Nationality | German |
---|---|
Born |
Neuss, West Germany |
August 2, 1964
24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
Participating years | 1999–2008 |
Teams | Audi Sport Joest, Audi Sport UK, Champion Racing |
Best finish | 1st (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007) |
Class wins | 5 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007) |
Frank Biela (born 2 August 1964 in Neuss) is an auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990.
Biela started his career in 1983 in karting before joining the Ford Youngster Team programme in 1987 alongside Manuel Reuter and Bernd Schneider. He drove for the team in Formula Ford and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (the German touring car championship), where he won the race at AVUS in 1987. Biela continued to compete in the DTM in 1988, and also raced a limited season in German Formula Three, scoring two wins.
In 1990, he moved to Audi, winning the DTM race at the Nürburgring and the DTM championship in 1991 before Audi left the DTM in mid-season of 1992. Biela stayed with the company, and with the rise of the two-litre Class 2 (Super Touring) rules in other series across Europe, he was entered in various European touring car series over the following few seasons such as the French Supertouring Championship in 1993 driving the Audi 80 (in which he won the championship in) entered by Audi into the championship pairing alongside Marc Sourd. Since his French Supertouring Championship victory in 1993, he is the only standing non-French driver to win it. In 1995, he won the Touring Car World Cup race at Paul Ricard in the new Audi A4, which quickly became one of the dominant touring cars of the mid-1990s.