Austrian racing driver (1954?1986)
Josef Anton Gartner
(24 January 1954 – 1 June 1986)
[2]
was a
Formula One
and
sports car
endurance
driver from
Austria
. After a successful lower formula career, including a win in the
Formula Two
Pau Grand Prix
, he participated in eight Formula One Grands Prix for
Osella
during the 1984 season, scoring no points. He was killed in an accident at the
1986 24 Hours of Le Mans
.
Career
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Early career
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Gartner was born in
Vienna
. In 1972, he began working for the Kaimann
Formula Super Vee
team in a technical capacity. After buying, modifying and selling a Formula Vee chassis of his own, Gartner began his motor sport career in some
hillclimbing
events in 1976. In 1977, aged 23, he started competing more seriously, driving in the
Volkswagen
-supported European Formula Super Vee championship. The following season he finished third in the championship.
[3]
He moved up to the European
Formula Three
Championship in 1979, driving a
Martini
with support from
Renault
, and switched to
Formula Two
in 1980 with a two-year-old
March
.
[4]
On his Formula Two debut, Gartner's car was damaged by debris from the accident that killed his countryman
Markus Hottinger
. He was subsequently invited to take Hottinger's place in the
BMW M1 Procar Championship
series, in which he raced against
Formula One
drivers, driving for fellow Austrian
Helmut Marko
.
[3]
In 1981, Gartner drove a year-old
Toleman
TG280 at selected races and picked up a point with sixth place at the
Enna-Pergusa
round.
[3]
He finished the season with two races for the
Merzario
team, finishing eighth at
Mantorp Park
. Continuing with Merzario for 1982, Gartner picked up his only point of the season with sixth at the opening round at
Silverstone
, but the car was generally uncompetitive in a strong field.
[3]
For 1983, Gartner decided to return to running his own car, an ex-works
Spirit
201. After a fourth place at
Hockenheim
, he won the
Pau Grand Prix
when the first driver across the line,
Alain Ferte
, was disqualified because his car was underweight.
[4]
This win enabled Gartner to gain the necessary sponsorship for a move to Formula One.
Formula One
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In 1984, Gartner had secured the part-time second seat with the struggling Italian
Osella
team, as teammate to
Piercarlo Ghinzani
, driving a year-old, non-turbo FA1E. He qualified on his debut at the
1984 San Marino Grand Prix
, but his race ended with an engine failure.
[3]
At his next race, Gartner was given the new turbocharged Osella FA1F as the team decided to run a second car at all the remaining races. At the
1984 British Grand Prix
, Gartner was allowed to start in 27th position because the
Tyrrell Racing
team was participating under appeal. However, his race ended when he was unable to avoid a first-lap accident involving
Philippe Alliot
and
Eddie Cheever
.
[5]
After mechanical failures in the next two races, he finished 12th at the
Dutch Grand Prix
, five laps down on the winner
Alain Prost
.
At the
Italian Grand Prix
at
Monza
, Gartner qualified 24th but finished fifth, beating fellow Austrian
Gerhard Berger
into sixth after Ghinzani and Cheever ran out of fuel. However, Gartner was denied the two points normally awarded to the fifth-place finisher, as Osella had only entered one car at the beginning of the season.
[3]
Berger in sixth was similarly denied his single point, driving for
ATS
.
Classified 12th at the
European Grand Prix
although he retired with fuel injection problems, Gartner closed the season with a 16th place classification in
Portugal
, having run out of fuel. For 1985, he was in contention for a seat at
Arrows
, but lost out to Berger.
[4]
He also held talks with Toleman and Osella, but both seats went to drivers with more finance in place.
[3]
Endurance racing
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Gartner had finished fourth in the
1985 24 Hours of Le Mans
in a
Porsche 962C
along with teammates
David Hobbs
and
Guy Edwards
. In 1985, after his season in Formula One, he joined the Fitzpatrick Porsche Group C endurance racing team, driving a
Porsche 956
, and also campaigned a Porsche 962 for
Bob Akin
in the
IMSA GT Championship
. He won the 1986
12 Hours of Sebring
, along with teammates Akin and
Hans-Joachim Stuck
, finishing on three wheels,
[4]
and also won an international race at
Thruxton
with
Tiff Needell
. Gartner was aiming to join the factory Rothman's Porsche team for 1987.
[3]
Whilst contesting the
1986 24 Hours of Le Mans
for
Kremer Racing
with teammates
Sarel van der Merwe
and
Kunimitsu Takahashi
, Gartner's Porsche 962 suffered a mechanical failure at 2:10 am on the Sunday morning, and turned hard left into the barriers on the
Mulsanne Straight
at 160 mph (260 km/h). The car somersaulted down the track, hit a telephone pole, crashed into trees and then caught fire after it came to a rest on top of the barriers on the opposite side of the track. The accident took out 100 meters of guardrail and debris was strewn over 200 meters. Gartner was killed on impact,
[4]
due to a broken neck.
[3]
Although the cause of the accident was never determined, two marshals saw Gartner brake on the straight before the car veered off into the barriers.
[3]
Gartner was the last fatality at the Le Mans 24 Hours under race conditions until
Allan Simonsen
was killed in the
2013 race
.
[6]
Racing record
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Complete European Formula Two Championship results
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]
(
key
)
Complete Formula One results
[
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]
(
key
)
- Notes
- ^1
? Gartner was driving his team's "second entry", and as the team had only entered one car for the entire championship, the second entry was ineligible to score championship points.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
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References
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