in the series with 3rd at the Norisring. In 2002, Tiemann returned for 1 race at Hockenheim finishing 15th.

24 Hours Nürburgring

Tiemann's greatest successess have come in the

. He won his first in 2003 in the E1-XP class with OPC Team Phoenix's Opel Astra V8. He returned with the same team in 2004 and finished in 10th, before switching to the A7 class with Manthey Racing in their

for 2005. He would pilot the car to victory in 2006, the first of 4 back to back victories at the race; driving exclusively Manthey Porsche's.

Accident at Imola

In 2010, Tiemann joined the International GT Open driving an Audi R8. However, during the race at Imola on May 23, Tiemann collided with another car at the rolling start and was forced into a retaining wall at high speed. He sustained brain trauma, a fractured vertebra and broken ribs in the impact, and was placed in a medically induced coma to assist his recovery. He was moved to Germany, and later regained consciousness and mostly recovered, but has been unable to race due to the resulting neurological damage and other problems from the accident.

Racing record

Career Summary

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 (map ...

) (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.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Personal life

Tiemann lives in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, Spain with his wife and two children. He previously lived in Monaco. Following retirement from racing, he is a brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz and also runs a construction company building nursing homes in Germany. Tiemann's father is Hans-Jürgen Tiemann who won the 1997 and 1999 24 Hours Nürburgring races, the latter with Sabine Schmitz.

References

External links

* http://www.marceltiemann.com/ * http://www.marceltiemann.de/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiemann, Marcel 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Hamburg German racing drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Nürburgring_24_Hours_drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Speedcar Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Porsche Supercup drivers International GT Open drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Opel Team BSR drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers