Frank Biela

Frank Stanley Biela (born 2 August 1964) is a German auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990. Biela notably won the 1991 Deutsche Tourenwagen Miesterschaft and the 1996 British Touring Car Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le mans five times and the 12 Hours of Sebring four times between 2000 and 2007. Biela also won the 1996 Macau Guia Race in the Super Touring class.

Biela started his career in 1983 in karting before joining the Ford Youngster Team programme in 1987 alongside Manuel Reuter and Bernd Schneider. He drove for the team in Formula Ford and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (the German touring car championship), where he won the race at AVUS in 1987. Biela continued to compete in the DTM in 1988, and also raced a limited season in German Formula Three, scoring two wins.

In 1990, Biela moved to Audi, winning the DTM race at the Nürburgring and the DTM championship in 1991 before Audi left the DTM in mid-season of 1992. Biela stayed with the company, and with the rise of the two-litre Class 2 (Super Touring) rules in other series across Europe, he was entered in various European touring car series over the following few seasons such as the French Supertouring Championship in 1993 driving the Audi 80 (in which he won the championship in) entered by Audi into the championship pairing alongside Marc Sourd. Since his French Supertouring Championship victory in 1993, he is the only standing non-French driver to win it. In 1995, he won the Touring Car World Cup race at Paul Ricard in the new Audi A4, which quickly became one of the dominant touring cars of the mid-1990s.

Biela also competed in the Super Tourenwagen Cup in his native Germany during 1994 and 1995; however his home championship would bring only frustration as in both years he dominated the first half of the season, only for late-season misfortunes to derail his title challenge, losing him the crown to BMW drivers Johnny Cecotto and Joachim Winkelhock respectively. During the AVUS Berlin race in September 1995, Biela's Audi struck Kieth O'dor's already accident-stranded Nissan Primera squarely on the driver's side, fatally injuring O'dor, who died later that day in a Berlin hospital.

For 1996, Audi decided to enter a works team of two A4s in the BTCC. Biela was selected to lead the team; alongside team-mate John Bintcliffe, the new Audi team dominated the competition. Biela comfortably won the title, finishing every single race and being classified in the top ten in all but two races (an 11th-place finish and a disqualification). He also capped an astonishing season by taking first place in the Guia Race of Macau.

Because of the Audis' dominance in 1996, the BTCC organisers imposed a heavy ballast weight "penalty" on all four-wheel-drive cars for the 1997 season. With his Audi badly handicapped by the penalty, Biela initially struggled to make a serious impact. The weight penalty was halved at the midpoint of the season, and results immediately improved to the point where Biela finished second overall to eventual champion Alain Menu. Biela then left Britain to return to the German Super Tourenwagen Cup for 1998, but was largely ineffective. He finished a lowly 14th in the final standings as the A4 (in a new two-wheel-drive racing configuration) became outclassed by rival manufacturers.

In 1999, Biela abandoned touring cars in favour of joining the Audi R8 sports car project, racing under the Audi Sport Team Joest name. It was a good match, and Biela excelled in sportscar racing over the next few seasons, winning several classic events at the wheel of the R8 as well as three ALMS races. The highlight of Biela's time with the R8 team was three successive victories (2000–2002) in the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen. Audi began to scale back support for the R8 programme after the 2002 season. After winning the ALMS series in 2003, Biela returned to the revamped German touring car series, driving an Audi for Joest Racing (the team which had run Biela's R8 for his three Le Mans wins); the season was not a success.

Biela continued to race an R8 at Le Mans each year with mixed results. In 2003, he missed the pit lane after just 15 laps and ran out of fuel. He finished 5th and 3rd in 2004 and 2005, respectively. In December 2005 he participated in the first runs of the new Audi R10 diesel sportscar, the R8's successor. Driving an R10 (again for Team Joest) in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside Pirro and new team-mate Marco Werner, Biela took his fourth victory to date in the classic race. He repeated the victory with the same car and team in 2007.

His greatest achievements include winning:

• 1991 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft German Touring Car Championship with an Audi V8 (he has also finished 2nd and 3rd in DTM)
• 1993 French Touring Car Championship
• 1995 short-lived Touring Car World Cup one-off race
• 1996 British Touring Car Championship (finishing as runner-up the year after)
• 1996 Macau Grand Prix Guia Race
• 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2007 12 Hours of Sebring
• 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans
• 2001 and 2005 Petit Le Mans
• 2003 American Le Mans Series LMP900 Drivers' Championship
• 2005 American Le Mans Series LMP1 Drivers' Championship
• In a 2005 poll conducted by Motorsport Magazine, Biela was voted 19th best touring car driver ever.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Pts
1987	Wolf Racing	Ford Sierra XR4 TI	HOC 12	ZOL 18	NÜR 6	AVU 1	MFA 5	NOR Ret	NÜR	WUN DNS	DIE 15	SAL															14th	59
1988	Team Hein Gericke Ford Grab Motorsport	Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth	ZOL1	ZOL2	HOC1	HOC2	NÜR1 11	NÜR2 7	BRN1 10	BRN2 4	AVU1	AVU2	MFA1 Ret	MFA2 17	NÜR1 7	NÜR2 Ret	NOR1	NOR2	WUN1 3	WUN2 3	SAL1	SAL2	HUN1 12	HUN2 7	HOC1 13	HOC2 9	16th	25
1989	Ford-Grab Motorsport GmbH	Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth	ZOL1 19	ZOL2 Ret	HOC1 13	HOC2 10	NÜR1 16	NÜR2 Ret	MFA1 14	MFA2 7	AVU1 Ret	AVU2 16	NÜR1 Ret	NÜR2 DNS	NOR1 14	NOR2 10	HOC1 7	HOC2 2	DIE1 10	DIE2 6	NÜR1 Ret	NÜR2 Ret	HOC1 2	HOC2 6			13th	135
1990	MS-Jet-Racing	Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo	ZOL1 10	ZOL2 5	HOC1 11	HOC2 Ret	NÜR1 7	NÜR2 5	AVU1 20	AVU2 Ret	MFA1 3	MFA2 3	WUN1 11	WUN2 9	NÜR1 4	NÜR2 1	NOR1 16	NOR2 9	DIE1 10	DIE2 15	NÜR1 20	NÜR2 Ret	HOC1 27	HOC2 DNS			10th	80
1991	Audi Zentrum Reutlingen	Audi V8 Quattro Evo	ZOL1 15	ZOL2 3	HOC1 19	HOC2 3	NÜR1 6	NÜR2 7	AVU1 2	AVU2 1	WUN1 5	WUN2 4	NOR1 5	NOR2 11	DIE1 4	DIE2 6	NÜR1 8	NÜR2 11	ALE1 1	ALE2 DSQ	HOC1 1	HOC2 1	BRN1 11	BRN2 7	DON1 1	DON2 1	1st	174
1992	Audi Zentrum Reutlingen	Audi V8 Quattro Evo	ZOL1 3	ZOL2 Ret	NÜR1 1	NÜR2 18	WUN1 DSQ	WUN2 DSQ	AVU1 Ret	AVU2 8	HOC1 21	HOC2 14	NÜR1 14	NÜR2 15	NOR1	NOR2	BRN1	BRN2	DIE1	DIE2	ALE1	ALE2	NÜR1	NÜR2	HOC1	HOC2	15th	35
2004	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC 16	EST 15	ADR Ret	LAU 12	NOR 11	SHA 13	NÜR Ret	OSC 13	ZAN 9	BRN 14	HOC 11														17th	0
2007	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2007	HOC	OSC 18†	LAU	BRH	NOR	MUG	ZAN	NÜR	CAT	HOC															23rd	0
Sources:

• † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
• A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

Complete Italian Superturismo Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Pts
1994	Audi Sport Italia	Audi 80 Quattro		MNZ1	MNZ2	VAL1	VAL2	MAG1	MAG2	BIN1	BIN2	MIS1	MIS2	VAL1	VAL2	MUG1 9	MUG2 6	PER1 10	PER2 DSQ	VAR1 1	VAR2 1	MUG1 9	MUG2 3	11th	57
1996	Audi Sport Italia	Audi A4 Quattro		MUG1	MUG2	MAG1	MAG2	MNZ1	MNZ2	BIN1	BIN2	MIS1	MIS2	IMO1	IMO2	PER1	PER2	PER1	PER2	VAR1 4	VAR2 Ret	VAL1	VAL2	20th	10

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
1994	Racing Organisation Course	Audi 80 Quattro Competition	AVU 1	WUN 1	ZOL 2	ZAN 1	ÖST 10	SAL 15	SPA 4	NÜR 3													2nd	98
1995	Racing Organisation Course	Audi A4 Quattro	ZOL1 1	ZOL2 1	SPA1 3	SPA2 Ret	ÖST1 2	ÖST2 1	HOC1 1	HOC2 1	NÜR1 3	NÜR2 3	SAL1 17	SAL2 10	AVU1 7	AVU2 17	NÜR1 Ret	NÜR2 5					3rd	391
1998	Abt Sportsline Team Audi	Audi A4	HOC1 13	HOC2 Ret	NÜR1 14	NÜR2 12	SAC1 Ret	SAC2 11	NOR1 20	NOR2 Ret	REG1 10	REG2 5	WUN1 8	WUN2 Ret	ZWE1 13	ZWE2 11	SAL1 14	SAL2 9	OSC1 11	OSC2 8	NÜR1 6	NÜR2 11	14th	242
Source:

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	Pos	Pts
1996	Audi Sport UK	Audi A4 quattro	DON1 1	DON2 1	BRH1 1	BRH2 4	THR1 1	THR2 3	SIL1 11	SIL2 1	OUL1 2	OUL2 2	SNE1 2	SNE2 DSQ	BRH1 2	BRH2 8	SIL1 3	SIL2 2	KNO1 1	KNO2 2	OUL1 2	OUL2 1	THR1 2	THR2 3	DON1 4	DON2 3	BRH1 4	BRH2 1	1st	289
1997	Audi Sport UK	Audi A4 quattro	DON1 Ret	DON2 3	SIL1 7	SIL2 Ret	THR1 1	THR2 Ret	BRH1 9	BRH2 6	OUL1 3	OUL2 Ret	DON1 1	DON2 3	CRO1 4	CRO2 17	KNO1 2	KNO2 1	SNE1 3	SNE2 9	THR1 2	THR2 1	BRH1 1	BRH2 5	SIL1 8	SIL2 15			2nd	171
Sources:

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Didier Theys Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8R	LMP	360	3rd	3rd
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	368	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	321	1st	1st
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	375	1st	1st
2003	Audi Sport UK Arena Motorsport	Perry McCarthy Mika Salo	Audi R8	LMP900	28	DNF	DNF
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Allan McNish Pierre Kaffer	Audi R8	LMP1	350	5th	5th
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Allan McNish Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP1	364	3rd	3rd
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	380	1st	1st
2007	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	369	1st	1st
2008	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	367	6th	6th
Sources:

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Perry McCarthy Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8R	LMP	304	5th	5th
2000	Audi Sport North America	Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	LMP	360	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport North America	Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	LMP900	370	2nd	2nd
2002	Audi Sport North America	Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	LMP900	327	5th	5th
2003	Infineon Team Joest	Marco Werner Philipp Peter	Audi R8	LMP900	367	1st	1st
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Allan McNish Pierre Kaffer	Audi R8	LMP1	350	1st	1st
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Emanuele Pirro Allan McNish	Audi R8	LMP1	361	2nd	2nd
2006	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	117	DNF	DNF
2007	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	364	1st	1st
Source:

Complete Porsche Supercup results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points	Ref
2007	Porsche AG	BHR	BHR	ESP	MON	FRA	GBR	GER 18	HUN	TUR	BEL	ITA	NC‡	0‡

‡ Not eligible for points due to being a guest driver.

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.	Ref
1989	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Sierra RS500	A	161	2nd	2nd
1990	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Klaus Niedzwiedz Pierre Dieudonné	Ford Sierra RS500	1	151	10th	10th
1997*	ORIX Audi Sport Australia	Brad Jones	Audi A4 Quattro		161	2nd	2nd

* Super Touring race