24h Le Mans
Born February 15th, 1974, Alexander Wurz was a young winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the mid-1990s, before becoming one of the brightest endurance specialists in the late 2000s.
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Photo : DOMINIQUE BREUGNOT/ACO
Alexander Wurz's career is an echo of his personality: unique and atypical. Thus, he is often seen driving with shoes of two different colors (red and blue in most cases). The sport that afforded him his first successes was BMX biking, of which he became World Champion at the age of twelve before moving to karting in 1989. His spectacular results in Formula Ford and Formula 3 drew the attention of Reinhold Joest, who in 1996 invited him to start the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the TWR Joest-Porsche WSC prototype. His first race ended in victory (with Davy Jones and Manuel Reuter) that made the Austrian, at twenty-two years of age, the youngest winner of the event!
After ten years in Formula 1 (sixty-nine Grands Prix and three podiums), Alexander Wurz made his return to endurance with Peugeot in 2008 (fifth at Le Mans). The following year, he won his second 24 Hours, along with the Spaniard Marc Gené and David Brabham of Australia. After retiring from the race in 2010 and finishing fourth in 2011, he left Peugeot to join Toyota. Since then, he finished fourth at Le Mans in 2013 and has racked up four wins in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). With seven entries in the 24 Hours, Alexander Wurz has two wins, has always finished in the top 5 and has retired from the race only twice. And in 2014, he intends to play spoilsport at Le Mans with Toyota facing Audi and Porsche. A possible third success in front of the two most successful automakers at the 24 Hours would definitely become legend.
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO
The 82nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 14th and 15th (ticket information and entry list).
Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY JUNE 19 2013, PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING. Since his return to endurance, Alexander Wurz (left) has claimed a second victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2009) and has also won the 12 Hours of Sebring (2010) and Petit Le Mans (2011).
