Three DTM championship titles, three Le Mans victories, the 1998 FIA GT Championship and numerous other triumphs: Klaus Ludwig is one of the most successful touring car and sports car racing drivers ever. On October 5, 2019, the Mercedes-Benz racing driver celebrates his 70th birthday. For ten years, "King Ludwig", as the fans call him with honor, has been active as a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Classic.
Unadulterated joy in motor racing since the beginning
Enthusiasm for motorsport is in Klaus Ludwig's blood. This can be felt immediately when the former Mercedes-Benz racing driver and long-standing brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Classic takes a seat in one of the brand's successful competition cars at events today. And the fascination becomes even more palpable when "King Ludwig" talks about his numerous races and championship titles - or about the immense joy of competing in a race together with his son Luca Ludwig.
Versatile exceptional motor sportsman
The versatile and exceptionally successful racing driver celebrates his 70th birthday on October 5, 2019. He was born in Bonn in 1949. Even as a child, he attended races at the Nürburgring with his parents. He began his motorsport career in the early 1970s with slalom races, orienteering and touring car races. After winning the German Racing Championship (DRM) in 1979 and 1981, as well as three victories in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, 1984 and 1985, Ludwig started competing in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 1985. Here he won his first title with Ford in 1988.
Commitment to the performance models of the W 201
In 1989, he joined the AMG-Mercedes team. The DTM racing driver's star finally rises: Klaus Ludwig won a total of 19 races up to 1994 and, after finishing runner-up in 1991, won the DTM championship title in both 1992 and 1994. Ludwig celebrated his great successes during this period primarily with the DTM touring cars Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II (W 201) and (from 1994) AMG Mercedes C-Class DTM (W 202). Klaus Ludwig also took part in the DTM restart as the German Touring Car Masters in 2000 and ended the season and his racing career in third place overall in an AMG Mercedes CLK-DTM touring car (C 209).
70th birthday of the DTM king: Mercedes-Benz racing driver Klaus Ludwig
When DTM champion Klaus Ludwig personally bids farewell to the Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II production sports car as the last vehicle produced at the Bremen plant rolls off the production line, a circle is completed. After all, the racing driver had witnessed the unique motorsport career of the popular "Baby Benz" from the very beginning: in May 1984, he was one of 20 selected racing drivers at the "Race of Champions" on the newly opened Nürburgring who drove the first sixteen-valve Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 in a version modified for the race.
FIA GT champion and brand ambassador
Klaus Ludwig is not only successful in the DTM: in 1997 he becomes a member of the AMG-Mercedes team in the International FIA GT Championship. With the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR and CLK-LM GT racing sports cars, Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta won the drivers' championship in 1998, with the team trophy going to AMG-Mercedes. Klaus Ludwig officially ended his active racing career in 2000. However, he continues to contribute his extensive experience and knowledge from motorsport to automotive development. One of the highlights was the Maybach Exelero, a high-performance vehicle jointly designed by Daimler and tire manufacturer Fulda. In 2005, Klaus Ludwig set a world record for limousines with standard tires of 351.45 km/h on the Italian race track in Nardò with the Exelero.
From racing driver to brand ambassador
Klaus Ludwig has been a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Classic since 2009. The racing driver is present at classic automobile events with various vehicles from 125 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport: the legendary Goodwood Festival of Speed in Great Britain is just as much a part of this as circuit races in historic motorsport, as well as trade fairs and classic rallies. Even in the year of his 70th birthday, Klaus Ludwig is always on the move. At the Mercedes-Benz Classic Insight "125 Years of Motorsport" in April 2019 at Silverstone in the UK, he will inspire visitors as a contemporary witness to the first DTM era. Together with influencer Shareen Raudies, he will be at the start of the 2019 Silvretta Classic Rallye Montafon in a Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II - a royal duo in the best sense of the word. And with his son Luca Ludwig, who is a successful racing driver himself, he will be telling a fascinating father-and-son motorsport story at Classic Days Schloss Dyck 2019.
Further information
Further information can be found on the Daimler website.
