MARK LYNDON Austrian name still in racing

Press, 20 November 1987, Page 26

MARK LYNDON

Austrian name still in racing

When the Austrian racing driver, Niki Lauda, retired at the end of the 1985 grand prix season, most observers probably thought it would be quite some time before Austria would produce another driver capable of emulating the success of the former triple world champion.

It is therefore rather surprising to find that just two years on from Lauda’s retirement, compatriot, Gerhard Berger is winning grand prix races in the same dominant manner as his famous predecessor. The 28-year-old Ferrari driver has hit the headlines with recent consecutive victories in Japan and Australia in a season, that for the best part, has been dominated by the Williams-Honda cars of the Brazilian world cham-

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pion, Nelson Piquet and the Briton, Nigel Mansell.

The last time Ferrari scored back-to-back victories was in 1981, when the French-Canadian, Gilles Villeneuve, won the Monaco and Spanish events.

Berger’s rise to the top ranks of Formula One has been meteoric. His career began by racing motorcycles in mountain races and from there, he progressed to cars, driving a borrowed Ford Escort to victory in his first race. Following a season driving in the Alfasud series, Berger found he had enough money to compete in the German Formula Three championship, driving a Kaufmann-Martini. Despite finishing third in

GEORGE TANNER

the German Series, he decided to quit motor racing to concentrate on a trucking business he was running at the time. Berger then met a fellow countryman and former Formula One driver, Dr Helmut Marko and together they raised enough money for Berger to drive in the European Formula Three championship.

Towards the end of the 1984 season, Berger made his grand prix debut with the A.T.S. team and several weeks later, narrowly escaped death after breaking his neck in a road accident.

Ignoring medical advice, he left hospital and flew to England to sign a contract for the Arrows

Formula One team. Undaunted by the lack of good results, Berger finished the season with Arrows and signed up with the Benetton-BMW team for 1986, partnering the Italian, Teo Fabi.

The Austrian’s potential really began to show with 'Benetton, and he gained a front row position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa and was leading his home grand prix at the Oesterreichring before falling victim to electrical gremlins in his car. After the envious task of trying to decide who to drive for, Berger chose to follow in the footsteps of Lauda and put his signature on the dotted line of a Ferrari contract at the expense of the Swedish driver, Stefan Johansson. As if to show Ferrari they had made a wise

decision in signing him up, he went out and won the Mexican Grand Prix, giving Benetton the parting gift of its first ever grand prix triumph.

For most of this season Ferrari found themselves, like everybody else, victims of the WilliamsHonda domination but as the world championships series neared it completion the tide began to turn and in the Honda homeland, it all fell apart for Piquet and Mansell as Berger notched up his second win and Ferrari’s first since the Italian team leader, Michele Alboreto triumphed in West Germany two years ago.

Berger repeated his Japanese triumph in Adelaide last week-end and has set the team on course for a successful season next year.