ROLF STOMMELEN

 

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)