Hans-Joachim Stuck

Although Hans-Joachim Stuck never quite made the grade in Formula 1, he has been one of the greatest and most spectacular sports car stars of all time. The son of pre-war Grand Prix winner Hans Stuck, he first raced a BMW 2002Ti at the Nürburgring when 18 years old and won the circuit’s inaugural 24-hour race a year later in 1970.

Further touring car success followed with victory in the 1972 Spa 24 Hours when sharing a works Ford Capri RS2600 with Jochen Mass. He ended the year by winning the German Racing Championship for sports cars to confirm a new star.

Formula 1 and F2 with March

He had already made his Formula 2 debut at the Nürburgring in 1971 and Stuck concentrated on that category in 1973 driving a works March 732-BMW. On pole position at the Nürburgring, he made his GP debut for the team in the 1974 Argentine GP. Stuck finished fifth in his third GP (South Africa) and was fourth next time out in Spain. However, he failed to qualify on a couple of occasions during an inconsistent campaign. He also ran a parallel F2 programme and dominated early on – winning the first two rounds before eventually finishing as runner-up behind Patrick Depailler.

Stuck always showed promise in sports cars and the 1975 Sebring 12 Hours with a BMW 3.0 CSL was the first of five victories in IMSA that year. Initially overlooked for F1 in favour of Lella Lombardi, he returned to March at mid-season and qualified fourth in Austria but finished no higher than eighth. He remained with the team for 1976 and opened the season with fourth position in the Brazilian GP. He repeated that result in Monaco and won two F2 races at Hockenheim but his career needed to progress.

Podium finishes for Brabham

That opportunity came amid tragedy. Carlos Pace was killed in a light plane accident in March 1977 and Stuck was drafted into his Martini Brabham BT45B-Alfa Romeo. He finished third in the German and Austrian GPs and led the first 14 laps in America before crashing after his car jumped out of gear at the first corner.

Replaced by double world champion Niki Lauda for 1978, Stuck chose Shadow rather than Williams for the new season. While the latter were at the start of an ever-more competitive period that concluded with world championship success, Stuck endured an uncompetitive year and was similarly disappointing in his final F1 season with ATS in 1979.

Subsequent successful career

Finished with GP racing, his career really took off with the Rothmans Porsche sports car team. He won the 1985 World Championship with co-driver Derek Bell and followed that success with victories at Le Mans in 1986 and 1987.

Stuck later defected to Audi and was at the forefront of its four-wheel-drive campaigns in Trans-Am, IMSA GTO and the German DTM series – winning the latter series in 1990 with a Schmidt Motor Sport Audi V8 Quattro. He won a couple of races in the 1996 FIA GT Championship with a works Porsche 911 GT1 and scored a third success in the Nürburgring 24 Hours for BMW in 2004.

He survived brain surgery to remove a blood clot in 2010 and the 60-year-old announced his retirement from racing after competing in the following year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours.

His flamboyance and attacking style made him a crowd favourite but his F1 results do not do the man justice. He was a champion in sports cars with oodles of star quality and charm to match.