7/11/1943, Siegen, Germany
Deceased Riverside, USA 4/24/1983
Starts: 54
Points: 14
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:0
Rarely is a driver’s first Formula 1 season
his absolute best, especially when a driver hasa long GP career, as was
Stommelen’s case. A sports car driver by excellence, who was drafted into the
Porsche team after some useful hill climbing performances, Stommelen got a crack
in the Formula 1 circus in the F2 section of the German Grand Prix, in 1969. He
was 8th in the race and 9th in class, driving a Lotus for Roy Winkelmann. His
Formula 1 debut proper took place in the South Africa GP of 1970. Aided by
sponsorship from the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Rolf was retained by
Brabham to run alongside team boss Jack. Rolf normally qualified poorly, save
for a 7th place in Belgium, but ended up scoring points in four occasions. The
first time was in Belgium, where he finished 5th. He placed 5th in Germany as
well, and then had an excellent 3rd in Austria, followed by a third straight
points paying position, in Italy. This gave Stommelen a total of 10 points for
the year, showing he had some talent as a single seater driver as well. For
1971, Rolf took his magazine sponsorship to the Surtees team, but in spite of
racing competitively in the non-championship Argentine race, the relationship
with Surtees did not gell. Rolf did score points on two occasions, in Monaco,
6th place, and Silverstone, 5th, and his best qualifying performances were 10th
in Holland and France. Not surprisingly, Rolf was not back at Surtees the
following year, instead was lured to drive for the newly formed Eifelland team.
The car was essentially a March 721 with a novel, if ineffective, body by
Lurani. The car was never even close to competitive, however, Stommelen showed
reliability finishing 6 races. By the end of the year the team folded, and
Stommelen was out of a GP drive. An opportunity arose in 1973, when Andrea de
Adamich got injured in the British GP, vacating the third Brabham entry. With
the BT42 Rolf had a halfway decent car, in fact qualifying 9th in Monza,
however, there were no points scored that year. Still Alfa Romeo’s fastest
sports car driver in 1974, Stommelen was
hired by Graham Hill’s team after the Austrian GP. He did qualify well for three
of the races, certainly pleasing team boss Hill. As a result, Stommelen was
retained for 1975. Still using the year old Lola, Rolf finished the first three
GPs of the season, placing 7th place in South Africa. For Spain, the team’s car
name was changed to Hill, and Stommelen was placed 9th in the grid. The race was
very confusing, with an accident right at the start, and several lead changes.
Merzario and the Fittipaldi brothers pretty much boycotted the race, retiring
after a single, slow lap, on the grounds that the circuit was very dangerous. In
the 17th lap of the race, Stommelen suddenly found himself in the lead, which he
held for a few laps, until his car left the track, in the 25th lap, hitting the
Armco barriers and killing spectators. Rolf himself was sufficiently injured to
be out for most of the year, and another German ended up winning the first
“half-race” of the year, Jochen Mass. Stommelen eventually came back, doing the
Austrian and Italian races, but was not competitive. For 1976 Stommelen was back
at Porsche, but certainly due to his Alfa Romeo contacts, got a ride in the
Brabham Alfa Romeo at the Nurburgring, after practing in the hopeless RAM
Brabham. Rolf did really well finishing the tragic race in 6th place, earning
the last point of his Formula 1 career. He was called to race one of the
Heskeths in Zandvoort, finishing 12th, and was given another crack at the Alfa
engined Brabham, at the Italian GP, replacing the outgoing Reutemann. 1977 was a
very successful season for Rolf, but there was no F1. He won the German
Championship after a yearlong tussle with Bob Wollek, impressing enough to be
hired by the Warsteiner sponsored Arrows for the 1978 season. Rolf was not
competitive at Arrows, while teammate Patrese showed plenty of pace on occasion.
By the latter part of the year Stommelen was not even qualifying for races, thus
bringing to a close his Formula 1 career. Rolf continued to race sports cars for
years, in fact meeting his death while driving one of his beloved Porsches in
Riverside, in 1983.
OUTSIDE FORMULA
1
Formula 2:
Brabham, March, Lotus, Surtees, Chevron
Sports cars:
Porsche (904, 906, 907, 908, 910, 911, 917, 934, 935, 935 Mobydick, 936, )
Alfa-Romeo, Lotus Elite, Toyota Celica Group 5, Chevron BMW, TOJ, Rondeau,
Lancia LC1
Touring cars: Ford
Capri, Alfa-Romeo, BMW, Mercury(Ford NASCAR)
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