Frank Stanley Biela (born 2 August 1964) is a German auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990. Biela notably won the 1991 Deutsche Tourenwagen Miesterschaft and the 1996 British Touring Car Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le mans five times and the 12 Hours of Sebring four times between 2000 and 2007. Biela also won the 1996 Macau Guia Race in the Super Touring class.

Career Biela started his career in 1983 in karting before joining the Ford Youngster Team programme in 1987 alongside Manuel Reuter and Bernd Schneider. He drove for the team in Formula Ford and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (the German touring car championship), where he won the race at AVUS in 1987. Biela continued to compete in the DTM in 1988, and also raced a limited season in German Formula Three, scoring two wins.

In 1990, Biela moved to Audi, winning the DTM race at the Nürburgring and the DTM championship in 1991 before Audi left the DTM in mid-season of 1992. Biela stayed with the company, and with the rise of the two-litre Class 2 (Super Touring) rules in other series across Europe, he was entered in various European touring car series over the following few seasons such as the French Supertouring Championship in 1993 driving the Audi 80 (in which he won the championship in) entered by Audi into the championship pairing alongside Marc Sourd. Since his French Supertouring Championship victory in 1993, he is the only standing non-French driver to win it. In 1995, he won the Touring Car World Cup race at Paul Ricard in the new Audi A4, which quickly became one of the dominant touring cars of the mid-1990s.

Biela also competed in the Super Tourenwagen Cup in his native Germany during 1994 and 1995; however his home championship would bring only frustration as in both years he dominated the first half of the season, only for late-season misfortunes to derail his title challenge, losing him the crown to BMW drivers Johnny Cecotto and Joachim Winkelhock respectively. During the AVUS Berlin race in September 1995, Biela's Audi struck Kieth O'dor's already accident-stranded Nissan Primera squarely on the driver's side, fatally injuring O'dor, who died later that day in a Berlin hospital.

For 1996, Audi decided to enter a works team of two A4s in the BTCC. Biela was selected to lead the team; alongside team-mate John Bintcliffe, the new Audi team dominated the competition. Biela comfortably won the title, finishing every single race and being classified in the top ten in all but two races (an 11th-place finish and a disqualification). He also capped an astonishing season by taking first place in the Guia Race of Macau.

Because of the Audis' dominance in 1996, the BTCC organisers imposed a heavy ballast weight "penalty" on all four-wheel-drive cars for the 1997 season. With his Audi badly handicapped by the penalty, Biela initially struggled to make a serious impact. The weight penalty was halved at the midpoint of the season, and results immediately improved to the point where Biela finished second overall to eventual champion Alain Menu. Biela then left Britain to return to the German Super Tourenwagen Cup for 1998, but was largely ineffective. He finished a lowly 14th in the final standings as the A4 (in a new two-wheel-drive racing configuration) became outclassed by rival manufacturers.

In 1999, Biela abandoned touring cars in favour of joining the Audi R8 sports car project, racing under the Audi Sport Team Joest name. It was a good match, and Biela excelled in sportscar racing over the next few seasons, winning several classic events at the wheel of the R8 as well as three ALMS races. The highlight of Biela's time with the R8 team was three successive victories (2000–2002) in the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen. Audi began to scale back support for the R8 programme after the 2002 season. After winning the ALMS series in 2003, Biela returned to the revamped German touring car series, driving an Audi for Joest Racing (the team which had run Biela's R8 for his three Le Mans wins); the season was not a success.

Biela continued to race an R8 at Le Mans each year with mixed results. In 2003, he missed the pit lane after just 15 laps and ran out of fuel. He finished 5th and 3rd in 2004 and 2005, respectively. In December 2005 he participated in the first runs of the new Audi R10 diesel sportscar, the R8's successor. Driving an R10 (again for Team Joest) in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside Pirro and new team-mate Marco Werner, Biela took his fourth victory to date in the classic race. He repeated the victory with the same car and team in 2007.

Honors and awards His greatest achievements include winning: 1991 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft German Touring Car Championship with an Audi V8 (he has also finished 2nd and 3rd in DTM) 1993 French Touring Car Championship 1995 short-lived Touring Car World Cup one-off race 1996 British Touring Car Championship (finishing as runner-up the year after) 1996 Macau Grand Prix Guia Race 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2007 12 Hours of Sebring 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans 2001 and 2005 Petit Le Mans 2003 American Le Mans Series LMP900 Drivers' Championship 2005 American Le Mans Series LMP1 Drivers' Championship In a 2005 poll conducted by Motorsport Magazine, Biela was voted 19th best touring car driver ever.

Racing record Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters 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 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pts 1987 Wolf Racing Ford Sierra XR4 TI HOC12 ZOL18 NÜR6 AVU1 MFA5 NORRet NÜR WUNDNS DIE15 SAL 14th 59 1988 Team Hein GerickeFord Grab Motorsport Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR111 NÜR27 BRN110 BRN24 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1Ret MFA217 NÜR17 NÜR2Ret NOR1 NOR2 WUN13 WUN23 SAL1 SAL2 HUN112 HUN27 HOC113 HOC29 16th 25 1989 Ford-Grab Motorsport GmbH Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth ZOL119 ZOL2Ret HOC113 HOC210 NÜR116 NÜR2Ret MFA114 MFA27 AVU1Ret AVU216 NÜR1Ret NÜR2DNS NOR114 NOR210 HOC17 HOC22 DIE110 DIE26 NÜR1Ret NÜR2Ret HOC12 HOC26 13th 135 1990 MS-Jet-Racing Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo ZOL110 ZOL25 HOC111 HOC2Ret NÜR17 NÜR25 AVU120 AVU2Ret MFA13 MFA23 WUN111 WUN29 NÜR14 NÜR21 NOR116 NOR29 DIE110 DIE215 NÜR120 NÜR2Ret HOC127 HOC2DNS 10th 80 1991 Audi Zentrum Reutlingen Audi V8 Quattro Evo ZOL115 ZOL23 HOC119 HOC23 NÜR16 NÜR27 AVU12 AVU21 WUN15 WUN24 NOR15 NOR211 DIE14 DIE26 NÜR18 NÜR211 ALE11 ALE2DSQ HOC11 HOC21 BRN111 BRN27 DON11 DON21 1st 174 1992 Audi Zentrum Reutlingen Audi V8 Quattro Evo ZOL13 ZOL2Ret NÜR11 NÜR218 WUN1DSQ WUN2DSQ AVU1Ret AVU28 HOC121 HOC214 NÜR114 NÜR215 NOR1 NOR2 BRN1 BRN2 DIE1 DIE2 ALE1 ALE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 15th 35 2004 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 2004 HOC16 EST15 ADRRet LAU12 NOR11 SHA13 NÜRRet OSC13 ZAN9 BRN14 HOC11 17th 0 2007 Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 2007 HOC OSC18† LAU BRH NOR MUG ZAN NÜR CAT HOC 23rd 0 † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance. A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

Complete Italian Superturismo Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts 1994 Audi Sport Italia Audi 80 Quattro MNZ1 MNZ2 VAL1 VAL2 MAG1 MAG2 BIN1 BIN2 MIS1 MIS2 VAL1 VAL2 MUG19 MUG26 PER110 PER2DSQ VAR11 VAR21 MUG19 MUG23 11th 57 1996 Audi Sport Italia Audi A4 QuattroMUG1MUG2MAG1MAG2MNZ1MNZ2BIN1BIN2 MIS1MIS2IMO1IMO2PER1PER2PER1PER2 VAR14 VAR2RetVAL1VAL2 20th 10

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup 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 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts 1994 ROC Competition Audi 80 Quattro Competition AVU1 WUN1 ZOL2 ZAN1 ÖST10 SAL15 SPA4 NÜR3 2nd 98 1995 ROC Competition Audi A4 QuattroZOL11ZOL21SPA13SPA2RetÖST12ÖST21HOC11HOC21NÜR13NÜR23SAL117SAL210 AVU17 AVU217 NÜR1Ret NÜR25 3rd 391 1998 Abt Sportsline Team Audi Audi A4 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 NOR1 NOR2 REG1 REG2 WUN1 WUN2 ZWE1 ZWE2 SAL1 SAL2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 14th 242

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Pos Pts 1996 Audi Sport UK Audi A4 quattro DON11 DON21 BRH11 BRH24 THR11 THR23 SIL111 SIL21 OUL12 OUL22 SNE12 SNE2DSQ BRH12 BRH28 SIL13 SIL22 KNO11 KNO22 OUL12 OUL21 THR12 THR23 DON14 DON23 BRH14 BRH21 1st 289 1997 Audi Sport UK Audi A4 quattro DON1Ret DON23 SIL17 SIL2Ret THR11 THR2Ret BRH19 BRH26 OUL13 OUL2Ret DON11 DON23 CRO14 CRO217 KNO12 KNO21 SNE13 SNE29 THR12 THR21 BRH11 BRH25 SIL18 SIL215 2nd 171

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Audi Sport Team Joest Didier Theys Emanuele Pirro Audi R8R LMP 360 3rd 3rd Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 LMP900 368 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 LMP900 321 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 LMP900 375 1st 1st Audi Sport UK Arena Motorsport Perry McCarthy Mika Salo Audi R8 LMP900 28 DNF DNF Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Allan McNish Pierre Kaffer Audi R8 LMP1 350 5th 5th ADT Champion Racing Allan McNish Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 LMP1 364 3rd 3rd Audi Sport Team Joest Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro Audi R10 TDI LMP1 380 1st 1st Audi Sport North America Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro Audi R10 TDI LMP1 369 1st 1st Audi Sport North America Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro Audi R10 TDI LMP1 367 6th 6th

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1999 Audi Sport Team Joest Perry McCarthy Emanuele Pirro Audi R8R LMP 304 5th 5th 2000 Audi Sport North America Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen Audi R8 LMP 360 1st 1st 2001 Audi Sport North America Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen Audi R8 LMP900 370 2nd 2nd 2002 Audi Sport North America Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen Audi R8 LMP900 327 5th 5th 2003 Infineon Team Joest Marco Werner Philipp Peter Audi R8 LMP900 367 1st 1st 2004 Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Allan McNish Pierre Kaffer Audi R8 LMP1 350 1st 1st 2005 ADT Champion Racing Emanuele Pirro Allan McNish Audi R8 LMP1 361 2nd 2nd 2006 Audi Sport North America Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro Audi R10 TDI LMP1 117 DNF DNF 2007 Audi Sport North America Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro Audi R10 TDI LMP1 364 1st 1st

Complete Porsche Supercup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points Ref 2007 Porsche AG BHR BHR ESP MON FRA GBR GER18 HUN TUR BEL ITA NC‡ 0‡ ‡ Not eligible for points due to being a guest driver.

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Ref 1989 Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 A 161 2nd 2nd 1990 Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus Niedzwiedz Pierre Dieudonné Ford Sierra RS500 1 151 10th 10th 1997* ORIX Audi Sport Australia Brad Jones Audi A4 Quattro 161 2nd 2nd

* Super Touring race

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Official Website