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Martin Schanche

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Martin Schanche
1998: Martin Schanche (left) and his long time arch-rival Swede Kenneth Hansen
NationalityNorway Norwegian
Born (1945-01-01) 1 January 1945 (age 79)
Trondheim
FIA ERX Division 1 (1997–2010) Championship
Years active1997–2001
Former teamsMartin Schanche Racing
Starts46
Wins8
Podiums15
Best finish3rd in 1997, 1998
FIA ERX Division 2 (1982–1996) Championship
Years active1982–1996
Former teamsMartin Schanche Racing
Starts134
Championships3 (1984, 1991, 1995)
Wins51
Podiums76
FIA ERX TC Division Championship
Years active1979–1981
Former teamsMartin Schanche Racing
Starts30
Championships2 (1979, 1981)
Wins11
Podiums19
FIA European Rallycross Cup
Years active1977–1978
Former teamsMartin Schanche Racing
Starts13
Championships1 (1978)
Wins4
Podiums8
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years1985–1988
TeamsStrandell Porsche, Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing
Best finish25th 1988
Class wins0
1981: The first public mentioning of the nickname "Mister Rallycross"
1992: Schanche in his Ford RS200 E2 en route to victory in Portugal

Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed "Mr. Rallycross", is a Norwegian former racing driver and politician.

Biography

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Schanche was born in Trondheim, as the son of a German WW2 airplane pilot, who lost his life in a plane crash only three months later, and a Norwegian mother. The little boy grew up as an adopted child of a Norwegian couple at the tiny village of Leirpollskogen in Tana Municipality, the most northern part of Norway. Today he lives in Drøbak, together with his German-born wife Birgit and their daughter Melissa, a Norwegian Weightlifting Champion of the categories for females. Martin Schanche has also two other children from a former marriage, a daughter by the name of Elisabeth, and a son named Martin junior, well known in the Norwegian rallying scene.

He started his racing career rather late, only in 1972 when he was already 27 years old. Due to his attacking driving style he was quickly nicknamed "Villmannen fra Tana" ("The Wild Man from Tana") by his fellow Norwegian competitors. In 1975 he won a silver medal in the Norwegian Ice Racing Championships. Between 1976 and 2001 he competed in Rallycross, and became the FIA European champion of 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1991 and 1995, as well as the vice-champion for another eight years. With his 74 main category wins Schanche is still yet the undisputed record holder concerning the amount of overall victories in rounds counting towards the FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers. Beside his rallycross campaigns and four World Sports Car seasons he was a starter of the 1980 Rally Sweden, the 1982 Rally of Great Britain, and failed to set a new track record in the 1984 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), due to a flat right front tyre.

Since retiring from motorsport he has embarked on a second career as a politician in Frogn Municipality for the Progress Party. In 2003 he was the subject of a lot of nationwide attention after he slapped the chin of his political opponent Torgeir Micaelsen of the Labour Party at the end of a school debate in Drammen because Micaelsen, during the debate and in front of the public, had called him a coward.[1] That attention made him an often imitated character in Norwegian radio. As of 2006, he also has been working as a consultant for Prodrive on the work of Subarus WRC-cars.[2] While active in rallycross, Schanche himself engineered transmissions and differentials for his cars. His company later on manufactured parts and modified parts for rally- and rallycross-cars.[3] Nowadays Schanche is working on projects with concepts for new combustion-engines (see External links section below).

Schanche is holder of a helicopter license and has operated his own helicopters. In 2000 he was involved in a crash in which his daughter was slightly injured.[4]

Racing record

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Key: DSQ = excluded from whole event; DNS = did not start; NC = not classified for points; SUS = suspended; ( ) = dropped score, due to championship rules

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ERC Points
1977 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT1
DNS 		NED1
DNS 		ITA
DSQ 		SWE1
DNS 		FIN
NC 		BEL1
NC 		SWE2
DNS 		NED2
DNS 		BEL2
DNS 		GER
3 		AUT2
DNS 		18th 12
1978 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT
6 		ITA
2 		SWE
2 		FIN
NC 		BEL
1 		NED
1 		FRA
1 		GBR
1 		GER
2 		1st 131

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

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TC Division

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ERX Points
1979 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT
2 		ITA
3 		FIN
4 		SWE
5 		FRA
1 		BEL
1 		NED
4 		GBR
1 		GER
2 		1st 130
1980 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT
16 		ITA
1 		SWE
1 		FIN
3 		DEN
5 		BEL
3 		NED
1 		NOR
5 		GBR
3 		FRA
6 		GER
1 		2nd 138
1981 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUT
NC 		SWE
2 		FIN
1 		DEN
2 		BEL
11 		NED
1 		FRA
1 		NOR
4 		GBR
1 		GER
10 		1st 121

Division 2

[edit]
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ERX Points
1982 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUT
7 		SWE
6 		FIN
3 		FRA
9 		BEL
6 		NED
1 		NOR
1 		GBR
1 		GER
3 		2nd 102
1983 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUT
10 		SWE
1 		FIN
NC 		FRA
5 		BEL
3 		NED
1 		NOR
5 		GBR
NC 		4th 69
1984 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT
5 		SWE
2 		FIN
1 		FRA
1 		BEL
1 		NED
1 		GBR
NC 		GER
1 		NOR
1 		1st 149
1985 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT
6 		FIN
6 		SWE
6 		FRA
2 		BEL
2 		NOR
1 		GBR
1 		GER
1 		NED
6 		2nd 138
1986 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT
7 		FIN
1 		FRA
1 		BEL
4 		NED
1 		NOR
1 		GBR
NC 		GER
DNS 		SWE
6 		2nd 114
1987 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 AUT
NC 		SWE
DNS 		FIN
NC 		ESP
NC 		FRA
12 		IRE
DNS 		BEL
1 		NED
1 		NOR
22 		GBR
1 		GER
4 		6th 78
1988 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 ESP
5 		AUT
2 		SWE
(DSQ) 		FIN
(7) 		IRE
2 		FRA
6 		BEL
1 		NED
(10) 		NOR
(6) 		GBR
1 		GER
5 		2nd 109
1989 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 ESP
(3) 		AUT
1 		SWE
(6) 		FiN
2 		IRE
2 		FRA
1 		BEL
2 		NED
2 		NOR
(6) 		GBR
(9) 		GER
2 		2nd 125
1990 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 AUT
(6) 		SWE
4 		FIN
2 		IRE
3 		FRA
(6) 		BEL
1 		NED
1 		NOR
(11) 		GER
1 		GBR
1 		2nd 125
1991 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 POR
1 		AUT
1 		FIN
1 		FRA
(2) 		IRE
(DSQ) 		SWE
(6) 		BEL
(6) 		NED
1 		NOR
1 		GBR
1 		GER
1 		1st 140
1992 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 GBR
1 		AUT
DNS 		POR
1 		FIN
DSQ 		SWE
SUS 		FRA
SUS 		IRE
SUS 		BEL
NC 		NED
5 		NOR
1 		GER
1 		4th 92
1993 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
3 		POR
6 		FRA
(NC) 		IRE
5 		SWE
(NC) 		FIN
DNS 		BEL
1 		NED
6 		NOR
4 		GER
3 		5th 90
1994 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
(16) 		POR
2 		FRA
2 		IRE
3 		GBR
1 		SWE
(5) 		FIN
1 		BEL
4 		NED
1 		NOR
(6) 		GER
(5) 		2nd 122
1995 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
(DSQ) 		POR
(6) 		FRA
1 		SWE
2 		GBR
2 		IRE
(3) 		BEL
1 		NED
1 		NOR
1 		FIN
1 		CZE
1 		GER
(6) 		1st 154
1996 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
7 		POR
7 		FRA
15 		SWE
DNS 		IRE
DNS 		GBR
(NC) 		BEL
9 		NED
(NC) 		NOR
4 		CZE
1 		GER
4 		9th 76

Division 1*

[edit]
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ERX Points
1997 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
1 		FRA
1 		POR
5 		GBR
DSQ 		SWE
(6) 		FIN
1 		BEL
(NC) 		NOR
1 		CZE
(6) 		GER
3 		3rd 107
1998 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT
4 		POR
(6) 		FRA
3 		SWE
3 		GBR
DNS 		FIN
1 		BEL
2 		NOR
(5) 		GER
1 		CZE
4 		3rd 113
1999 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16[broken anchor] CZE
DNS 		FRA
(NC) 		POR
7 		SWE
15 		FIN
11 		BEL
12 		NED
10 		NOR
9 		GER
NC 		11th 38
2000 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16[broken anchor] POR
5 		FRA
5 		CZE
(NC) 		SWE
7 		BEL
(NC) 		NED
6 		NOR
1 		POL
4 		GER
5 		5th 90
2001 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16[broken anchor] FRA
(5) 		POR
2 		AUT
(6) 		CZE
1 		SWE
4 		BEL
2 		NED
5 		NOR
3 		POL
(7) 		GER
(10) 		4th 94

* Division 2 was rebranded as Division 1 in 1997.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Class No Tyres Car Team Co-Drivers Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1985 C2 97 A Strandell 85
Porsche Type-934 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6 		Sweden Strandell Porsche Sweden Stanley Dickens - DNS DNS
1986 C2 89 G Argo JM19
Zakspeed 1.8L Turbo I4 		Norway Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing Republic of Ireland Martin Birrane
Norway Torgjer Kleppe 		1 DNF DNF
1987 C2 117 G Argo JM19B
Zakspeed 1.8L Turbo I4 		Norway Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing United Kingdom Will Hoy
United Kingdom Robin Smith 		5 DNF DNF
1988 C1 117 G Argo JM19C
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 		Norway Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing United Kingdom Robin Smith
United Kingdom Robin Donovan 		278 25 16

Publications

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  • Martin Schanche, by Sverre Amundsen, Racing Revyen 1979, 126 pages, Norwegian language, ISBN 82-990531-0-2.
  • Martin Schanche – i fyr og flamme, by Rolf Nordberg, Cappelens Forlag 1981, 136 pages, Norwegian language, ISBN 82-02-09490-9.
  • Martin – så glad, så sint, så fort…, by Sverre Inge Apenes, Godbok 1986, 158 pages, Norwegian language, ISBN 82-7398-000-6.
  • Martin – Historien han aldri har fortalt, by Asle T. Johansen, Fri Flyt AS 2016, 240 pages, Norwegian language, ISBN 978-82-93090-46-5.

References

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  1. ^ Hanse, Arild A. (26 July 2006). "Risikerer fengsel". Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  2. ^ "- Skal lete lenge etter større vriompeiser".
  3. ^ Racing, Martin Schanche. "Martin Schanche Racing".
  4. ^ Av BJØRN K. BORE og FRODE HANSEN (23 January 2000). "Schanches helikopter styrtet". dagbladet.no.
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Media related to Martin Schanche at Wikimedia Commons

Sporting positions
Preceded by
None
 European Rallycross Touring Car Cup Champion
1978 		Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
None
 European Rallycross Touring Car Champion
1979 		Succeeded by
Preceded by European Rallycross Touring Car Division Champion
1981 		Succeeded by
None
Preceded by European Rallycross Division 2 Champion
1984 		Succeeded by
Preceded by European Rallycross Division 2 Champion
1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by European Rallycross Division 2 Champion
1995 		Succeeded by
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