Interview: Christian Danner

41 year-old German Christian Danner is one of a very small number of active drivers with connections to the heady…and dangerous…..days of Formula 2. He drove for some of the “old style” privateer F1 teams, succeeded in touring cars of all types, went on to Indy cars, and continues in sports cars today as an “all-rounder” who intends to be on the race scene for some time.

Danner got the “bug” as a ten year old, and was racing before he left school at 18 – destroying his Renault 5 in his first event at Zolder in Belgium. He did 5 races in 1977, with another write-off at the “Ring”, but was 2nd in the Renault 5 championship in 1979. This brought him to Manfred Cassani’s attention for his first F2 race, as well as a number of races in the team’s Procar BMW M1. This in turn gained BMW’s corporate eye and the invitation to the works March-BMW team, which rapidly established him as a professional.