Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche, a three-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion, and the 1998 FIA GT champion.

Biography Ludwig also known as König Ludwig ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing.

In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, winning in 1979 with a Kremer Racing-Porsche 935. With this car, based on the then 15-year-old Porsche 911 road car design, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in the wet, an unprecedented win against the faster pure sports car racing prototypes (though it was subsequently matched in 1995 when a McLaren F1 GTR won the race at its first attempt).

Klaus Ludwig won the , an annual award presented by Porsche AG to recognize the world's most successful privateer racing driver competing with Porsche machinery in a customer racing team, in 1979 and 1986.

In 1984 and 1985, Ludwig won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing in their #7 Porsche 956. Considering Le Mans and sports cars too dangerous after the deaths of Manfred Winkelhock and Stefan Bellof, he was recruited for the 1987 World Touring Car Championship for Ford only to finish runner-up by a single point to BMW driver Roberto Ravaglia after a post-season disqualification (after Ludwig claimed the pole, he and fellow West German Klaus Niedzwiedz had finished second behind teammates Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonné at the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, but both cars were disqualified due to illegal wheel arch size on their Ford Sierra RS500s). He then moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and became champion in 1988 in a Ford Sierra RS500. Ludwig also represented IMSA in the 1986 International Race of Champions, finishing eighth.

Ludwig repeated the success at Mercedes-Benz in 1992 and 1994, before moving back to sports cars racing for them in 1997 to become the 1998 FIA GT Champion. He retired when the series did not continue in the 1999 season.

Ludwig soon returned in June 1999, to win the 24 Hours Nürburgring on the Nordschleife for the third time driving a Zakspeed Viper.

When the DTM resumed as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in 2000, Ludwig returned to the series, winning at the age of 50 years at the Sachsenring circuit, only to retire once again.

Ludwig returned as a "hobby pilot" to the Nürburgring Nordschleife when given the opportunity to drive a high power vehicle. The years 2004 and 2005 saw him enter the 24 Hours Nürburgring with Uwe Alzen on the Jürgen Alzen Porsche 996 GT2 Bi-Turbo. With a normally aspirated Porsche 997 GT3 of the Alzen brothers, Ludwig and Christian Abt managed to beat the old distance record in the 2006 edition of the 24h, yet finished only second, one lap behind the winners.

Ludwig has also worked as a TV commentator on DTM races.

Racing record

Achievements Winner 24 Hours of Le Mans: 1979, 1984, 1985 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft champion 1979, 1981 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion 1988, 1992, 1994 FIA GT World Champion 1998

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 Pts Willi Kauhsen Racing Team March 762 Hart HOC THR VAL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NOG HOC 12th 4 Willi Kauhsen Racing Team Jabouille 2J Renault SIL THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU MUG ROU NOG PER MIS EST NC 0 KWS Autotechnik Chevron B40 Ford DON

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Weisberg Gelo Team John Fitzpatrick Toine Hezemans Porsche 935/77 Gr.5+2.0 19 DNF DNF Porsche Kremer Racing Don Whittington Bill Whittington Porsche 935 K3 Gr.5+2.0 307 1st 1st Ford Germany Zakspeed Marc Surer Manfred Winkelhock Ford C100 C 67 DNF DNF Sorga S.A. Joest Racing Stefan Johansson Bob Wollek Porsche 956 C 354 6th 6th New-Man Joest Racing Henri Pescarolo Porsche 956B C1 360 1st 1st New-Man Joest Racing Paolo Barilla Louis Krages Porsche 956B C1 374 1st 1st Joest Racing Paolo Barilla Louis Krages Porsche 956B C1 196 DNF DNF Porsche AG Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell Porsche 962C C1 394 2nd 2nd AMG-Mercedes Bernd Schneider Mark Webber Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM GT1 19 DNF DNF

Complete World Touring Car Championship 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 Pts1987 Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MNZ JARovr:4cls:1 DIJovr:4cls:4 NÜRovr:1cls:1 SPA 2nd 268 Ford Sierra RS500 BRNovr:1cls:1 SILovr:6cls:1 BAT CLDovr:12cls:8 WELovr:1cls:1 FUJovr:1cls:1 * Overall positions shown. WTCC points paying positions may be different

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 1985 ABR Ringhausen Rennsport Ford Sierra XR4 TI ZOL WUN AVU MFA ERD ERD DIE DIE ZOL SIE NÜR 11th 73.5 1986 ABR Ringhausen Rennsport Ford Sierra XR4 TI ZOL HOC NÜR AVU MFA WUN NÜR ZOL NÜR 25th 14 1987 Ford-Grab Motorsport GmbH Ford Sierra XR4 TI HOC ZOL NÜR AVU MFA NOR NÜR WUN DIE SAL NC 0 1988 Team Hein Gericke Ford Grab Motorsport Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRN1 BRN2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 WUN1 WUN2 SAL1 SAL2 HUN1 HUN2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 258 1989 AMG Motorenbau GmbH Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 11th 155 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo MFA1 MFA2 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 HOC1 HOC2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 1990 AMG Motorenbau GmbH Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 WUN1 WUN2 5th 140 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 1991 AMG Motorenbau GmbH Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 WUN1 WUN2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALE1 ALE2 HOC1 HOC2 BRN1 BRN2 DON1 DON2 2nd 166 1992 AMG Motorenbau GmbH Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 WUN1 WUN2 AVU1 AVU2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 BRN1 BRN2 DIE1 DIE2 ALE1 ALE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 228 1993 AMG-Mercedes Berlin 2000 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 93 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 NÜR1 WUN1 WUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DON1 DON2 DIE1 DIE2 ALE1 ALE2 AVU1 AVU2 HOC1 HOC2 4th 171 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 HOC2 NÜR2 1994 AMG Mercedes D2 Privat Team Mercedes C-Class V6 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MUG1 MUG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DON1 DON2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 ALE1 ALE2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 222 1995 Opel Team Rosberg Opel Calibra V6 4x4 HOC1 HOC2 AVU1 AVU2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALE1 ALE2 HOC1 HOC2 3rd 80 2000 HWA 2 AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC1 HOC2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 SAC1 SAC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 LAU1 LAU2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 3rd 122

Complete International Touring Car Championship 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 25 26 Pts 1995 Opel Team Rosberg Opel Calibra V6 4x4 MUG1 MUG2 HEL1 HEL2 DON1 DON2 EST1 EST2 MAG1 MAG2 14th 21 1996 Zakspeed Opel Opel Calibra V6 4x4 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 EST1 EST2 HEL1 HEL2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 SIL1 SIL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MAG1 MAG2 MUG1 MUG2 HOC1 HOC2 INT1 INT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 7th 130 † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

References

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