Audi driver Florian Spengler won the Pirelli Trophy class for non-professional drivers for the first time this season. A profile of the Swabian.
Motorsport has always played a significant role in the Spengler family. Florian Spengler’s grandparents used to take part in orienteering drives, rallies and Motocross events. His father raced karts professionally, but later had to give up racing to run the family business. Spengler’s first experience of motorsport also came in karting, but only as a hobby: “As a young boy, I was at the kart track in Bopfingen with my parents almost every weekend. At some point, we were given a self-built kart from our father. I then got into Motocross. It is a really fun sport, but there is also a very high risk of injury. A broken leg, ruptured cruciate ligament, spectacular crashes, several stays in hospital, and a lot of trashed material were to follow.” In 2007, Spengler signed up for the scholarship course for the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup. Having impressed the right people, he then spent two seasons racing in the ADAC’s “touring car school”. In 2010, the Swabian switched to ADAC Procar, winning three races and finishing third overall, before moving to the ADAC GT Masters in 2011.
Since then, he has driven cars from BMW-Alpina, McLaren, Lamborghini and Audi. The highlight was a podium in Zandvoort in 2017. “It was great to stand on the rostrum there. I have also had a few podiums in the Pirelli Trophy competition, but to stand on the overall podium is obviously really special. That is pretty decent, given the relatively small amount of driving I do – as a rule, I only drive on the seven race weekends. Unlike many other drivers in the field, I am not professional – I work for the family business during the week. However, I really enjoy driving in the ADAC GT Masters and testing myself against the best GT3 drivers.
This season, he returned to the ADAC GT Masters after a season off. His team-mate at Car Collection Motorsport was former Formula 1 driver and Audi Sport racer Markus Winkelhock – a partnership that really came up trumps: “It worked out very well with the team and Markus, both on and off the track. We are a relaxed group, but take our racing very seriously. We have also had some very good top-ten results.”
The icing on the cake at the end of the season was the title in the Pirelli Trophy competition. As well as three class victories, Spengler also finished fifth on two occasions and claimed four third places. That was enough to secure the title with a big lead of 63 points. “It is nice to have won the title,” says Spengler. “I am really pleased with the prize – 22 sets of Pirelli tyres. That is a huge help. That is almost enough to cover my tyre requirements for the whole season. It allows you to save the money for other things, such as repairs after crashes, which are always going to happen now and then. The Pirelli Trophy competition is ideal for drivers like me.”
Spengler is looking to defend his title in 2022: “I am planning on racing again next year. We are in discussions about the coming season. There is actually nothing to stop us continuing with a similar line-up. We are very happy with the performance and everyone involved in the Car Collection Motorsport team.”