German racing driver Marco Werner was the latest guest of the RCCO World eX Bizz Talk, offering the community a candid look back at a career shaped by talent, persistence and an unwavering Formula 1 dream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marco Werner\u2019s story led from a self-built Formula Ford to three overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans \u2013 before historic racing finally allowed him to race Formula 1 cars at venues such as Monaco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the German, the destination was clear from the outset. \u201cFor sure, when you start in formula cars, the dream is Formula 1,\u201d he said. Yet his route into motorsport was far from conventional. Karting was not financially possible, even though it was his original ambition, so he and a friend of his father built a Formula Ford 1600 themselves. \u201cIt was very cheap and the only possibility for me to start in racing,\u201d Werner recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His father had raced in the 1960s and 1970s, but there was no sponsorship money waiting for the next generation. Werner began with a simple, self-built car, then worked his way through Formula Ford and the Opel Lotus Challenge towards Formula 3. The prospect of Formula 1 still felt distant, but the move into Formula 3 gave his dream a new level of realism. \u201cThe Formula 3 in this time, the technique looking like little Formula 1 cars, that was my first dream,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The talent was there. Werner won the Monaco Formula 3 Grand Prix in 1992 and finished runner-up in the German Formula 3 Championship, sharing the era with future Formula 1 stars. But professional motorsport is not determined by speed alone. The decisive problem was financial backing. \u201cI never had a manager and sponsorships,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very, very difficult to make the next step to Formula 3000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite these barriers, Werner never left racing behind. His career took an alternative route through touring cars, GT racing and the Porsche Supercup. In 1999, after a season away from full-time competition, he drove four N\u00fcrburgring Nordschleife races in an Opel Astra Group N car simply for enjoyment. It was a modest programme, but it led to a crucial opportunity when Infineon offered him a Porsche Supercup drive for 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Porsche Supercup became Werner\u2019s second beginning. He described the series as a hard but valuable school, where tightly matched cars and close racing gave little room for error. His performances, as well as Infineon\u2019s connection with Audi, opened a door that would change the course of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Audi offered Werner a one-race contract for the 2002 Le Mans 24 Hours, placing him in the manufacturer\u2019s third LMP1 prototype. At the time, he had visited Le Mans only one year earlier as an Infineon guest and imagined how special it would be simply to contest the race in a GT2 car. \u201cWe never expect that we race an LMP1 car and that we finish on the podium the next year and the year after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The step from Porsche Supercup machinery to an Audi LMP1 prototype was enormous. Werner\u2019s comparison captured the scale perfectly: \u201cIt is like you\u2019re flying as a hobby pilot with a Cessna \u2026 and then they bring you in an F16.\u201d He immediately loved the speed and technical sophistication of the prototype, despite having only a single Le Mans appearance guaranteed. \u201cI made a good job, and that was the start in my next step, in a good career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That next step became a remarkable success story. In 2003, Werner joined Audi and Joest Racing in the American Le Mans Series, arriving in the United States without prior knowledge of the circuits. He nevertheless won his first race, the 12 Hours of Sebring, alongside Frank Biela. \u201cYou come to America for the first time, you haven\u2019t a clue about the racetrack, and then you go back as a winner from the first race,\u201d Werner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He and Biela won the 2003 American Le Mans Series title, followed by another championship in 2004 with JJ Lehto at Champion Racing. Werner also became a central figure in Audi\u2019s Le Mans programme, ultimately taking three overall victories in the French endurance classic. What began as a one-off third-car opportunity had become a place in one of the world\u2019s leading factory teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving Audi\u2019s prototype programme, Werner continued racing in GT3 cars. But a new, more personal chapter started in 2013, when nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen invited him to Denmark to race a Lotus Cortina. \u201cThat was my first race ever in historic racing,\u201d Werner said. \u201cThat was really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historic racing soon became much more than an occasional outing. Werner bought his former 1992 Monaco-winning Formula 3 car, restored it for track activity and gradually built a programme around historic cars. He described historic racing as \u201ca journey into all the times\u201d \u2013 an opportunity to experience the cars, sounds and physical demands of earlier eras first-hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His historic career brought another major victory in 2016, when he won Le Mans Classic in a Porsche 936 with Kremer Racing heritage. The experience was demanding: the car still reached around 320 km\/h, but its heat, brakes and physical workload were worlds away from the more refined Audi prototypes Werner had raced in the 2000s. \u201cOne hour in this car, it was really far away from doing three hours with the modern cars from Audi,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most importantly, historic racing ultimately brought Werner to the category he had always wanted to reach. He has raced a wide variety of Formula 1 cars, including the six-wheeled Tyrrell, a Nigel Mansell Lotus, Ferrari\u2019s 1961 \u201cSharknose\u201d, Ren\u00e9 Arnoux\u2019s 1983 Ferrari and Niki Lauda\u2019s 1974 Ferrari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driving Lauda\u2019s Ferrari in Monaco was particularly emotional. \u201cThat was really special, to drive Niki\u2019s car,\u201d Werner said. Lauda later watched onboard footage from Werner\u2019s run and praised the drive \u2013 a memorable endorsement for a driver whose early Formula 1 hopes had been blocked by finances rather than ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Werner races mainly with the Black and Gold Collection, a remarkable group of Lotus and John Player Special-liveried racing cars. The collection includes around ten Formula 1 cars, as well as machinery such as a BMW Group 5 racer, a Trans-Am car and a Lotus-branded LMP2 prototype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the man who once built his own Formula Ford because karting was too expensive, the circle has closed in the most unexpected way. \u201cMaybe I found my dream now,\u201d Werner said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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