Stefan Johansson

Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One between 1980 and 1991.^[b] In endurance racing, Johansson won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 with Joest.

Quick Facts Born, Formula One World Championship career ...

Stefan Johansson
Johansson in 2011
Born	Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (1956-09-08) 8 September 1956 (age 68) Växjö, Sweden
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Swedish
Active years	1980, 1983–1991
Teams	Shadow, Spirit, Tyrrell, Toleman, Ferrari, McLaren, Ligier, Onyx, AGS, Footwork
Engines	Ford, Honda, Hart, Ferrari, TAG, Judd, Porsche
Entries	103 (79 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	12
Career points	88
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1980 Argentine Grand Prix
Last entry	1991 British Grand Prix
Champ Car career
74 races run over 5 years
Years active	1992–1996
Team(s)	Bettenhausen
Best finish	11th (1994)
First race	1992 Detroit Grand Prix (Detroit)
Last race	1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey (Laguna Seca)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 4 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1983–1984, 1990–1992, 1997–2001, 2003, 2006–2008, 2012
Teams	Joest, Mazda, Trust, Porsche, Audi, Reynard, Champion, RfH, Arena, Courage, Epsilon Euskadi, Gulf
Best finish	1st (1997)
Class wins	3 (1992, 1997, 2003)
Previous series
2012 1982–1992[a] 1979–1982 1978–1980	FIA WEC World Sportscar European Formula Two British F3
Championship titles
1980	British F3
Awards
1992	IndyCar Rookie of the Year

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Born and raised in Växjö, Johansson began his career in kart racing, winning the Swedish Championship in 1973. After achieving multiple national titles in Formula Ford, Johansson progressed to British Formula Three, winning the championship in 1980. Johansson also made his Formula One debut that year—at the Argentine Grand Prix with Shadow—but did not qualify for either round he contested. Following multiple race wins in European Formula Two and podiums in the World Sportscar Championship, Johansson returned to Formula One in 1983 with Spirit. After sporadic appearances for Tyrrell and Toleman in 1984, Johansson signed for Ferrari the following season, achieving his maiden podium finish in Canada. Retaining his seat for 1986, Johansson scored several podiums as he finished a career-best fifth in the World Drivers' Championship. Replaced by Gerhard Berger at Ferrari in 1987, Johansson moved to McLaren to partner Alain Prost; he scored five podiums on his way to sixth in the standings, but left for Ligier at the end of the season. After a non-classified championship finish in 1988, Johansson moved to Onyx, scoring the team's only podium finish at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix. He was dropped by Onyx after the 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix, making further appearances for AGS and Footwork in 1991 before leaving Formula One, having achieved 12 podiums.

In addition to his 10 seasons in Formula One, Johansson entered 15 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1983 and 2012, taking three class wins amongst an overall win in 1997, driving the Porsche WSC-95 alongside Michele Alboreto and Tom Kristensen. He also competed in the IndyCar World Series from 1992 to 1996, both seasons of Grand Prix Masters, and the inaugural season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson was born on 8 September 1956 in Växjö, Sweden.^{[citation needed]} Johansson began his career in kart racing, where he won the Swedish Championship in 1973.^[1] He then progressed to Formula Ford, winning the Swedish title in both 1977 and 1979.^[2]

Johansson competed in the British Formula Three Championship from 1978 to 1980, winning the series in his final year, driving for future McLaren chief executive Ron Dennis' Project Four team.

In Formula One he participated in 103 Grands Prix, debuting on 13 January 1980 for the Shadow Racing Team at the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix when he was still a Formula Three regular. He failed to qualify for the race and the next race in Brazil and he was not seen in Formula One again until 1983, after spending 1982 in the European Formula Two Championship with Spirit Racing, where he finished eighth overall, his best finish being third at Mugello in Italy.

Tyrrell/Toleman (1984)

Stefan Johansson was replaced at Spirit by Mauro Baldi for the 1984 season when the team lost its Honda engines to Williams and he didn't race until he joined Tyrrell in Round 10 of the championship, the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, as a replacement for the injured Martin Brundle. He then went on to drive for Toleman for the last few Grands Prix of the season in place of the injured Johnny Cecotto, finishing fourth in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. While at Toleman, Johansson's regular teammate was future triple World Drivers' Champion Ayrton Senna.

Ferrari (1985–1986)

Johansson signed a contract with Toleman for 1985 but it fell through when Toleman failed to secure a tyre agreement. Instead Johansson started again with Tyrrell as a replacement for the suspended Stefan Bellof before being called up to Ferrari when René Arnoux was mysteriously sacked after the first race of the season in Brazil. At his second race with Ferrari, namely their 'home' race, the San Marino Grand Prix, two laps from home he passed Senna's out-of-fuel Lotus to take the lead to the delight of the Tifosi, and would probably have won if his Ferrari 156/85 had not run out of fuel itself just half a lap later. His role at Ferrari for the 1985 season was primarily to support Michele Alboreto's championship challenge, though he did finish second to the Italian at Canada, and backed it up with second in the next race at Detroit.

In 1986, he often outpaced Alboreto, despite the Italian being the team's lead driver. The V6 turbo in the Ferrari F1/86 lacked nothing in power compared to the Honda, BMW, Renault and TAG-Porsche engines, but the car itself proved to be difficult, with both drivers complaining through the season about lack of downforce and the car's reluctance to drive well on all but the smoothest of circuits. Johansson finished fifth in the 1986 Drivers' Championship, his best-ever position, while Alboreto, who finished second in 1985, could only manage ninth place. There were many in Formula One, including highly respected then-BBC commentators Murray Walker and 1976 World Champion James Hunt, who believed that Ferrari were sacking the wrong driver, given that the Swede had generally outshone his more highly-paid teammate throughout the season.

For 1992 he moved over to CART Championship Car, winning the Rookie of the Year title with two third places, ahead of Belgium's Éric Bachelart. His first pole came at Portland the next year, but as in Formula One he never won a race. From 1992 to 1996, he started 73 races and had his best season overall in 1994, finishing in 11th. During this time, he competed in the 1993–1995 Indianapolis 500. At the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto race, he was involved in an accident that claimed the life of fellow driver Jeff Krosnoff and track marshal Gary Avrin. After making wheel to wheel contact, Jeff's car hit the barriers and also a tree and lamp post that was too close to the track. Krosnoff died instantly of the injuries sustained from hitting the lamp post.

Before his Formula One career Johansson had participated in sports car races such as 24 Hours of Le Mans, and had won two World Sportscar Championship races in the 1980s (the Mugello round in 1983, driving a Joest Racing Porsche 956 with Bob Wollek, and the 1988 Spa Francorchamps race in a Sauber C9 with Mauro Baldi).

After retiring from CART at the end of the 1996 season he returned to this type of racing. During 1997 he recorded two major race wins, at the 12 Hours of Sebring driving a Ferrari 333 SP with Andy Evans, Fermín Vélez and Yannick Dalmas. Later in 1997 Johansson also won at Le Mans where he drove a TWR-Porsche WSC-95 for Joest Racing alongside his Ferrari F1 teammate of 1985 and 1986 Michele Alboreto, and young Dane Tom Kristensen. For Kristensen it was to be the first of a record (as of 2013) 9 wins in the famous French classic.

In 1997, Johansson founded a successful Indy Lights team running Fredrik Larsson and Jeff Ward; in 1998 its drivers were Guy Smith and Luiz Garcia Jr.; for 1999 the seats went to Scott Dixon and Ben Collins.

During 1998 and 1999, Johansson raced for various sports car teams (like the unreliable Audi R8C Coupé at Le Mans) but in 2000 he started Johansson-Matthews racing with an American businessman called Jim Matthews. They competed in the American Le Mans Series using a Reynard 2KQ prototype. Unfortunately this wasn't a successful vehicle in its original form (though it was later developed into various other successful cars including the Zytek that he later raced) and the partnership dissolved.

In 2001, Johansson campaigned an Audi R8 prototype with backing from Gulf Oil and the assistance of Mike Earle's Arena team. That year he raced in the European Le Mans Series, the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself. His co-drivers were Guy Smith and Patrick Lemarie. At Le Mans Smith was replaced by Tom Coronel.

2002 saw Johansson back in an Audi R8 but this time one run by the Miami based Champion Racing team. His co-driver was ex Formula One driver Johnny Herbert and they competed in the American Le Mans Series.

For 2003, he returned to CART as a team owner, running American Spirit Team Johansson with Jimmy Vasser and Ryan Hunter-Reay as drivers. This was one of many new teams for the 2003 CART season; ironically, Bachelart's Mi-Jack Conquest Racing team was another. The team was under-funded, and although Hunter-Reay scored a fluke win in the wet conditions at Australia, it folded at the end of the season.

After only competing in a couple of celebrity races and occasional outings in the works Zytek in 2004 Johansson returned to full-time racing in 2005 driving the Chip Ganassi run New Century Mortgage sponsored Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype in the American Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. With co-driver Cort Wagner he scored his best finish, a second place, at Mont Tremblant in Canada, they finished the year in fifth place in the championship.

In 2006 as well as the Grand Prix Masters series, Johansson has made occasional appearances in Grand-Am for the Cheever and CITGO teams, and has continued an association with the works Zytek team in the Le Mans Series.

2007 saw Johansson competing in a Highcroft Racing Courage-Acura in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series, sharing with David Brabham. He was due to race a Zytek at Le Mans in 2007, but the team could not rebuild the car in time after a test-day accident, and Johansson made a last minute deal to drive a works Courage.

Johansson took part in the inaugural Speedcar Series in 2008, where luck once again deserted him as the victim of a lot of other drivers' accidents. For 2008 Johansson did not have a full-time sports car drive, but had some outings planned in the Highcroft Acura ARX-01 in the ALMS and a place with the Epsilon Euskadi team at Le Mans.

Outside the cockpit, Johansson has a number of business ventures (including managing several successful drivers such as Scott Dixon) and is a keen artist – he is particularly known for his watch designs. Also, Johansson does expert commentary on Viasat Motor during Formula One races on occasion.

In 2011, he raced a Pescarolo-Judd in the Petit Le Mans 10 Hours and a Ford GT3 in the Malaysian 12 Hours at Sepang.

In 2012, he returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, racing a Lola B12/80.

He is the manager of several racing drivers, including New Zealander Scott Dixon, fellow Swede Felix Rosenqvist (winner of the 2015 European Formula 3 Championship), Canadian Zachary Claman DeMelo, Romain Grosjean^[6] and Ed Jones.^[7]

Johansson was the inspiration for the song "Speedway at Nazareth" by Mark Knopfler.^[8]