Zakspeed

Zakspeed is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and then run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around 25 km from the Nürburgring circuit.

1973 to 1981: Saloon and sports car racing
Zakowski founded Zakspeed in 1973 with the ambition of competing in sports car racing. In the late 1970s, the team became the official Ford team in the German Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) series, a predecessor of the current DTM. Zakspeed constructed and entered an FIA Group 2 Escort and the Group 5 Capri, based on the MKIII production model. During this period, the team achieved a number of victories including the overall championship in 1981 with driver Klaus Ludwig.

In the early 1980s, Zakspeed also prepared a Mustang for Ford USA's Special Vehicle Operations to race in the domestic IMSA Camel GT series. The Mustang chassis was based on the Group 5 Capri.

1982 to 1989: Endurance cars and F1
In 1982, Zakspeed ran the works Ford C100 Group C effort in conjunction with the factory. The Zakspeed-prepared machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with Klaus Ludwig, Manfred Winkelhock and Marc Surer at the wheel. The car was a midfielder at best, although Jonathan Palmer and Desiré Wilson scored a 4th place overall the 1000 km of Brands Hatch in 1982. Ford Germany retracted their support and one car was sold to privateers, while the other chassis was evolved by Zakspeed into the C1/4 and the C1/8, making few appearances in international racing, but becoming a front-runner in the German Interserie, where it won the championship in 1984 with Klaus Niedzwiedz.

The engine was the basis for their Formula One entry from 1985 to 1988. Zakspeed became notable for building their own chassis and engine, something only Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault did at that time. After a maiden season with Jonathan Palmer, the team hired the first Formula 3000 champion Christian Danner and ex-Tyrrell driver Martin Brundle. The team's best result (and only points finish) was Brundle's 5th place in the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix.

For their final season, in 1989, Zakspeed switched to Yamaha engines as turbos were banned. The Japanese engine was unreliable and drivers Bernd Schneider (former German Formula 3 champion), Piercarlo Ghinzani and the rookie Aguri Suzuki struggled to pre-qualify the car. Schneider only qualified the car twice and retired both times, while Suzuki never got past pre-qualifying.

1990s and beyond: Return to sports and touring cars
After withdrawing from F1, Zakspeed focused again exclusively on sport cars. The team ran Mercedes 190E and Opel Calibra cars in the 1990s Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and the short-lived ITC series. Around this time, Peter Zakowski, who had raced in Formula 3 and endurance races (he had won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 997, 1999, 2001 and 2002) took over from his father.

In 1998, Zakspeed entered two Porsche 911 GT1 in the FIA GT Championship, where French Team Oreca dominated the GT2-class with their heavily modified Chrysler Viper GTS-Rs. One of these Vipers was purchased by Zakspeed to be entered on the Nürburgring VLN series to take advantage of the new, less restrictive rules for the 1999 season. Zakowski and his teammate dominated the 1999 season, winning every race, before the rules were altered for 2000 and the Porsche 996 GT3 showed up. The team won the 24 Hours Nürburgring again in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, against factory competition, they were disqualified due to a dispute over fuel tank size.

A company related to Zakspeed, Nitec, built the NASCAR-like V8-powered tube frame prototype cars of the V8Star Series Championship series which ran from 2001 to 2003. These identical cars used bodies modelled after road cars from Jaguar, BMW, Opel, Lexus and others. Zakspeed itself won in 2003 with Pedro Lamy in a Jaguar-bodied car.

In 2001, Zakspeed made a brief return to single-seaters with a foray into CART racing in the US in partnership with the long-established Forsythe Championship Racing.

In 2006, Zakspeed returned to the FIA GT Championship with the Saleen S7-R. The team also runs a racing school operating at the Nürburgring circuit.

Superleague Formula
In 2008, Zakspeed managed the Superleague Formula cars of Borussia Dortmund and Beijing Guoan, with the latter taking the overall title from such clubs as PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool F.C. and A.C. Milan. Dortmund took one win in the season and Beijing took three on the way to the title with driver Davide Rigon.

In 2009, Zakspeed managed Sporting CP (who won a race with Pedro Petiz) and R.S.C. Anderlecht.

Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)