Гонщики, M | |
Mass, Jochen Курсивом отмечены гонщики, |
| Йохен МассMass, JochenMass, Joachim |
 (c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000 Родился: 30.09.1946 Дорфен, Мюнхен Сезонов в Ф1: Лет в Ф1: 10 Гран При: Старты: 104* *не стартовал: 14 Победы: - подряд: Подиумы: - подряд: Поул-позиции: - подряд: Первый ряд: - подряд: Быстрые круги: - подряд: Лучший финиш: Лучший старт: 4 Дубли: Хет-трики: Лидирование старт/финиш: Большие шлемы: Круги: - лидирования: 5 Километры: - лидирования: |
Год | Команда | Шасси |
Maybe lacking the killer instinct which separates the winners from the rest, Jochen Mass was nevertheless a very talented racing driver who looked destined for the very top on the evidence of his early career, which began in 1970 with an Alfa saloon before he joined Ford Germany to race their Capri. He really shot to prominence in 1972 by winning the European touring car championship for drivers after major wins at Spa, Zandvoort, Silverstone and Jarama. In addition to a planned F3 programme, he also made his Formula 2 debut in the works March and scored a superb win in the Eifelrennen.
Retaining his Ford touring car links, Mass signed for the Surtees Formula 2 team in 1973, and won the rounds at Kinnekulle and Hockenheim. He finished a solid second in the championship standings and also earned his Grand Prix debut at Silverstone. Unfortunately his car was wiped out in the Jody Scheckter-instigated multiple shunt, but he was soon back in action, taking seventh place in the German GP. Promoted to the Surtees F1 team full-time in 1974, Jochen enjoyed a useful start to the year with a fourth place in the Medici GP in Brasilia and then second in the International Trophy race. Once the Grand Prix season proper got under way, however, things soon began to go wrong, with a succession of technical maladies afflicting the team. Things reached boiling point when a superb drive in the German GP was ended by engine failure, prompting him to follow Pace's example and quit in frustration. Picking up the vacant Yardley McLaren seat for the final two races of the season, Mass was offered a full works ride in place of the retired Denny Hulme for 1975 and emerged as an excellent number two to Fittipaldi, winning the shortened Spanish GP in Barcelona, and impressing mightily at both Paul Ricard and Watkins Glen.
The German's subordinate role in the team was to continue during the next two seasons as James Hunt breezed in to highlight the gulf that exists between champions and contenders. Jochen did have his moments, though, and was distinctly unlucky not to win the 1976 German GP, his gamble to run on slicks looking likely to pay off until Lauda's accident halted proceedings. He could, however, be relied upon to provide the team with plenty of top-six finishes and was happy to deliver. In 1977 a couple of Formula 2 races for March brought him victories at Hockenheim and the Nürburgring, and he began his long and tremendously successful sports car partnership with Jacky Ickx, winning three rounds of the World Championship of Makes in the Martini Racing Porsche.
Making the break from an increasingly down-trodden existence at McLaren, he joined the ATS team as number one driver in 1978, but the season was to be desperately disappointing and ended prematurely when Mass suffered a broken knee and thigh in a testing accident at Silverstone. It was to his credit that he made a strong comeback in 1979 with Arrows. Despite being in an outclassed car, he put in some spirited drives, none more stirring than at Monaco where he lay third until brake problems intervened. Continuing with the team for another season, he again proved a consistent performer. Ironically, his best placing was second in the Spanish GP, which was subsequently denied championship status, but he produced another excellent display at Monaco. Out of a drive for 1981, Jochen concentrated on sports car and G5 racing before an unhappy return to the Grand Prix arena with the RAM team in 1982.
Disillusioned after this final year of F1, Mass turned to sports car racing full-time. With Rothmans Porsche, he took eight wins between 1982 and 1985, before briefly switching to IMSA, and after racing a Brun Porsche in 1987 he joined Sauber, which eventually became the full works Mercedes-Benz team. He remained a very capable driver and his huge experience made him the ideal tutor to the German company's young lions, Schumacher, Wendlinger and Frentzen. Jochen scored three wins in 1988 and added five more in 1989, including a long-awaited and much-deserved victory at Le Mans. In 1990 he won another two rounds but there were no successes the following year, when the programme was running down as Sauber looked towards Formula 1. In 1992 Mass moved into a team management role in the German touring car championship, but continued to enjoy his racing, mainly in GT cars. Throughout the nineties Jochen was a regular in the Grand Prix paddock, where his irreverent sense of humour was a commodity often in short supply.
(c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000
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