Mike Rockenfeller
Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver, currently an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for Audi Sport Team Phoenix.
Mike Rockenfeller | |||||||||||
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Rockenfeller in 2014 | |||||||||||
Nationality | German | ||||||||||
Born | Neuwied, West Germany | 31 October 1983||||||||||
DTM career | |||||||||||
Debut season | 2007 | ||||||||||
Current team | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | ||||||||||
Car number | 99 | ||||||||||
Former teams | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | ||||||||||
Starts | 193 | ||||||||||
Championships | 1 (2013) | ||||||||||
Wins | 6 | ||||||||||
Podiums | 32 | ||||||||||
Poles | 7 | ||||||||||
Fastest laps | 9 | ||||||||||
Finished last season | 4th | ||||||||||
Previous series | |||||||||||
2008 2006 2005 2002-2004 2001 | Le Mans Series Rolex Sports Car Series FIA GT German Carrera Cup Formula König | ||||||||||
Championship titles | |||||||||||
2013 2008 2005 2004 | DTM Le Mans Series FIA GT Championship GT2 German Carrera Cup | ||||||||||
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Career
Rockenfeller began racing karts in 1995 at age of 11, winning the Bambini North state championship. He competed in various local and national karting series in the 1990s. In 2002, he won the Jörg van Ommen Kart Cup Super Series.
In 2001, Rockenfeller moved to cars, and finished 4th in the Formula König championship, winning one race. In 2002, he joined the Porsche Junior team and raced in the German Carrera Cup, finishing 10th, and in a partial Porsche Supercup season. In 2003, he finished 2nd in the German Carrera Cup championship, and made his American Le Mans Series debut at Petit Le Mans, finishing 10th in GT2 class. In 2004, Rockenfeller won the German Carrera Cup and also won two races in Porsche Supercup. That year he also raced in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 1000km of Nürburgring, and Petit Le Mans.
2005 became Rockenfeller's breakthrough year. He became a full Porsche factory driver and won the GT2 class driver championship title in the FIA GT Championship driving with Marc Lieb for GruppeM Racing. He collected 6 class wins, including the Spa 24 Hours. Rockenfeller also won the GT2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving with Lieb and Leo Hindrey for Alex Job Racing. 2006 saw him race again in the ALMS and Grand-Am series for Alex Job. He won in the ALMS at Houston and finished second in LMP2 class at Petit Le Mans, driving a Porsche RS Spyder for Penske Racing. He also took two Grand-Am wins.
For 2007, Rockenfeller became an Audi factory driver and raced an A4 DTM for Audi Sport Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Audi R10. In addition to DTM and having already moderate experience with Le Mans Prototype cars, in 2008 he drove for Audi Sport Team Joest in the Le Mans Series, alongside Alexandre Prémat. Despite not winning any races, Rockenfeller and Prémat won the title at the 2008 1000 km of Silverstone, after an accident on lap 46 for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, occupying the third Audi entry with Prémat and Lucas Luhr. After qualifying fifth, their entry finished in fourth place overall, seven laps down on winning team-mates Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.
For 2009, Rockenfeller continues in the DTM with Team Rosberg.[1]
Rockenfeller started the 2010 racing season winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona overall in the Action Express Racing Porsche Riley with co-drivers João Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, and Ryan Dalziel.
In the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rockenfeller was involved in a horrific accident while passing a slower GTE vehicle at 5:49 into the race. Shortly after nightfall, he was involved in a violent crash at the kinks on the straight between Mulsanne Corner and Indianapolis after near contact with the number 71 car of Robert Kauffman. Rockenfeller then climbed from his car and jumped to safety over the Armco barrier. He sustained a small flesh wound on his right arm and was admitted into a hospital overnight for observation.
Rockenfeller took part in the 2014 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race[2] in the Spirit of Daytona Corvette Daytona Prototype with Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante.
Accolades
- FIA GT Championship GT2 Champion: 2005
- 24 Hours Nürburgring overall winner: 2006
- 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 winner: 2005
- Spa 24 Hours GT2 winner: 2005
- 24 Hours of Daytona overall winner: 2010
- 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner: 2010
- Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Champion: 2013
Racing record
Complete Porsche Supercup results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | UPS Porsche-Junior Team | Porsche 996 GT3 | IMO 10 |
CAT | A1R | MON | NÜR 12 |
SIL | HOC Ret |
HUN 8 |
SPA | MNZ | IND | IND | NC‡ | 0‡ |
2003 | UPS Porsche-Junior Team | Porsche 996 GT3 | IMO | CAT | A1R | MON Ret |
NÜR 1 |
MAG | SIL 2 |
HOC 5 |
HUN | MNZ Ret |
IND | IND | NC‡ | 0‡ |
2004 | UPS Porsche-Junior Team | Porsche 996 GT3 | IMO | CAT | MON 1 |
IND | IND | MAG | SIL 2 |
HOC 1 |
HUN 3 |
SPA | MNZ 8 |
NC‡ | 0‡ | |
Eichin Racing-PZ Freiburg | NÜR 2 |
‡ - Not eligible for points.
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Orbit Racing BAM! |
Marc Lieb Leo Hindery |
Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 223 | DNF | DNF |
2005 | Alex Job Racing BAM! Motorsport |
Marc Lieb Leo Hindery |
Porsche 911 GT3-RSR | GT2 | 332 | 10th | 1st |
2007 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Lucas Luhr Alexandre Prémat |
Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 23 | DNF | DNF |
2008 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Lucas Luhr Alexandre Prémat |
Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 374 | 4th | 4th |
2009 | Audi Sport North America | Marco Werner Lucas Luhr |
Audi R15 TDI | LMP1 | 104 | DNF | DNF |
2010 | Audi Sport North America | Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas |
Audi R15 TDI plus | LMP1 | 397 | 1st | 1st |
2011 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas |
Audi R18 TDI | LMP1 | 116 | DNF | DNF |
2012 | Audi Sport North America | Oliver Jarvis Marco Bonanomi |
Audi R18 ultra | LMP1 | 375 | 3rd | 3rd |
2018 | Corvette Racing - GM | Jan Magnussen Antonio García |
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | GTE Pro |
342 | 18th | 4th |
2019 | Corvette Racing | Jan Magnussen Antonio García |
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | GTE Pro |
337 | 28th | 8th |
24 Hours of Daytona results
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results
(key)
† Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results
(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)
Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Spirit of Daytona Racing | P | Coyote Corvette DP | Chevrolet 5.5L V8 | DAY 4 |
SEB 10 |
LBH | LGA | DET | WGL | MOS | IMS | ELK | COA | PET 7 |
28th | 76 |
2015 | VisitFlorida.com Racing | P | Coyote Corvette DP | Chevrolet 5.5L V8 | DAY 3 |
SEB 3 |
LBH | LGA | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | COA | PET 5 |
14th | 89 | |
2016 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | DAY 2 |
SEB 9 |
LBH | LGA | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | COA | PET 4 |
14th | 85 |
2017 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | DAY 4 |
SEB 1 |
LBH | COA | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 2 |
11th | 95 |
2018 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 | DAY 3 |
SEB 8 |
LBH | MDO | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET | 16th | 53 |
2019 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 | DAY 6 |
SEB 3 |
LBH | MDO | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 4 |
18th | 83 |
2021 | Ally Cadillac Racing | DPi | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Cadillac 5.5 L V8 | DAY 2 |
SEB |
MDO |
DET |
WGL |
MOS |
ELK |
LGA |
LBH |
PET |
2nd* | 345* |
* Season still in progress.
References
- English, Steven (17 February 2009). "Audi confirms unchanged lineup". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 February 2009.
- theCheckeredFlag.co.uk
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike Rockenfeller. |
- Official website
- Mike Rockenfeller career summary at DriverDB.com
- Fourtitude Magazine profile
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by Frank Stippler |
Porsche Carrera Cup Germany Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Christian Menzel |
Preceded by Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy |
Le Mans Series Champion 2008 With: Alexandre Prémat |
Succeeded by Tomáš Enge Jan Charouz Stefan Mücke |
Preceded by David Brabham Marc Gené Alexander Wurz |
Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 With: Timo Bernhard & Romain Dumas |
Succeeded by Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer |
Preceded by Bruno Spengler |
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Champion 2013 |
Succeeded by Marco Wittmann |