Photo : ADRIEN CLEMENT - ADRIEN CLEMENT/XTREM PICS

 

The great Austrian's career is as unique as his personality. He has long been observed driving with two different colour shoes (one red and one blue), and it was in BMX biking that he won, at 12 years old, his first World Title before moving to karting in 1989. After a nice journey in Formula Ford (he won three titles during the 1992 season) and Formule 3, in 1996 Reinhold Joest gave him the chance to debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of a Joest-Porsche TWR WSC prototype. It resulted in a win (with Manuel Reuter and Davy Jones) which made Wurz, at 22 years of age, the youngest winner of the race ever!

After 10 years spent in Formula 1 (69 Grand Prix and three podiums), Alex Wurz returned definitively in endurance in 2008. With Peugeot, he added to his record a second victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2009 (with Marc Gené and David Brabham) and other prestigious successes in the U.S. at Sebring in 2010 and Petit Le Mans in 2011. At the end of that year, he left Peugeot to join Toyota. Since then, he finished fourth at Le Mans in 2013 and won five victories in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). In eight participations in the 24 Hours, Wurz has won two victories, three top 5s and has been forced to reture three times. After 14 hours in the lead at the 2014 edition, he has made a third win in La Sarthe his main goal more than ever for 2015.

The 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place Saturday and Sunday, June 13-14, 2015.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikk Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), DOWNTOWN, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, FRIDAY JUNE 13 2014, DRIVERS' PARADE. Alex Wurz (at right) along with his 2014 edition teammates, French driver Stéphane Sarrazin (at left) and Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima (at centre).