Loris Kessel
Swiss racing driver (1950-2010)
Loris Kessel (1 April 1950, 15 May 2010) was a Swiss racing driver.
01Biography
Kessel was born in Lugano, Switzerland.
Following a couple of season in Formula Two, where he managed to finish fourth twice at Hockenheim driving for the March team, Kessel made his debut in Formula One.
Kessel participated in six Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 May 1976, driving a Brabham for RAM.
In 1977, he drove his own Apollon-Williams. He scored no championship points.
Following his retirement from competitive motorracing in 1981, Kessel established a series of car dealerships in Switzerland as well as his own racing team, competing in Ferrari Challenge series in Italy and the main European series. The team also competes in the FIA GT3 European Championship with the same car.
In 2010, Kessel died in Montagnola, Switzerland, after a battle with leukemia.
His son Ronnie continues to operate the Kessel cars dealership.
02Racing 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 | 14 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Team Vonlanthen | March 742 | BMW | BAR | HOC | PAU | SAL | HOC | MUG | KAR | PER | HOC | VAL Ret |
NC | 0 | ||||
| 1975 | Ambrozium Racing Team | March 742 | BMW | EST Ret |
THR NC |
HOC 4 |
NÜR Ret |
PAU 8 |
HOC 4 |
SAL DNQ |
ROU | 15th | 7 | ||||||
| March 752 | MUG Ret |
PER | SIL NC |
ZOL Ret |
NOG | VAL 8 | |||||||||||||
| 1981 | Horag Hotz Racing | March 812 | BMW | SIL | HOC | THR | NÜR 12 |
VAL | MUG Ret |
NC | 0 | ||||||||
| Astra Team Merzario Srl | Merzario M1 | PAU DNPQ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Horag Hotz Racing | March 802 | PER Ret |
SPA | ||||||||||||||||
| Astra Team Merzario Srl | March 812 | DON 19 |
MIS | MAN |
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | RAM Racing | Brabham BT44B | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP DNQ |
BEL 12 |
MON | SWE Ret |
FRA DNQ |
GBR | GER | AUT NC |
NED | ITA | CAN | USA | JPN | NC | 0 | |
| 1977 | Jolly Club of Switzerland | Apollon Fly | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | MON | BEL | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA DNQ |
USA | CAN | JPN | NC | 0 |
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Carma F.F. (Cheetah) | Jean-Pierre Frey Ruggero Melgrati Aldo Bertuzzi |
Alba AR2-Carma | C2 | - | DNS | DNS |
| 1993 | Obermaier Racing GmbH | Otto Altenbach Jürgen Oppermann |
Porsche 962C | C2 | 355 | 7th | 3rd |
| Source: | |||||||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Loris Kessel”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 1976 BRDC International Trophy, Loris Kessel.jpg by Martin Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0
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