Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing team, driving a Tom Walkinshaw Racing-designed Porsche WSC-95, after being a late inclusion in the team following Davy Jones' accident that eventually ruled him out of the race. All of his subsequent wins came driving an Audi prototype, except in 2003, when he drove a Bentley prototype. In both 1999 and 2007 Kristensen's teammates crashed out of comfortable leads in the closing hours of the race. He is considered by many to be the greatest driver ever to have raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Elsewhere, Kristensen holds the record for most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring with a total of six. In August 2014, Kristensen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark. In January 2018, he was inducted into the Danish Sports Hall of Fame.

Early career

Beginnings in Europe (1984–91)

Kristensen was born in Hobro. His career began in 1984, whereafter he won several karting titles, including the 1985 Nordic Formula A series where he beat Mika Häkkinen. After entering his first open-wheel races in Formula Ford during 1987, Kristensen made his German Formula Three debut at Brno in 1989, entering three events. Aside from that however, Kristensen did not race until 1991, completing training to become a bank clerk. In 1991, he was given the chance to race in German F3 on a full-time basis by Bertram Schäfer and won the opening race at Zolder from pole. From there, seven further podiums, including two more wins at the Nürburgring and Hockenheimring, allowed Kristensen to win the championship in controlling fashion.

Move to Japan (1992–95)

Subsequently, Kristensen relocated his racing career to Japan, where he drove concurrently in Japanese Formula 3 and the Japanese Touring Car Championship; he would score his maiden win in the latter at Suzuka and finished second in the teams' standings. He also made his Japanese Formula 3000 debut during 1992. The following year, Kristensen drove in Japanese F3 and the JTCC again, taking a dominant title in the former driving for the TOM'S outfit.

In 1994, driving for Toyota Team Cerumo, Kristensen won at Sugo, twice at Suzuka, and twice at Aida to place second in the JTCC once again. He lost out on the title to Masanori Sekiya by a single point. Additionally, Kristensen finished ninth in his first full-time season of Japanese Formula 3000, driving for Navi Connection Racing. For his final year in Japan, 1995, Kristensen contested both championships with team Cerumo: he won thrice in the JTCC and finished fifth in the championship, whilst claiming his maiden victory in Japanese F3000 at the Mine Circuit to finish the season third.

International F3000 (1996–97)

Kristensen returned to Europe in 1996, entering the International F3000 Championship with Shannon Racing. However, following just two rounds which included a pole at the Pau Grand Prix, which ended in a mid-race accident, Kristensen left the team. He contested five of the remaining eight rounds with Edenbridge Racing, finishing second at Silverstone and scoring third at Spa-Francorchamps after another pole position; this left him seventh in the standings. For the 1997 season, Kristensen switched to Auto Sport Racing. At the opening round in Silverstone, Kristensen finished second but inherited the win after a disqualification for Ricardo Zonta. He finished second at the next event in Pau but retired from an attrition-filled race in Helsinki. Following a podium at the Nürburgring, Kristensen only scored one more point throughout the season and dropped to sixth in the standings.

Professional career

Touring car racing (1998–2000)

Following his debut Le Mans success, Kristensen entered the 1998 Super Tourenwagen Cup as part of JAS Team Honda Sport. He was outscored by teammate Gabriele Tarquini and only scored a sole podium, third at Wunstorf, on his way to 11th overall. He also became a test driver for Tyrrell in their final Formula One season that year, testing at Magny-Cours in view of a potential race seat — he was around half a second slower than regular driver Ricardo Rosset, albeit whilst using an older engine. In 1999, Kristensen returned to the Super Tourenwagen Cup and improved his results, winning two races at the Nürburgring and one at Hockenheim to finish third in the standings, narrowly ahead of teammate Tarquini.

Kristensen's touring car exploits continued in 2000, when Kristensen entered the British Touring Car Championship with the Honda factory team. His maiden win came at Oulton Park in the middle of the campaign, before Kristensen capped off the year by winning both races at the Silverstone season finale, thus placing seventh overall. He was also a Michelin test driver in 2000 as they prepared their F1 tyres using an older Williams car as well as a year-old Stewart car on European circuits.

Focus on endurance racing (1999–2003)

Parallel to his touring car career, Kristensen entered multiple endurance events in 1999 and 2000. This included the 12 Hours of Sebring, which he won in 1999 whilst piloting a BMW V12 LMR alongside Jörg Müller and JJ Lehto, and in 2000, where his Audi R8 shared with Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela led a 1-2 for Audi. The latter trio also raced at Petit Le Mans, finishing second despite damaging the car's diffuser in a collision. In 2001, Kristensen and Audi competed in the American Le Mans Series and finished fourth in the drivers' standings during a dominant season for Audi, which locked out the top four positions in the table. During the campaign, Kristensen claimed two pole positions and won four races alongside Rinaldo Capello, but missed out on the title following a crash at the season finale caused by a delaminated tyre.

Kristensen returned to the ALMS in 2002, driving the No. 2 car for Audi Sport North America together with Capello. The pair almost won at Mid-Ohio thanks to a fuel-saving strategy, but Kristensen, having driven without pitting for over one-and-a-half hours, ran out of fuel coming towards the finish line and coasted home in second. Their first win of the season came at Road America, where Kristensen battled for the lead with Pirro during the race's first half and penalties for Capello were later negated by a puncture for the leading Audi of Biela. Another victory followed at Trois-Rivières, as a late pit stop for fresh tyres allowed Capello to take first place from Biela. A heavy crash from Pirro whilst fighting with Kristensen allowed the Dane to coast to a commanding win at Mosport, before he clinched the ALMS title with a win at the season-ending Petit Le Mans.

A truncated 2003 campaign followed, in which Kristensen claimed a commanding victory in the rain at Spa and triumphed at the 1000 km of Le Mans held on the Bugatti Circuit, both alongside Seiji Ara. Kristensen also continued his Le Mans success story that year, claiming pole and winning for Team Bentley with Capello and Guy Smith.

DTM commitments alongside endurance successes (2004–06)

In 2004, Kristensen joined Abt Sportsline in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. At the seventh round in Oschersleben, Kristensen beat fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk to claim his maiden DTM win. He scored another podium in Brno to finish fourth in the standings. Having won the 12 Hours of Sebring alongside Lehto and Marco Werner at the start of 2005, Kristensen returned to the DTM. A strong opening season, where Kristensen claimed podiums at the Lausitzring, Spa, and Brno — which saw him complete an Audi 1-2 behind Mattias Ekström — helped the Dane to ascend towards the front of the standings. Kristensen scored a pair of pole positions at Oschersleben and the Norisring thereafter, before finishing second at the Nürburgring. Though he fell out of the title hunt due to a lack of wins, Kristensen, who made his final rostrum appearance at the second Lausitzring round, finished third in the championship.

At the start of 2006, Kristensen repeated his victory at Sebring together with Capello and Allan McNish in the new Audi R10 TDI, making it the first win for a diesel-powered car in a major sports car race. The momentum from this win carried forward into his third DTM season, as two runner-up finishes at Hockenheim and the Lausitzring preceded a victory from pole at Oschersleben, which put Kristensen into the lead of the championship. The following race at Brands Hatch looked to yield another run from pole position to the top step, before the leading Kristensen encountered a suspension failure that threw him out of the race. After two fifth places in the next two events, Kristensen won at Zandvoort thanks to a strong start and in spite of a fuel can problem at his pit stop, thus cutting down his gap to points leader Bernd Schneider to ten points. However, a non-score at the next race in Barcelona proved to be a setback, and despite two third places in the final two rounds Kristensen dropped to third in the standings, in what turned out to be his most successful DTM season.

Hockenheim accident & final DTM seasons (2007–09)

2007 proved to be a fruitless year for Kristensen, who started it by finishing fourth at the 12 Hours of Sebring due to two early starter motor failures. Kristensen entered the DTM once again in 2007, but suffered a heavy accident at the season opener in Hockenheim after a collision with Alexandre Prémat. The crash resulted in a long break from training for Kristensen, who missed three rounds of the season as a result. It was reported that a new type of collar worn by Kristensen may have prevented him suffering a broken neck in the crash. Once he returned, the Dane achieved a best finish of fifth at the Norisring and claimed a sole pole position at the final Hockenheim round; this resulted in 14th place in the standings by year's end.

Kristensen began 2008 by finishing third at Sebring, being beaten by two Porsche Spyder LMP2 entries. His season in the DTM brought home three podiums and two poles, which helped him to eighth in the standings. A slightly more successful season followed in 2009: Kristensen, along with Capello and McNish, won at Sebring in the Audi R15 TDI. In what he announced to be his final campaign in the DTM, Kristensen finished eighth overall again, having inherited a victory at the season opener in Hockenheim after a puncture for leader Ekström. After the season ended, Kristensen revealed it had taken two years until all after-effects of his 2007 accident had disappeared.

Endurance-only schedules, WEC era, retirement (2010–14)

With his focus on endurance racing from 2010, Kristensen and Audi entered two rounds of the Le Mans Series that year, finishing third at Spa after losing second place late on to Stéphane Sarrazin. In a chaotic Le Mans that included early contact caused by the BMW of Andy Priaulx, Kristensen, Capello, and McNish finished third in an Audi 1-2-3. In 2011, Kristensen drove in all seven races of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which included another third place at Spa, an early retirement at Le Mans due to a dramatic accident by McNish, and further non-finishes at Petit Le Mans and Zhuhai.

Going into 2012, Kristensen entered the newly-formed FIA World Endurance Championship with Audi's R18. He, along with McNish and Capello, won the first race of the series at Sebring, a victory that made Kristensen the most winning driver in the history of the event. A technical problem during the first hour of the race at Spa conspired to drop Kristensen's car to second, before he once again showed his class at Le Mans, taking the lead with six hours to go after a mistake by Marcel Fässler in the sister car. However, a collision suffered by McNish dropped the #2 entry behind the sister car by the checkered flag. Kristensen and his teammates scored podiums in each of the subsequent five races but lost out on the championship to the #1 entry at the final round.

In 2013, Kristensen returned to the WEC, partnering McNish and Loïc Duval. They won the season opener at Silverstone, with Kristensen dedicating the victory to his father, who had died before the 12 Hours of Sebring, which Kristensen had finished second. After second at Spa, Kristensen and his teammates clinched victory at Le Mans — Kristensen's ninth and final — in a drive that was overshadowed by the death of Allan Simonsen on the opening lap of the race, whom Kristensen would dedicate this win to. Second in Brazil came before victory number three at the Circuit of the Americas, where Kristensen took the lead from Sarrazin during the second hour. With two more podiums, Kristensen, McNish, and Duval clinched the title with a race to spare by finishing third in Shanghai.

For the 2014 WEC season, Kristensen and Duval would be joined by Lucas di Grassi. The year yielded fewer results, with second places at Spa, Le Mans, and Austin being the campaign's highlights. On 19 November 2014, Kristensen announced at a press conference in Copenhagen that he was retiring from motorsport at the end of the 2014 season. At the season finale in São Paulo, Kristensen capped off his career with a podium finish.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Maiden victory, BMW years (1997–99)

Kristensen's career at Circuit de la Sarthe began in the 1997 event, when he was called by Porsche customer team Joest Racing two days before the race as a late substitute for an injured Davy Jones. Partnering the experienced duo of Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson in a Porsche WSC-95 after completing just 20 laps in practice, Kristensen made his mark with a sequence of fastest laps during the night, with an intended triple stint turning into a quadruple stint. He also set the lap record later on. Thanks to a late fire for the leading, factory-entered Porsche 911 GT1 Kristensen and his teammates won the race, one lap ahead of the second-placed car. Kristensen drove for BMW the two following years, but retired early in 1998 and experienced drama in 1999: the team led going into the final hours before a heavy crash for teammate JJ Lehto caused by a stuck throttle put them out of the event.

Audi domination (2000–08)

Having returned to the Joest team, this time in a factory effort with Audi, Kristensen dominated the 2000 event in the Audi R8 alongside Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela. In 2001, though treacherous rain plagued the event, the trio won in commanding fashion once again. The trio profited from a new Fuel Stratified Injection system, which allowed them to save fuel more easily and restart the car faster after each pit stop. Kristensen, Pirro, and Biela dominated in 2002 and, with their third successive victory, became the first drivers who shared victory in three consecutive years.

Going into the 2003 iteration, Kristensen joined the Bentley works effort to pilot its Speed 8 prototype along with Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith. The Dane took pole and, with the team having lost the lead during the opening stint, retook the lead by passing JJ Lehto on his first full race lap. He and Smith drove out an authoritative lead during the race's halfway point and, together with Capello, finished two laps ahead of the second-placed sister car. Kristensen returned to drive the Audi R8 in 2004, this time partnering Capello and Seiji Ara at Team Goh. They took the lead during the early morning thanks to repairs for the leading UK-Audi and, despite a delaminating tyre caused by a lock-up from Capello and a fuel spill that ignited into a short fire in the pit lane, Kristensen and his teammates clung on to victory. In winning, Kristensen equalled Jacky Ickx's record of six Le Mans victories. He broke the record in 2005, cruising to victory with a two-lap advantage in a Champion Racing-fielded R8 together with Lehto and Marco Werner. This gave Kristensen his seventh victory at Le Mans, as well as a record-breaking sixth successive win.

The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in third place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10, as a change of the car's fuel injectors in the first hours and subsequent problems dropped him, Allan McNish, and Capello out of contention early. For the 2007 race, Kristensen's participation looked to be in jeopardy following his Hockenheim accident, but he was eventually cleared to race. His Audi crew took the lead during the night and remained there until hour 17, when the car lost its left rear wheel and crashed out, with Capello driving. Returning in 2008, Kristensen played a huge part in beating Peugeot by gaining up to seven seconds on Jacques Villeneuve during rainy stints in the night, before taking the lead on strategy in the morning. He, Capello, and McNish took the win.

Final years (2009–14)

In 2009, the trio finished third, losing six laps to the winning Peugeot entry after pitting with three hours to go to fix an engine issue. Another third in 2010 following a crash from Kristensen caused by a GT car preceded an early retirement in 2011, when teammate McNish suffered a harrowing accident from which he emerged unscathed. Another collision from McNish, this time whilst leading in the final few hours, led to a second place finish in 2012. Kristensen, for the ninth and final time, returned to the top step of the rostrum in 2013, triumphing alongside McNish and Loïc Duval. The final Le Mans appearance for Kristensen came in 2014. This race included a run in the lead on Sunday but also a loss of lead due to a turbocharger replacement; Kristensen, Duval, and Lucas di Grassi finished second behind the No. 2 Audi.

Racing record

Complete German Formula Three results

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

Complete Japanese Formula Three results

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

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

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

Complete All-Japan GT Championship results

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

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Complete Petit Le Mans results

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

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

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position– 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap signifies that driver lead feature races for at least one lap– 1 point awarded)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key)

1– A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

• †— Retired, but was classified as he completed 90 per cent of the winner's race distance.

Complete Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

See also

• List of Danish sportspeople

Notes

External links