Christian Danner fortune

Short introduction

Christian Danner (born April 4, 1958) – German racing driver, participant in the Formula 1 World Championship.

Early life

At the beginning of his career, he appeared at the German body championships with Renault 5 and BMW M1 vehicles. In 1982 he signed the contract as the main pilot with the Formula 2 March team. He drove in Formula 2 from 1982 to 1984. When the Formula 2 championship was converted into Formula 3000 in 1985, he became the first Formula 3000 champion. In 1985, at the end of the racing season, he started twice with a Tsakspeed -Car in the Formula 1 World Championship. In 1986 he started in Formula 1 for the Osella team, but switched to the Arrows team in the middle of the season, where he replaced the injured Mark Zurer. After an unsuccessful appearance in 1987, the Zakspeed team left Formula 1 for the German Touring Championship. In the 1989 season, he returned to Formula 1 of the Rial team. He only qualified four times throughout the championship, but at the US Grand Prix he achieved the best result in Formula 1 in fourth place. Since 1990 he has appeared in the Japanese series Formula 3000, CART, DTM and ITC. Danner has been participating in the GP Masters series since 2005. He also works as a sports commentator at RTL.

Career

The son of car safety expert Max Danner started his racing career immediately after graduating from high school in 1977. After a race in the Renault 5 Cup, Danner switched to the Formula 2 European Championship in 1981. During his years in Formula 2, Danner was a constant leader. He scored several podiums but was unable to win a race. Danner also set the F2 lap record of the current configuration of the old Nürburgring. Danner switched to the Formula 3000 Championship in 1985, which replaced the Formula 2 Championship. With four wins, Danner became the first Formula 3000 champion.

In 1985 Danner also made his Formula 1 debut with Zakspeed. He made two starts but was unable to finish races due to mechanical failures. For 1986 he signed with the Italian micro company Osella, but had trouble making an impression with the car and his underpowered Alfa Romeo engine. After not finishing a race in the first six races, Danner switched to the powerful BMW turbo engines from Arrows and scored his first point at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Danner returned to Zakspeed in 1987. The car was not competitive and often unreliable, and when Danner finished a race, the placement was always out of points. After driving touring cars in 1988, Danner returned to Formula 1 in 1989 with Rial Racing. The car was not very competitive here either, and fourth place in the 1989 US Grand Prix was the only highlight of the year. Danner was fired after the Portuguese Grand Prix after only qualifying for four races this year.

After his Formula 1 career, Danner regularly competed in the German Touring Car Championship. He made his debut in 1988 after finding no driving opportunity in Formula One. Danner started his touring car career impressively when he won both races at the Hockenheimring with a BMW M3. After only a few appearances in 1989 and 1990, Danner returned completely to the series in 1991. He had a disappointing season and only one point. 1993 was the best season for Danner. He scored six podiums and finished fifth in the points table. He also won a race in the non-championship round at Donington Park. Danner returned to victories in 1995 when he won a race at the Norisring. Danner drove touring cars until 1997. In 1991 he started in a race of the British Touring Car Championship in Thruxton with a BMW M3.

Danner competed in the Japanese Formula 3000 in 1990 for the Leyton House F3000 team. He scored 4 points and finished 14th. In the 1990s, Danner appeared several times in the Indy Car World Series. His best result was a seventh place at Homestead Miami in 1995. He also participated in the now defunct Grand Prix Masters series.

After his racing career, Danner became an F1 commentator for RTL in his home country of Germany.

Career highlights

In 2006 and 2011, Danner dubbed the animated film “Pixar Cars”, which included other drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Mika Hekkinen and Nicky Lauda, and Cars 2 – the character “Chris Dinner”. Christian Danner is a vegetarian.

After racing in Japan in 1990 and racing in the BTCC in 1991, Danner returned to his activities in the defunct CART (later Champ Car) in 1992. He made his debut for the Euromotorsport team at the Detroit GP. His best result was a 13th place in Nazareth, and the German ended his first season at CART without scoring a point. He stayed with Euromotorsport in 1993, where he scored two points thanks to his 11th place in Toronto. His last participation as a racing driver was at the Grand Prix Masters, a category in which former Formula 1 drivers met.