| Pierre Kaffer | ||
|---|---|---|
| File:Pierre Kaffer.png | ||
| Driver Details | ||
| Nationality |  German
| |
| P.o.B. |  Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany
| |
| D.o.B. | 7 November 1976 | |
| Début | 2005 Hockenheim Opening Race
| |
| Best | 15th (2005) | |
| Previous Teams | Joest Racing; Phoenix Racing
| |
| DTM Career | ||
| Total Entries | 21 (21 Starts) | |
| No. | 15; 14 | |
| Wins | Points | Poles |
| 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 | |
| Podiums | 0 | |
Pierre Kaffer (born 7 November 1976 in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany) is a German racing driver, who competed in the DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship between 2005 and 2006.[1] A former factory driver for Audi, Kaffer would struggle to score regular points during his two year stay in the DTM before resuming his career in sportscar racing.[2]
Kaffer signed for the Joest Racing team ahead of the 2005 season, partnering Christian Abt in their primary pair of year-old A4s.[3] The German racer would secure his best finish of fifth at the second race in Lausitz, although with only one more point score Kaffer would end the season down in fifteenth in the Championship.[4]
For 2006 Audi would move Kaffer over to their new customers Phoenix Racing, with Abt joining his compatriot at the squad as Joest left the series.[1] A more disappointing season for Kaffer saw him only claim one point across the campaign, prompting him to the leave the DTM at the end of the season.[5]
After leaving the DTM, Kaffer would return to the European Le Mans Series, before moving up to the new World Endurance Championship when that launched in 2012.[2] In 2017 Kaffer returned to the Audi stable as a customer GT3 driver, racing for various teams in various series through to the end of 2021.[2]
Background[]
Kaffer began his career in karting in the early 1990s, before graduating to racing cars in German Formula Ford in 1994.[2] Kaffer ended that campaign in seventh in the Championship, before improving to finish as runner-up in 1995 to Nick Heidfeld.[2] In 1995 Kaffer reversed that result and secured the FF Zetec Cup title ahead of Heidfeld, prompting a move to Formula Opel in 1996.[2]
Single Seater Hopes: 1996 - 2001[]
Kaffer's maiden campaign in Formula Opel saw the German racer claim the German title, while also claiming one win in the European series.[2] That result earned him a promotion to the German Formula 3 Championship in 1997, with a single victory pushing him to sixth in the championship.[2] A second season for Kaffer in German F3 saw the German youth improve to fourth, with run outs in the Masters of Formula 3 race.[2]
The 1999 season saw Kaffer complete his third full season of German F3, although the German racer failed to reach the heights of previous seasons, slipping to eighth.[2] A fourth campaign saw Kaffer rebound to claim third in the Championship with four wins, before dropping to fourth the following season.[2]
Sports Car Surety: 2002 - 2004[]
With his single-seater career having stalled, Kaffer would switch to sportscar racing in 2002, joining the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany for the season, finishing third.[2] That season also saw Kaffer enter the Porsche Supercup for a single round, leading to a full season of Supercup in 2003, with Kaffer again finishing third.[2] In 2004 Kaffer secured a factory drive with Audi in the European Le Mans Series, finishing third in the LMP1 class alongside two victories in the American Le Mans Series.[2]
DTM History[]
Kaffer joined the DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship ahead of the 2005 season, when Audi offered him a seat at their customer team Joest Racing.[3] The German youth was part of a four driver effort alongside Christian Abt, Rinaldo Capello and Frank Stippler, with Kaffer partnered with Abt in the squad's primary pair of A4 DTMs.[3]
Rookie Rumbles: 2005[]
Phoenix Push: 2006[]
For 2006, with Joest leaving the DTM, Kaffer and Abt moved across to Phoenix Racing, who had become an Audi customer team after the withdrawal of Opel from the Series.[1]
Post-DTM Career[]
After leaving the DTM and the Audi driver programme at the end of 2006, Kaffer spent the 2007 season in Porsche Career Cup Germany, before a return to racing in sportscars in 2008.[2] That season saw Kaffer claim third in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as second in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring alongside a campaign in the European Le Mans Series.[2] Kaffer remained in the ELMS until the end of the 2012 season, having switched to competing in the LMP2 class, before a move to the World Endurance Championship that season.[2]
Kaffer secured two class wins in the LMP2 class in the WEC between 2012 and 2013, before a move up to the LMP1 class with Lotus in 2014.[2] Three seasons in the LMP1 class, including two with ByKolles, saw Kaffer fail to return to the podium, resulting in him stepping back down to GT racing in 2017.[2] Rejoining the Audi programme as a factory driver for customer GT3 teams, Kaffer would race in various series including the Blancpain GT Series and ADAC GT Masters.[2]
Full DTM Record[]
Pierre Kaffer's full results from his 21 starts in the DTM are outlined in a series of tables below.
DTM Entries[]
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Pierre Kaffer during their DTM career:
| Pierre Kaffer's Overall DTM Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Pos. | Pts. | Livery |
| 2005 | Audi Sport Team Joest Racing[3]
|
15 | Audi A4 DTM 2004 | 15th | 5 | File:KAF 05 Livery.png |
| 2006 | Audi Sport Team Phoenix[1]
|
14 | Audi A4 DTM 2004 | 16th | 1 | File:KAF 06 Livery.png |
Career Results[]
Below is a table showing Pierre Kaffer's full DTM record:
| Pierre Kaffer's DTM Championship Record | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rounds | Pos. | Pts. | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||
| 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15th | 5 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||
| 13th | 5th | 14th | 12th | 17th | 8th | 18th | 11th | Ret | Ret | 10th | |||
| 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16th | 1 | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||
| Ret | 10th | 10th | 9th | 8th | 14th | 9th | Ret | 12th | NC | ||||
| Results Key | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | |
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | |
| 2nd | Second | DSQ | Disqualified | |
| 3rd | Third | DNS | Did Not Start | |
| 7th | Points Scorer | NC | Not Classified | |
| Italics | Fastest Lap | CAN | Race Cancelled | |
| 16th | Non-points finish | † | Non-Championship Race | |
| Bold | Pole Position | 3 | Points for Qualifying | |
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPKaf06A - ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 'Pierre Kaffer', driverdb.com, (DriverDB AB, 2021), https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/pierre-kaffer/, (Accessed 14/11/2021)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPKaf05A - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHoc05FR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHoc06FR
| 2005 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship |
|---|
| Manufacturers |
| Audi • AMG-Mercedes • Opel |
| Car/engine |
| Audi A4 DTM 2005 • Audi 4.0l V8 • AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005 • AMG 4.0l V8 • Vectra GTS V8 2005 • Opel 4.0l V8 |
| Teams |
| Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline • Audi Sport Team Abt • Audi Sport Team Joest • Audi Sport Team Joest Racing • DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes • GMAC/Stern Team OPC • Mücke Motorsport • Team OPC • Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes • Vodafone/Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes |
| Drivers |
| 1 Mattias Ekström • 2 Martin Tomczyk • 3 Gary Paffett • 4 Jean Alesi • 5 Tom Kristensen • 6 Allan McNish • 7 Bernd Schneider • 8 Mika Häkkinen • 9 Marcel Fässler • 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen • 11 Laurent Aïello • 12 Manuel Reuter • 14 Christian Abt • 15 Pierre Kaffer • 16 Stefan Mücke • 17 Alexandros Margaritis • 18 Rinaldo Capello • 19 Frank Stippler • 20 Bruno Spengler • 21 Jamie Green |
| Races |
| Hockenheim Opening • Lausitzring I • Spa-Francorchamps • Brno • Oschersleben • Norisring • Nürburgring • Zandvoort • Lausitzring II • Istanbul Park • Hockenheim Finale |
| Related Content |
| 2004 DTM Season • 2006 DTM Season • Formula 3 Euro Series |
| 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship |
|---|
| Manufacturers |
| Audi • AMG-Mercedes |
| Car/engine |
| Audi A4 DTM 2006 • Audi 4.0l V8 • AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 • AMG 4.0l V8 |
| Teams |
| Audi Sport Team Abt • Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline • Audi Sport Team Phoenix • Audi Sport Team Rosberg • DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes • Futurecom TME • Junge Gebrauchte/AutoScout 24 AMG-Mercedes • Stern/Easy Rent AMG-Mercedes • TV-Spielfilm/TrekStor AMG-Mercedes • Vodafone/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes |
| Drivers |
| 2 Bernd Schneider • 3 Jamie Green • 4 Martin Tomczyk • 5 Mattias Ekström • 6 Heinz-Harald Frentzen • 7 Tom Kristensen • 8 Mika Häkkinen • 9 Bruno Spengler • 10 Jean Alesi • 11 Alexandros Margaritis • 12 Christian Abt • 14 Pierre Kaffer • 15 Frank Stippler • 16 Timo Scheider • 17 Stefan Mücke • 18 Daniel la Rosa • 19 Olivier Tielemans/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Nicolas Kiesa/Thed Björk • 20 Vanina Ickx • 21 Mathias Lauda • 22 Susie Stoddart |
| Races |
| Hockenheim Opening • Lausitzring • Oschersleben • Brands Hatch • Norisring • Nürburgring • Zandvoort • Barcelona • Bugatti Circuit • Hockenheim Finale |
| Related Content |
| 2005 DTM Season • 2007 DTM Season • Formula 3 Euro Series |