Jo Gartner - WikiHQ

Josef Anton Gartner (24 January 1954 – 1 June 1986) was a Formula One and sports car endurance driver from Austria. After a successful lower formula career, including a win in the Formula Two Pau Grand Prix, he participated in eight Formula One Grands Prix for Osella during the 1984 season, scoring no points. He was killed in an accident at the 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Career

Early career

Gartner was born in Vienna. In 1972, he began working for the Kaimann Formula Super Vee team in a technical capacity. After buying, modifying and selling a Formula Vee chassis of his own, Gartner began his motor sport career in some hillclimbing events in 1976. In 1977, aged 23, he started competing more seriously, driving in the Volkswagen-supported European Formula Super Vee championship. The following season, he finished third in the championship.

Gartner moved up to the European Formula Three Championship in 1979, driving a Martini with support from Renault, and switched to Formula Two in 1980 with a two-year-old March. On his Formula Two debut, Gartner's car was damaged by debris from the accident that killed his countryman Markus Höttinger. He was subsequently invited to take Höttinger's place in the BMW M1 Procar Championship series, in which he raced against Formula One drivers, driving for fellow Austrian Helmut Marko. After mechanical failures in the next two races, he finished 12th at the Dutch Grand Prix, five laps down on the winner Alain Prost.

At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Gartner qualified 24th but finished fifth, beating fellow Austrian Gerhard Berger into sixth after Ghinzani and Cheever ran out of fuel. However, Gartner was denied the two points normally awarded to the fifth-place finisher, as Osella had only entered one car at the beginning of the season.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key)

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Entrant

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! Pts

|rowspan=2|

!nowrap| Racing Team Albatross

!rowspan=2 nowrap| March 782

!rowspan=2 nowrap| BMW

| THR

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC

| NÜR

| VLL

| PAU

|colspan=8|

!rowspan=2| NC

!rowspan=2| 0

!nowrap| Team Jim Bean

|colspan=5|

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SIL

| ZOL

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MUG

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| ZAN

| PER

| MIS

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| HOC

|rowspan=2|

!nowrap| Jo Gartner Racing

!nowrap| Toleman TG280

!rowspan=2| BMW

| SIL

| HOC

| THR

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| NÜR

| VLL

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MUG

| PAU

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| PER

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SPA

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| DON

|colspan=3|

!rowspan=2| 19th

!rowspan=2| 1

!nowrap| Astra Team Merzario Srl

!nowrap| March 812

|colspan=10|

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"| MIS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAN

!nowrap| Merzario Team

!nowrap| Merzario 282

!nowrap| BMW

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| HOC

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| THR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| NÜR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MUG

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| VLL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| PAU

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SPA

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| DON

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MAN

| PER

| MIS

! 17th

! 1

!nowrap| Emco Sports

!nowrap| Spirit 201

!nowrap| BMW

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SIL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| THR

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| HOC

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| NÜR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| VLL

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| PAU

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| JAR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| DON

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MIS

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| PER

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ZOL

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MUG

! 6th

! 14

!nowrap| Emco Sports

!nowrap| Spirit 201B

!nowrap| BMW

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SIL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| HOC

| THR

| VLL

| MUG

| PAU

| HOC

| MIS

| PER

| DON

| BRH

|colspan=2|

! NC

! 0

Complete Formula One results

(key)

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Entrant

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! Pts

|rowspan=2| 1984

!rowspan=2 nowrap| Osella Squadra Corse

!nowrap| Osella FA1E

!nowrap| Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12

| BRA

| RSA

| BEL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SMR

| FRA

| MON

| CAN

| DET

| DAL

|colspan=7|

!rowspan=2| NC

!rowspan=2| 0

!nowrap| Osella FA1F

!nowrap| Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8t

|colspan=9|

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GBR

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GER

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| AUT

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| NED

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| ITA

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EUR

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| POR

!colspan=22|

;Notes

– Gartner was driving his team's "second entry", and as the team had only entered one car for the entire championship, the second entry was ineligible to score championship points.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! Year

! Team

! Co-Drivers

! Car

! Class

! Laps

! 1985

|align="left" nowrap| John Fitzpatrick Racing

|align="left" nowrap| David Hobbs Guy Edwards

|align="left" nowrap| Porsche 956B

| C1

| 366

| 4th

! 1986

|align="left" nowrap| Porsche Kremer Racing

|align="left" nowrap| Sarel van der Merwe Kunimitsu Takahashi

|align="left" nowrap| Porsche 962C

| C1

| 169

| DNF

Career

Early career

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

Complete Formula One results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References