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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">17/03/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Bob Wollek</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">By Mark Cole</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/llekBy%20MAME.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"> As news filtered through to the Malaysian Grand Prix paddock of the tragic death of Bob Wollek on the other side of the globe, many at Sepang were stopped short, saddened by the loss of one of motorsport's greatest characters. It was a mark of the respect that his grand prix peers had for "Brilliant Bob" that although he never raced in Formula 1, he was universally admired and liked.<BR> <BR> Bob was the greatest driver never to have won Le Mans - although his 30 participations netted him four 2nd overall places and four class wins. He won the Daytona 24 Hours outright four times, and the Sebring 12 Hours outright once, but never that holy grail of sportscar racing at La Sarthe.<BR> <BR> Ironically after 35 years of motorsport competition, his death came not on the racetrack but on the road, whilst indulging his other great passion - cycling. Wherever Bob was, a bicycle was never far away, keeping him in peak form even at the age of 57. Even in the 1990s he could still be found making the annual trek to Le Mans on two wheels - from his Strasbourg home, five days pedalling away, often accompanied by his wife Mimi.<BR> <BR> Everyone will have their special memories of Bob, probably nobody more so than his great friend Jürgen Barth, with whom he shared the second-placed factory Porsche 936 at Le Mans in 1978. Having known Bob well for some 20 years, I have mine too - most outstandingly on the night of his 50th birthday in a Zhuhai, China nightclub, where Simone Barth and my wife Alix planted a child's racing helmet on his head, topped by a candle, and sang him 'Happy Birthday' Marilyn Monroe-style. Bob was in tears as the assembled BPR GT company cheered him to the man.<BR> <BR> His lack of overall success at Le Mans never got him down - his wry, dry sense of humour would not allow that, but he was always hoping that "this year" would be the one. Those class wins never quite made up for it, but the huge variety of car he raced there - Alpine, Matra, Porsche, Lancia, Jaguar, Courage and Toyota - underlined just how valuable factories and team-owners considered him to be.<BR> <BR> Also ironically two of his close friends died in recent months - German John Winter with whom he won Daytona in 1991 for Joest Porsche, and fellow Frenchman Jean-Louis Ricci with whom he won the C3 category at Le Mans in 1992 for Courage. Death, as they say, comes in threes.<BR> <BR> Bob Wollek is pictured with his good friend Alwin Springer, Head of Porsche Motorsport in the USA.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>