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1972
Coming of age, Ingo buys A VW and competes in saloon cars |
Sao Paulo has been the birthplace of many of Brazil's greatest drivers. Ayrton Senna, for instance, was a proud Paulista, and Rubens Barrichello has inherited that legacy. But while the name Ingo Hoffmann may not have left its mark on the world stage, few who have followed the Brazilian national scene for the past three decades and seen his dominance of stock car racing will deny this Paulista of German descent his rightful place in the pantheon of great Brazilian racing drivers.
Hoffmann's dream was always to be a racing driver, although his parents frowned upon that ambition. He waited until 1972 when he was 19 before asserting himself, buying a 1600cc Volkswagen and beginning to use it to compete in Brazilian Division 1 saloon car racing. In his first race at Interlagos he came a credible 7th having started a random 44th on the grid, earned his parents' support, and took a 5th and a 4th place before the engine on his car blew. |
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1972-73
Success in both Sao Paulo and Brazilian titles; teams up with Ribeiro |
Ingo's career may have finished there and then before it even got started, but a friend lent him a car to race in the Division 1 races at Curitiba, where he duly finished 2nd and 1st before blowing another engine. It was enough to capture the attention of engine man Giba, who changed Hoffmann's Volkswagen to Division 3 specifications, and before 1972 was out Ingo had raced six times in Division 3, winning at Interlagos and finishing 2nd on another occasion.
With a full racing licence in 1973, and sponsorship from the Creditum Group where his father was working, Hoffmann won both the Sao Paulo and the Brazilian saloon car champion in Division 3, beating the likes of another future F1 driver, Alex Ribeiro. In fact, Hoffmann and Ribeiro teamed up for the annual Brazilian 1000 Miles endurance event, held for Division 1 machines, and they took 3rd on the grid before brake problems in the race intervened. |
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1974
More saloon car success; takes the plunge into single seaters |
In 1974, Ingo again competed in Brazilian saloon cars in Division 3, this time in a car called the Brasilia with an engine prepared by Giba and with a Hewland F1 clutch courtesy of future F1 designer Richard Divila, and also narrower wheels to assist in straight-line speed. Although the car was late arriving, and Hoffmann spun out of the lead on the last lap of his first race in the car, it eventually became a dominant force, and he took his second Brazilian saloon car title on the trot.
But that year, Hoffmann also took to single-seater racing, competing in Super Vees with a Kaimann chassis. Giba once again prepared the engine, Divila was again involved, and the team was based in the same factory as Wilson Fittipaldi's Copersucar operation, and Ingo impressed the team no end. Competing against the likes of Nelson Piquet, Hoffmann eventually lost the title to Marcos Troncon and ended up 3rd overall. He then teamed up with Fittipaldi and Reinaldo Campello to win the Division 1 Souza Cruz 25hrs saloon car event in a Chevrolet Opala. |
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1975
Wilsinho fast tracking Ingo for the big time after a European year of F3 and F5000 |
Hoffmann and Fittipaldi fast became friends, and it was the ex-Brabham driver who organised Ingo's move to Europe for 1975. Although by his own admission he was inexperienced, having missed out on karting where he could have learnt valuable racing skills, in 1975 Hoffmann raced in both European and British F3 in a white sponsorless March 753 Toyota. One win plus pole and fastest lap at Oulton Park saw him come 6th in the British series with 34 points, but in Europe he scored only 1 point for 23rd place.
But it was clear that 'Wilsinho' was fast-tracking Hoffmann towards F1. Towards the end of 1975, Ingo not only tested F5000 cars but raced a Chevron in three events, taking 4th at Brands Hatch, and before the year was out he had tried the Copersucar Fittipaldi F1 car, in order for him to get accustomed to more powerful machines. Clearly Ingo and his bright red and yellow helmet, one of the first to be painted by famous Brazilian helmet designer Sid Mosca, were on their way to the highest echelon of all. |
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1976 Fittipaldi Travel expenses allow Ingo to spend time in F2 as well as F1 |
Despite only that one season of racing in Europe, when the Fittipaldi brothers offered him a place in a second car for the 1976 F1 season, Hoffmann made the plunge and took the place. The way he tells it, he knew he had very little experience, but feels he had little other choice: it was either accept the four-year offer, remain within the Fittipaldi stable and receive a wage, or return to Brazil and scrounge around for sponsorship to try to muster an F3 or F2 drive.
Copersucar, however, was not part of FOCA and therefore had to pay for all travel arrangements out of their own pocket. Hence the second car was only going to selected races, only four in fact, which left Hoffmann free also to race in F2 during 1976. His six F1 outings over the next year and a half, though, would bury his talent so much, one wonders if he would have been indeed been better advised to take the risk and concentrate on those lower categories before stepping up into the top flight after all. |
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1976
On home soil, he comes home 11th, ahead of team mate Emerson! |
In the 1976 season opener at Interlagos, running in an old Fittipaldi FD03 chassis with a Cosworth V8 and Goodyear tyres, Hoffmann wasn't too spectacular. 20th quickest in qualifying out of 22, he was some 7.85 seconds off James Hunt on pole, and 2.73 seconds behind Jacky Ickx in the Wolf-Williams in 19th spot. In the race, Hoffmann did an excellent job to come home 11th out of the 14 finishers, only a lap down, and fantastically ahead of team-mate Emerson Fittipaldi, who was 13th and 3 laps down.
With the South African GP being a little too far away for two cars, Hoffmann's next opportunity came in round 3 at Long Beach, where he got to drive the new FD04 chassis. With only 20 out of the 27 entrants starting, Hoffmann was unlucky. He was only 2.458 seconds off pole set by Clay Regazzoni, but was 22nd fastest. Compared to Gunnar Nilsson who was 20th in his Lotus, Hoffmann was only 0.28s slower. And compared to Emerson, who already knew the circuit and the new chassis, he was just 0.4s in arrears. |
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1976
A couple of very close shaves leaves Ingo on the sidelines come raceday |
But things got considerably worse in round 4 at Jarama, where problems in practice on the twisty, dusty Spanish track meant that Hoffmann did not record a proper lap time. Of the 30 entrants he was slowest of all, with his time of 1:53.12 some 34.6 seconds off Hunt's pole time, and 30.2 seconds behind the Hesketh of Harald Ertl in 29th place. Needless to say he was once again on the sidelines come Sunday.
Hoffmann didn't get another chance until round 8 at Paul Ricard for the French GP, where once again he failed to make the cut. With 27 out of the 30 entries allowed to start, again the Brazilian missed out by 2 places, but time-wise he was closer than ever. Ertl got in with a 1:53.59 (while Hunt's pole time was 1:47.89), but Hoffmann missed out with a 1:53.78, just 0.19s slower than the bearded Austrian journo, sandwiching Damien Magee's RAM Brabham in the process. |
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1977
His first point ever so near, and yet ever so far in Brazil, a fine drive netting 7th |
That was it as far as the second Copersucar entry was concerned in 1976, but for 1977 Hoffmann was meant to get a full-time seat in the second car, despite the all-too-obvious fact that at this stage Copersucar Fittipaldi really couldn't afford two cars and was concentrating almost solely on Emerson's machine. Ironically, Ingo's performances picked up, so much so that in round 1 in Argentina he qualified 19th, 4.6 seconds behind Hunt on pole, but was forced out after 22 laps with an engine failure.
In front of his home crowd at Interlagos, he then qualified 19th again before running reliably while others dropped out. He was eventually running in the points with a few laps to go, but suffered a slow puncture. His FD04 got more unstable lap by lap, and eventually was tragically overtaken by Renzo Zorzi's Shadow. The last of only 7 finishers, but agonisingly close to his first World Championship point, he wound up two laps down on Carlos Reutemann who won for Ferrari. |
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1977
Fittipaldi ditches the second car, leaving Ingo out in the F1 cold |
Immediately after this fine performance, but not altogether surprisingly, Copersucar dumped the second car for the remainder of the season. Despite still having a contract with Fittipaldi, Ingo was out of a drive, his Grand Prix career over after just six appearances including 3 DNQs. Amazingly, though, he seems to bear no grudges against the Fittipaldi brothers, who perhaps too prematurely pushed him into F1, and whose financial arrangements proved his death knell.
When asked recently if he had received offers from other teams then, he replied: "No, I did not receive invitations from anybody. I do not know if they (the other teams) knew that I had a contract of 4 years, but I think that in the truth I was not invited because I'd not spent much time in the category and had a very weak performance." |
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1976-77
Impressive in F2 for Kauhsen and Ron Dennis: plenty of podiums and points |
As mentioned above, Hoffmann's limited F1 opportunities in 1976 and 1977 allowed him to also compete in European Formula 2, not without some impressive results. In 1976 he drove a March 762 Hart for the team run by Willi Kauhsen, who would later make his own disastrous foray into F1. Considering that he only had one season of European racing under his belt at the time, to finish 5th at Thruxton and 6th at Rouen, scoring 3 points for 14th overall, was no mean feat.
In 1977 he joined Ron Dennis' Project Four team to drive a Ralt RT1 BMW, and started off by finishing 4th at Silverstone. He then took 5th at Rouen, setting the lap record there in the process, before scoring three 3rds in a row at Nogaro, Enna and Misano. He subsequently had a very heavy collision with Riccardo Patrese at Estoril, but did claim equal 7th overall (with Alberto Colombo) with 18 points, although team-mate Eddie Cheever was 2nd with 40 points. |
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1978
Solid year send with stunning F2 victory in Buenos Aires for Project Four |
The next year, without an F1 drive, Hoffmann stayed with Project Four, although Fittipaldi was still paying his wage. Dennis switched both Cheever and Hoffmann to March 782 BMWs, although with many other drivers using the same car/engine combination, both found the going a little tougher. Ingo came 4th at Hockenheim, Mugello and Donington, 5th at Nogaro and 6th at the Nurburgring, and set another lap record at Rouen-les-Essarts en route to 13 points and equal 6th in the standings.
To round the year off, Project Four sent three cars down to the non-championship event at Buenos Aires for Hoffmann and Cheever, and Ingo proved that he had what it took by claiming victory. Indeed, his three seasons in F2 had shown him to be quick and determined, and able to drive some great races, but not always rewarded with the results he deserved. Yet with his personal sponsorship on the wane, for 1979 he took the conscious decision to return to Brazil to race. |
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1979-2001
The Brazilian stock car king - with 11 titles, including six in a row! |
But in what? It just so happened that for 1979, General Motors were creating a new saloon car category labelled 'stock cars', and Hoffmann slotted in comfortably. Although he had become used to the braking performance of single-seaters and had to constantly remind himself to brake earlier whilst driving stock cars, he has raced in that category ever since and has become the undisputed grand master of it, with over 50 victories and 50 pole positions to his name.
With the Chevrolet Opala being the car of choice, he first won the stock car title in 1980, and again in 1985. He then swept to six consecutive titles from 1989 to 1994, although from 1991 to 1993 he shared the car with Angelo Giombelli. He claimed another hat-trick from 1996 to 1998 for an unbelievable 11 all up. But in the past two years, driving a Chevrolet Vectra, he has had to play second fiddle to his friend Chico Serra. With 176 points in 2000 and 118 in 2001, he has nonetheless come 2nd in both years. |
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1993-95
Competes around the world, including Germany, Belgium and in Czech touring cars |
But stock cars haven't been all he has driven in. Ingo has also twice won the Formula Fiat-Uno title, including in 1993, and in 1994 he again raced in the Brazilian 1000 Miles at Interlagos, driving a BMW M3 GTR with Nelson Piquet and Johnny Cecotto. Then in 1995 he even competed in the Czech touring car championship, taking a fine win at Brno in a BMW 318i.
In addition, Hoffmann has raced three times in the Nurburgring 24hrs endurance classic, twice for a works team. On both those occasions his car was in the lead when it struck mechanical problems. Ingo has also competed at the Spa 24hrs, where he once engaged in an hour-long duel with touring car specialist Roberto Ravaglia, impressing the Italian no end. |
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1998-99
Carries stock car form into new SudAm super tourers in MasterCard BMW |
Furthermore, in 1998 and 1999 Hoffmann was also part of the South American Touring Car Championship, as super touring fever gripped that continent. Driving as Oscar Larrauri's team-mate in Mastercard-sponsored Team Proas BMW 320is, Hoffmann carried his stock car form into the more refined world of front-wheel drive super tourers, and under the guidance of team boss Hugo Amadeo Videla and technical director Marcos Laborda, Ingo helped Larrauri to title wins in both those years.
In 1998 he himself came 3rd overall, scoring 112 points. Apart from a single retirement at Cascavel, he finished 9 of the other 11 races in the top 10, including victories at Curitiba, Obera and Rosario. In 1999 he was even more successful. In an incredibly consistent display, he finished all 12 races in the top 5, with three 5ths, three 4ths, three 3rds, a 2nd, and two wins at Rosario and El Pinar. |
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1999-2000
Tyre salesman concentrates on continuing his stock car dominance |
However, this only netted him 3rd place again, though with 146 points he was only 6 behind joint champions Carlos Bueno and Emiliano Spataro, who amazingly had the same number of wins, the same number of places down to 7th, and the same number of pole positions. By 2000, though, interest in super touring had waned in South America as it had everywhere else, and Hoffmann left the series to concentrate on his stock car racing.
On a personal note, Hoffmann currently still resides in the city of Sao Paulo, and he is married with three children. He is 1.77 metres tall and weighs in at 73kg. He likes rock music and comedy films, while he enjoys both white and red wines. He has four tyre shops where he sells Michelin and Nakata tyres in particular, and he also conducts advanced driver training for BMW. He is married to Ruth, and he has three children, Nina, Ligia and Robert. |
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