Birthday : 1948-03-07
Biography Walter Röhrl
Walter Röhrl was the youngest of 3 children. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother. At the age of 16 he started working for a company that had commercial relations with the Bishop of Regensburg. He became the driver of the commercial director of the company, covering up to 120.000 kilometres a year. In 1968, Walter Röhrl drove his first rally in a Fiat 850 Coupe without any training. Just one year later, to the surprise of rally insiders, Röhrl drove to 2nd place in the same rally in a BMW 2002TI.
Röhrl got international aknowledgement in 1972, when he drove in 1st spot at the Olympia Rally. Unfortunately his engine broke down, which forced him to abandon to race. In 1975 he wins his first WM rally, the Akropolis Rally with a stunning 1hour advance to the 2nd. In 1980 he wins his first World Championship, as a Fiat factory pilot.
The next season he drives with Porsche, at Silverstone, the Nurburgring, Norisring and Diepholz. 1982 he moves om to Opel, to change in 1983 back to Lancia whom he drove for in the 70s too. 1984 is the year he wins the Rally Monte Carlo for the 4th time, despite having rather much bad luck with his Audi Quattro. One of Walter Röhrl most impressive wins is probably the 1987 Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the USA.
From 1988 he mainly drives at the racetrack, for Audi and Porsche, even though racing at the track was not exactly the most fun for him. He preferred racing against the clock, as he was used to do in Rallies.
After his retirement as a professional racer, he started a career as test-pilot for Porsche. He often represents Porsche at race events, and he was heavily involved in the development of the Porsche Carrera GT. From time to time you can see him at work at historic races like the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
