Max Welti

Max Welti [1] (born 6 September 1952 in Zürich, Switzerland) is a former Swiss racing driver and Sauber's first team manager and double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Sauber Mercedes in 1989. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans a second time with Porsche in 1994 as their motorsport director. A year later, he returned to Sauber as vice president of the Sauber Formula One operation[2] before becoming CEO of V8STAR in 2000 and principal of A1 Team Switzerland in 2005. Today he is a strategic motorsport consultant for OEM's, motorsport promoters and organisers.

Max Welti in 2018

Career

1980-1990: From racing driver to Sauber's first Team Manager and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner

Welti studied at EPFL, and ETH Zurich during which he started motor racing. He spent four years competing in the Swiss Sports-Prototype Championship, which he won in 1980 with Wittwer March BMW.

After retiring from driving, Welti became Sauber's first team manager. He helped guide the team to become one of the most important in Sports car racing.[3]

In 1986, Mike Thackwell and Henri Pescarolo gave the Sauber-Mercedes team its first win at Nürburgring 1000 km. Two years later, with backing from the German electrical giant AEG, Sauber battled Jaguar for the World Sportscar title. Mercedes-Benz officially returned to racing and the Sport Prototypes in 1989 were painted silver again for the first time since 1956. Jean-Louis Schlesser won the Drivers' World title that year. The team dominated the Constructors' title, winning seven of a total of eight races. In the Le Mans 24 Hours the team scored a 1-2 victory with "the new Silver Arrows"[4] driven by Jochen Mass/Manuel Reuter/Stanley Dickens, with Mauro Baldi/Kenny Acheson/Gianfranco Brancatelli finishing in second place. The following year Schlesser and Baldi shared the Drivers' title while Mass was partnered with the three Mercedes Juniors: Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The team won the Constructors' title for a second time in 1990.

1991-1994: Porsche Motorsport

In 1991, Sportscar Racing went into decline and Welti was offered the job of being F1 Project Manager for Porsche Motorsport, in a new relationship with the Footwork team. The Porsche engine was, however, a disaster and as a result Welti pulled the team out of F1. As Porsche Motorsport Director worldwide, he was responsible for the complete reorganization of the motorsport department. In 1993, Welti launched the Porsche Supercup and himself led the negotiations with F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone as it was to take place as an international one-make cup and support series in Formula One. In 1994, once again, Welti celebrated with Porsche and his team another triumph with the modified version of the 962 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans[5] driven by Mauro Baldi/Hurley Haywood/Yannick Dalmas. With Max Welti as racing director and racing engineer Norbert Singer as project leader, two racing cars and one reserve car were developed, built and tested in record time and brought to the Le Mans race.[6]

1995: Vice President of Sauber Formula 1

In May 1995 Welti decided to return to Sauber as team director of the new Formula 1 team. He was particularly instrumental in establishing a new and more efficient structural team organisation[7] and building up an especially tight relationship with its Malaysian sponsor Petronas as well as with its engine manufacturer Ferrari as of 1997.. Furthermore, he led the team to its first podium finish.

2000: V8STAR - Setting up Europeans 1st Silhouette touring car championship

From 2000, Welti was responsible as chief executive officer for setting up the V8STAR touring car series in Germany, a championship for tubular frame vehicles with silhouettes of well-known manufacturers such as Jaguar, Volkswagen, Opel, Ford, Lexus, Audi and BMW with uniform V8 engines under the hood and renowned pilots at the steering wheel.

2004: Team Principal A1 GP Worldcup of Motorsport

In 2004, Welti became Franchisee and Team Principal in the A1 GP Worldcup of Motorsport and built up the Swiss national motorsport team.[8] With Neel Jani, the A1 Team Switzerland won the World Cup of Motorsport in 2008 and was runner-up in 2006 and 2009. The team also supported other Swiss drivers such as Marcel Fässler, Sébastian Buemi, Alexandre Imperatori, Tom Dillmann, Rahel Frey and Natacha Gachnang.[9] No other team nor driver were more successful than Switzerland and Jani in this global championship.

2013: Volkswagen Group

Welti entered the international limelight again in 2013. As member of the Volkswagen Group Motorsprt Steering Committee, he was sent to Italy as Motorsport Director of Lamborghini Squadra Corse to build up a new motorsport department there.[10] . After that task was completed, Welti traveled to all important races in Europe and on the American continent for six years, leading negotiations with organizers, promoters, federations and technicians of different racing series.

2018: BMW Group

Since 2018, Welti has workedg as a motorsport consultant for BMW.[11]

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References
  1. "Max F. Welti". www.maxpertise.eu. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  2. "Max Welti joins Sauber as operations director". Motorsport.com. 8 May 1995. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  3. "People Max Welti". grandprix.com.
  4. Mercedes-Benz Die neuen Silberpfeile. Verlag Stadler. 1990. ISBN 3 7977 0252 3.
  5. "Porsche History Le Mans". newsroom.porsche.com.
  6. Porsche Victory '94. Ulrich Upietz, Gruppe C Motorsport-Verlag. 1994. p. 19. ISBN 3 928540 11 4.
  7. "grandprix.com Interview with Max Welti". grandprix.com.
  8. "Team Switzerland preview Brands Hatch". motorsport.com.
  9. "Pictures of drivers and team A1 Team Switzerland". motorsport.com.
  10. "Max Welti to Head Lamborghini's Squadra Corse Racing Division". motorauthority.com.
  11. "From VW to BMW". autosprint.ch.
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