Jochen Mass

Jochen Mass
Mass at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	Jochen Richard Mass (1946-09-30) 30 September 1946 (age 78) Dorfen, Bavaria, Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	German
Active years	1973–1980, 1982
Teams	Surtees, McLaren, ATS, Arrows, March
Entries	114 (105 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	8
Career points	71
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	2
First entry	1973 British Grand Prix
First win	1975 Spanish Grand Prix
Last win	1975 Spanish Grand Prix
Last entry	1982 French Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1972, 1978, 1981–1983, 1985–1989, 1991, 1995
Teams	Ford, Martini, Porsche, Sauber, Price
Best finish	1st (1989)
Class wins	1 (1989)

Jochen Richard Mass (German pronunciation: [ˈjɔ.χn̩ ˈʁɪ.çaɐ̯t maːs]; born 30 September 1946) is a German former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from 1973 to 1982. Mass won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix with McLaren. In endurance racing, Mass won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989 with Sauber.

Born and raised in Bavaria, Mass made appearances in Formula Super Vee, Formula Three and European Formula Two throughout his early career. He finished runner-up in the latter in 1973, having already taken victory at the 24 Hours of Spa alongside Hans-Joachim Stuck the year prior. Mass made his Formula One debut at the 1973 British Grand Prix with Surtees, making sporadic appearances before achieving a full-time seat in 1974. Mass moved to McLaren from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards, where he achieved his only race win at the curtailed 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. In his final season with McLaren in 1977, having taken several podiums with the team, Mass finished a career-best sixth in the World Drivers' Championship. After a non-classified championship finish in 1978 with ATS, Mass spent two seasons at Arrows. He was seriously injured at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix, bruising his neck and fracturing vertebrae as his Arrows A3 rolled over during practice. After a year hiatus, Mass returned in 1982 with March. Following his crash with Mauro Baldi at the 1982 French Grand Prix—only two months after his involvement in the death of Gilles Villeneuve—Mass retired from Formula One, having achieved one win, two fastest laps and eight podiums.

Outside of Formula One, Mass entered 12 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1972 to 1995, winning in 1989 alongside Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens, driving the Sauber C9, as well as finishing runner-up in the World Sportscar Championship, matching his result from 1984. He also finished runner-up at Le Mans in 1982 with Porsche. Mass was the champion of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft in 1985, as well as twice finishing runner-up in Interserie, all with Joest. Mass was also a race-winner in the British Saloon Car Championship. Upon retiring from motor racing, Mass became a commentator for RTL from 1994 to 1998. Since the 1990s, Mass has made frequent appearances at Goodwood events, including the Festival of Speed and the Revival. In popular culture, Mass appeared as himself in Rush (2013).

Jochen Richard Mass was born on 30 September 1946 in Dorfen, Bavaria.^[1] Mass participated in 114 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 July 1973 at the British Grand Prix. He won one GP race (1975 Spanish Grand Prix), secured no pole positions, achieved 8 podiums and scored a total of 71 championship points.

Mass is perhaps best known for his on-track incident with Gilles Villeneuve which led to the latter's death. On 8 May 1982, with only 10 minutes left until the end of the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, Villeneuve collided with Mass while attempting to overtake him. As Villeneuve came up behind Mass exiting a super-fast left turn, Mass moved to the right hand side of the track to let Villeneuve through. Villeneuve had already committed to the right hand side and the two cars touched wheels, launching the Canadian skyward. Villeneuve's car hit the ground nose-first and was then torn apart in a series of violent cartwheels. His seat was dislodged and he was flung from his car, landing heavily among the catch fencing at the opposite side of the track. Mass stopped his car, jumped out and ran back to Villeneuve's wrecked car. Villeneuve was flown to hospital and taken off life-support later that evening.

After leaving the Formula One circuit, Mass enjoyed great success in sports car racing, gaining international prominence with his performance during the European Touring Car Championship in the early 1970s. In 1972, he teamed up with Hans-Joachim Stuck to drive a Ford Capri RS2600 to victory at the Spa 24 Hours endurance race in Belgium. He went on to win that year's World Sportscar Championship. He finished second to Clay Regazzoni and Arturo Merzario in a November 1972 9-hour race at the Kyalami Circuit, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mass' co-driver in a Chevron B-21 was Gerry Birrell.^[2] Mass, driving a Surtees TS-15, tied with Jean Pierre Beltoise in qualifying for the Jim Clark Memorial Formula Two auto race in April 1973 held at Hockenheim, both drivers recording times of 2 minutes, 2.8 seconds, for an average of 124.3 miles per hour.^[3]

Mass placed second to Jean-Pierre Jarier in a Formula Two race at Nivelles, in June 1973. He had finished second in the first heat and third in the second.^[4] He completed his first Formula One race at the 1973 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Mass came in seventh in a Surtees.^[5] He drove a McLaren-Ford to third place in the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.^[6]

Mass won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix after leader, Rolf Stommelen's car hit a protective barrier, exploded into flames and catapulted into the crowd at the Montjuich circuit. Four spectators were killed and twelve were injured. Stommelen suffered multiple fractures and was in a critical condition after the accident. Mass was declared the winner in his Texaco McLaren-Ford, when the race was stopped immediately after the accident.^[7]

Merzario and Mass led an Alfa Romeo sweep of the first two positions in the 1975 Coppa Florio manufacturers championship automobile race at Pergusa.^[8] Mass was third in the 1975 French Grand Prix at Le Castellet. On lap 44 he broke the record set by Denny Hulme, clocking a time of 1:50.60 over the 3.61-mile circuit.^[9] Mass and Jacky Ickx teamed in a Porsche to claim victory in the Dijon Six-Hour Race.^[10] Mass won the eighth and final race of the 1976 World Sports Car Championship series. He completed the 4.2 kilometre, Salzburg course in 1 hour, 28 minutes, 25.24 seconds, with an average speed of 125 m.p.h.^[11]

Mass and Ickx drove a Porsche 935 in the 1977 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race. Mass was clocked at 126.477 m.p.h. around the 3.84 mile Daytona road course.^[12] Mass won both 20-lap heats of the 1977 Jim Clark Memorial race in Hockenheim. He drove a March-BMW.^[13] Mass' Arrows turned over several times at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg. He bruised his neck and wrenched a vertebra but was able to leave the hospital.^[14]

Mass was convinced to stop racing Formula One cars after an accident with Mauro Baldi at the 1982 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. His March and the Arrows of Baldi touched at maximum speeds, both cars flying off the track and through a containment fence. Mass's car continued, hitting a tyre-lined guardrail. The March finally came to rest upside down and on fire, almost halfway into a spectator area. Amazingly he escaped with light burns only, and Baldi was uninjured.^[15]

Among his many victories, in 1985 he won the Circuito del Mugello 1,000 km race in Italy driving a Porsche 962C and in 1987 partnered with Bobby Rahal to claim victory at the 1987 12 Hours of Sebring race. Mass and Bobby Rahal combined to win the Champion Spark Plug Grand Prix at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Driving a Porsche 962, they inherited the lead 18 laps from the end.^[16] Mass won the most prestigious endurance race of all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1989 driving a Sauber Mercedes C9. It was the second triumph for Mercedes-Benz at Le Mans, their previous win having come in 1952.

Jochen Mass now drives the Mercedes-Benz museum's historic cars. In the 2004 Mille Miglia, he drove the original Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR that Stirling Moss had driven to victory in the 1955 race. To raise money for charity, the passenger seat next to him was auctioned off to the highest bidder.

From 1994 to 1998, he also announced the Formula One races for German broadcaster RTL.

Mass played himself in Ron Howard's 2013 film Rush.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2021)

^‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1972	Ford Motor Company Deutschland	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Ford Capri 2600RS	S 3.0	152	DNF	DNF
1978	Martini Racing Porsche System	Jacky Ickx Henri Pescarolo	Porsche 936/78	S +2.0	255	DNF	DNF
1981	Porsche System	Vern Schuppan Hurley Haywood	Porsche 936	S +2.0	312	12th	2nd
1982	Rothmans Porsche System	Vern Schuppan	Porsche 956	C	356	2nd	2nd
1983	Rothmans Porsche	Stefan Bellof	Porsche 956	C	281	DNF	DNF
1985	Rothmans Porsche	Jacky Ickx	Porsche 962C	C1	348	10th	10th
1986	Rothmans Porsche	Bob Wollek Vern Schuppan	Porsche 962C	C1	180	DNF	DNF
1987	Rothmans Porsche AG	Bob Wollek Vern Schuppan	Porsche 962C	C1	16	DNF	DNF
1988	Team Sauber Mercedes	Mauro Baldi James Weaver	Sauber C9-Mercedes-Benz	C1	–	DNS	DNS
1989	Team Sauber Mercedes	Manuel Reuter Stanley Dickens	Sauber C9-Mercedes-Benz	C1	389	1st	1st
1991	Team Sauber Mercedes	Jean-Louis Schlesser Alain Ferté	Mercedes-Benz C11	C2	319	DNF	DNF
1995	West Competition David Price Racing	John Nielsen Dr. Thomas Bscher	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	131	DNF	DNF

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

(key) (races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key)

• Formula One drivers from Germany

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