How Roland Ratzenberger beat the odds to realize his cruelly short-lived F1 dream

Gorianstrasse is a small, dead-end street in Salzburg’s Riedenburg neighbourhood, around halfway between the old city nestling at the foot of the Hohensalzburg fortress and the airport on the western outskirts. There, in a new-build block, Roland Ratzenberger bought a two-storey apartment with beautiful views of Untersberg mountain from the terrace.

For over 30 years now this has been the home of Roland’s parents. Rudi, his father, soon turns 92, while mother Margit is 87 – but with a memory some much younger people would envy.

“Roland was travelling the world as racer, but he always stressed he would have a residence in his hometown. That’s why he bought this apartment. He took it over one week before Imola,” Rudi recalls. And he adds: “Firstly, we were reluctant to move in. Then we decided not to sell or lease it but to use it ourselves.”

The Ratzenberger family had lived on the eastern side of the city, close to the road that leads to the lake district. It was there Roland (born 4 July 1960) and his younger sisters Elisabeth and Gabi grew up.

“Roland was fascinated with cars from his kindergarten days,” Margit says reflectively. “He loved to look out of the window and watch cars travelling by. Soon he could name almost every brand, every model.”

If the parents have one regret it’s the indifference they once had about Roland’s ambition to pursue a racing career. The father-son-relationship was sometimes difficult, they admit. “Roland never spoke much about his plans or targets. He was pretty inverted, not only to us, but to most people he had to deal with,” Margit says.

On 30 April 1994, Rudi and Margit returned from a vacation in Mexico. They switched on the TV for the San Marino Grand Prix final qualifying session. The next minute they witnessed the aftermath of a heavy accident and realised it was their son’s car.

Roland Ratzenberger was tragically killed in a crash during the Saturday qualifying session at Imola, 1994

Photo by: Sutton Images

Rudi hadn’t wanted his son to become a racing driver but from this day on he pushed to keep Roland’s memory alive in the media. “I know he will be always mentioned in connection with Ayrton Senna. So he will not be forgotten.”

Back to the 80s

Saalbach-Hinterglemm, in the Pinzgau district of Salzburg, is a fashionable tourist destination known for wintersports. Not so much for rallying, though the village is home to former Austrian rally star Sepp Haider and the secondary home to double world champion Walter Röhrl. It was Haider who organised a national winter rally in the valley in December 1980.

I was covering the event for the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper. At the service zone near the Zwölferkogel cablecar, two young men watching the action recognised me from the paper and introduced themselves: Roland Ratzenberger and Gerald Lachmayr, students at the technical high school in Salzburg. They wanted advice on how to become racing drivers. I suggested Walter Lechner’s racing school, then at the nearby Salzburgring.

In 1989 Roland made his Le Mans debut in a Porsche 962 he shared with Walter Lechner and, though the race was cut short by a tyre failure after three hours, Roland’s fascination with the legendary enduro had begun

They followed my advice, Roland so keen to make a start that he dropped out of school just before graduation. Lachmayr stopped after one season or so of Austrian Formula Ford, having run out of money. Roland was short of funds practically all time. But he clung on to his dream, earning just enough by working as a ‘gopher’ in Lechner’s school and team, then later as an instructor.

In 1985 he joined Alois Roppes’ Formula Ford team in Germany, working as a mechanic to pay for a ride in the team’s second car alongside Michael Roppes, son of the owner. If lack of funds dictated sleeping in a truck or a tent, so be it.

Giving up was out of the question.

Roland’s determination and ambition were rewarded. In 1985, he won 11 out of 19 races and took the Austrian, German and European FFord titles. The following season, success in England brought him attention in the racing world. Winning the Race of Champions and the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, coached by Walter Lechner, paved the way to F3 and a works contract with BMW in the Touring Car World Championship 1987 – replacing Ferrari F1-bound Gerhard Berger in the Schnitzer squad.

Ratzenberger took over in the ETCC from F1-bound Gerhard Berger

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Big in Japan

Roland also raced in F3 from 1987 (winning a Euroseries race at the Nürburgring) for West Surrey Racing and moved to England for the 1988 season to race in F3. He found a flat in Blakesley, near Silverstone. The season with Madgwick brought more accidents than success. Roland decided to move to F3000 with Spirit, ending up third in the British championship.

Endurance racing attracted Roland as a way of getting closer to F1. Former Schnitzer employee Peter Reinisch, also Salzburg-born, put him in contact with Walter Brun’s sportscar team. In 1989 Roland made his Le Mans debut in a Porsche 962 he shared with Walter Lechner and, though the race was cut short by a tyre failure after three hours, Roland’s fascination with the legendary enduro had begun.

When the chance of a test for Toyota in Japan came up, Roland took it in the best way, earning a contract for 1990 and becoming the first European works driver for the Japanese brand. He relocated to Japan and became a Toyota stalwart for the next seasons in Group C racing.

A first chance to move to F1 appeared in the form of the new Jordan team. Burkhard Hummel, co-owner of Austrian agency WWP, tried to set up a package together with a brewery and an oil giant to put Roland in the second car alongside Andrea de Cesaris. The sponsors couldn’t agree on a contract and the drive went to Bertrand Gachot.

Roland also considered a ‘plan B’ in the US, testing a Dick Simon-run IndyCar at Willow Springs. But moving to US racing is often a one-way street; the solid contract with Toyota in sportscars (which allowed Roland to race on in touring cars as well) would be better for ongoing F1 visibility. 1992 brought a ninth-place finish in Le Mans together with Eddie Irvine and Eje Elgh in the older Toyota 92C-V Turbo. In a Porsche 962 he finished third in the Daytona 24 hours. In 1993, Roland did most of the driving on the way to a class win at the Sarthe and fifth overall in the updated 93C-V shared with Mauro Martini and Naoki Nagasaka. Martini still rates Roland as one of the best Group C drivers of that time.

Among the European expats in Japan – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert, Mika Salo, Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Eddie Irvine to name just a few – Roland was a popular figure and a good friend. When a man pulled a knife on Frentzen in a bar one night, Roland stepped in to prevent HHF from being hurt. He was happy in Japan, earning good money, and even spoke some Japanese.

Ratzenberger completed the 1992 Le Mans 24 Hour in the Kitz Racing Toyota with Eddie Irvine and Eje Elgh

Photo by: Sutton Images

The big break

These comforts didn’t diminish Roland’s ambition to reach F1 and he bought a small flat in the Monte Carlo Sun tower as a European home. Late in 1993, everything began to come together.

German businesswoman Barbara Behlau, who ran an agency in Monaco specialising in artists and events, was approached for an investment in a private airline.

Her financial advisor disagreed, suggesting instead that supporting a race driver into F1 would be a better proposition. Barbara agreed to pay £500,000 for Roland to compete in the first five races with Nick Wirth’s newly established Simtek team.

Ratzenberger’s case was supported by team sponsor MTV. Owing to the similarity of his name to the British television character Roland Rat, he was known in the UK and had even appeared in a TV sketch with the puppet rodent. But he knew that he was clearly the number-two driver, firstly as a rookie, and secondly because his team-mate was David Brabham, whose three-time world champion father Sir Jack owned 26% of the team. Simtek was so short of money that it could only provide a car for Roland at the last pre-season test at Imola in early March.

It was Ayrton’s intention to get acquainted with Roland. “Ayrton thought Roland was a good guy,” Senna’s physio Josef Leberer recalls. After Roland’s accident, Senna went to Villeneuve corner to get an insight into the cause of the accident

To miss his first GP at Interlagos a fortnight later was a big blow for Roland. He knew Simtek’s Ford engines were two grades below Benetton’s and one below those supplied to Larrousse and Minardi. There were engine problems, a damper failure and other new-car mishaps, so Roland didn’t lap fast enough to qualify on Friday and missed out on Saturday when rain hit in the second session.

The Pacific GP at Aida was up next and this provided special incentive for a driver with so many connections to Japan. Finishing 11th in the race was a big motivation for the European season ahead.

We met in Simtek’s motorhome on Thursday afternoon of the San Marino GP weekend. Roland explained why he thought he could beat David Brabham and the two Pacific cars to qualify despite a technical disadvantage. The next race up was Monaco, which Roland considered his other ‘home’ event. He was in an excellent mood and clearly wanted to prove something.

This mood didn’t last long. On Saturday during the lunch break, my colleague Gerald Pototschnig interviewed him and Roland, clearly under a little stress, cut it short, saying, “Let’s finish this after qualifying, I’ve got no time left.”

His words took on a cruel second meaning 40 minutes later when he crashed into the barrier at Villeneuve corner while travelling at 306km/h. Roland’s front wing had detached, probably as a result of a kerb strike the previous lap, and, as the remains of his car came to rest, the angle of his head in the cockpit led everyone to fear the worst.

Ayrton Senna had hoped to display a tribute following Sunday’s race, though the tribute never came

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

We waited in front of the circuit’s medical centre, hoping for some relief, some good news, though we all felt there was no hope anymore.

Whenever Roland came back for a few hours to Salzburg, we met for a drink and he usually allowed himself one glass of beer. During one short stopover, he randomly got married to Bente, ex-wife of 1989 Le Mans winner Stanley Dickens. It was 13 December 1991. They honeymooned in New York. In early January, just three weeks later, Roland called his mother and told her he’d filed for divorce.

The parents never learned the reason.

Roland’s later companion was a Somalian model called Kadisha. According to Rudi and Margit, she devastated the flat in Monaco after the accident and took everything she could. “We do not want to think of her,” Rudi says bitterly.

Ever since Roland’s death, the Ratzenbergers regularly receive emails, letters and messages from former colleagues and from fans all over the world, many of them coming from Japan. When the parents visit Roland’s grave at Maxglan cemetery they often meet visitors there who remember the driver who passed away a day before Senna.

It was Ayrton’s intention to get acquainted with Roland. “Ayrton thought Roland was a good guy,” Senna’s physio Josef Leberer recalls. After Roland’s accident, Senna went to Villeneuve corner to get an insight into the cause of the accident. He was very worried. And he asked Leberer for an Austrian flag to carry in his car and wave for Roland after the race.

Tragically though, Ayrton never got the opportunity to make this gesture.

The Brazilian and Austrian flags painted on the Monaco grid in memory of Senna and Ratzenberger

Photo by: Motorsport Images