Marc Surer

Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1979. He scored a total of 17 championship points.

Marc Surer
Born (1951-09-18) 18 September 1951
Arisdorf, Switzerland
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Swiss
Active years19791986
TeamsEnsign, ATS, Theodore, Arrows, Brabham
Entries88 (82 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points17
Fastest laps1
First entry1979 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry1986 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing career

Surer started his career in karting in 1972. Due to the racing ban established in Switzerland after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, he moved to Germany in 1974, where he finished second in the local Formula Vee Championship. In 1976, he switched to European Formula 3, where he was noticed by Jochen Neerpasch, who hired him as a member of the BMW Junior Team alongside Eddie Cheever and Manfred Winkelhock. In 1978, he finished second in the Formula 2 Championship, eventually winning the series the following year in a works March-BMW.

Surer's debut in Formula 1 took place at the end of 1979 and was somewhat troubled. He broke his legs in qualifying at the South African Grand Prix in an ATS at Kyalami in 1980 and again racing there in 1981 for Ensign. He recovered to give Ensign their best result with a 4th-place finish at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, also setting the fastest lap of the race. He later drove for Theodore before establishing himself at Arrows for a couple of seasons, until BMW's support earned him a seat at Brabham for 1985. Surer returned to Arrows in 1986 but eventually retired from Formula One halfway through the season due to serious accident at the 1986 ADAC Hessen-Rallye in his Ford RS200 severely injured him and killed his co-driver and friend Michel Wyder. BMW retained him as a driver, coach and later director of motorsport activities. In 1994 and 1995, Surer, alongside Johnny Cecotto and Jo Winkelhock, won the German Super Touring Car Championship.

In 1996, Surer began working as a television commentator at all Formula 1 events for Sky Sport (Germany) (formerly known as DF1 and Premiere) next to the lead commentator Jacques Schulz. After Schulz's withdrawal prior to the 2013 season, he has remained commentator alongside Sascha Roos.

Formula One all-time ranking

In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Surer was ranked the 17th best Formula One driver of all time.[1]

Personal life

Surer has been married twice to former Playboy models, first to Playmate Jolanda Egger, and then to Christina Surer between 1997 and 2000. On 3 December 2011 he married his longtime partner Silvia Renée Arias.[2]

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

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

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos. Pts
1976 Hohmann Racing Chevron B35 BMW HOC THR VAL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NOG HOC
DNQ
NC 0
1977 Hohmann Auto Technik March 762 BMW SIL
9
THR
7
HOC
Ret
NÜR VAL
7
PAU MUG
5
ROU
Ret
NOG
7
PER MIS EST 13th 5
March Engineering March 772P DON
4
1978 Polifac BMW Junior Team March 782 BMW THR
2
HOC
2
NÜR
4
PAU
3
MUG
2
VAL
9
ROU
3
DON
3
NOG
2
PER
Ret
MIS
2
HOC
2
2nd 51
1979 Polifac BMW Junior Team March 792 BMW SIL
DNS
HOC
Ret
THR
9
NÜR
1
VAL
1
MUG
Ret
PAU
3
HOC
5
ZAN
3
PER
Ret
MIS
3
DON
2
1st 38
1981 Marcus Hotz Racing March 812 BMW SIL HOC
Ret
THR
12
NÜR VAL MUG PAU PER SPA DON MIS MAN NC 0

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1979 Team Ensign Ensign N179 Cosworth V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA
DNQ
CAN
DNQ
USA
Ret
NC 0
1980 Team ATS ATS D3 Cosworth V8 ARG
Ret
BRA
7
NC 0
ATS D4 RSA
DNS
USW BEL MON FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
12
AUT
12
NED
10
ITA
Ret
CAN
DNQ
USA
8
1981 Ensign Racing Ensign N180B Cosworth V8 USW
Ret
BRA
4
ARG
Ret
SMR
9
BEL
11
MON
6
ESP 16th 4
Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY01 FRA
12
GBR
11
GER
14
AUT
Ret
NED
8
ITA
DNQ
CAN
9
CPL
Ret
1982 Arrows Racing Team Arrows A4 Cosworth V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL
7
MON
9
DET
8
CAN
5
NED
10
GBR
Ret
FRA
13
GER
6
AUT
Ret
ITA
Ret
21st 3
Arrows A5 SUI
15
CPL
7
1983 Arrows Racing Team Arrows A6 Cosworth V8 BRA
6
USW
5
FRA
10
SMR
6
MON
Ret
BEL
11
DET
11
CAN
Ret
GBR
17
GER
7
AUT
Ret
NED
8
ITA
10
EUR
Ret
RSA
8
15th 4
1984 Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW Arrows A6 Cosworth V8 BRA
7
RSA
9
BEL
8
FRA
Ret
MON
DNQ
CAN
Ret
DET
Ret
20th 1
Arrows A7 BMW
Str-4 t/c
SMR
Ret
DAL
Ret
GBR
11
GER
Ret
AUT
6
NED
Ret
ITA
Ret
EUR
Ret
POR
Ret
1985 Motor Racing Developments Ltd. Brabham BT54 BMW
Str-4 t/c
BRA POR SMR MON CAN
15
DET
8
FRA
8
GBR
6
GER
Ret
AUT
6
NED
10
ITA
4
BEL
8
EUR
Ret
RSA
Ret
AUS
Ret
13th 5
1986 Barclay Arrows BMW Arrows A8 BMW
Str-4 t/c
BRA
Ret
ESP
Ret
SMR
9
MON
9
BEL
9
CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR MEX AUS NC 0

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1978 Artos Francy Sauber PP AG Eugen Straehl
Harry Blumer
Sauber C 5 S
2.0
257 NC NC
1981 Würth-Lubrifilm Team Sauber David Deacon
Dieter Quester
BMW M1 Gr.5
207 DNF DNF
1982 Ford-Werke AG
Zakspeed
Klaus Ludwig
Manfred Winkelhock
Ford C100 C 67 DNF DNF

Sources

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Bruno Giacomelli
European Formula Two
Champion

1979
Succeeded by
Brian Henton
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