F1 race winner and Le Mans victor Jochen Mass dies aged 78

Formula 1 race winner and Le Mans 24 Hours victor Jochen Mass has died aged 78.

The German’s death was announced on his Instagram page by his family, over a month after it had revealed that he had suffered what was described as a “medical emergency”. 

“Today we mourn the loss of a husband, father, grandfather and a racing legend,” the family stated.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Jochen Mass has died today due to complications following a stroke he suffered in February, earlier this year.

“Thank you to everyone for the incredible support we have received. Every single message of positivity was relayed to him, giving him peace and comfort in his last days.

“Beyond mourning his death, we also celebrate his incredible life. A life that he loved sharing with all of you. A life that he lived to the absolute fullest.

“He is racing with all his friends again.”

Mass’s solo triumph during his nine-season, 105-start F1 career came at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuic Park street circuit in Barcelona.

He had re-taken the lead in his McLaren-Cosworth M23 from Jacky Ickx’s Lotus before the race was red-flagged in the wake of the accident in which four people were killed – a spectator, a track worker and two photographers – after Rolf Stommelen’s Hill went over the barriers following rear wing failure.

Because the race was stopped before 60% distance had been completed, only half points were awarded.

Jochen Mass, McLaren M23-Cosworth

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Mass notched up a further seven podiums during his career, all in his spell with McLaren that started in 1974 and continued through to the end of 1977.

His biggest successes came in sportscar racing, however – first with Porsche, whose books he was on from ’76, and then the Sauber-Mercedes team. 

A stalwart of Porsche’s factory squad from the beginning of the Group C era in 1982, he won nine world sportscar championship races in the German manufacturer’s 956/962 design before moving to Sauber for 1988. 

Mass went on to triumph in a further 10 world series rounds aboard the Sauber C9 and the team’s Mercedes-badged C11 in 1988-90 and took the laurels at Le Mans in 1989 when he was partnered by Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens. 

He finished second in the points in ’89 to regular team-mate Jean-Louis Schlesser in what was called the World Sports-Prototype Championship after being forced to withdraw from the opening round at Suzuka with a virus that affected his vision.

Had Le Mans been a championship round that year, he would have taken the title ahead of Schlesser. 

Mass acted as a mentor and driver coach on the Mercedes young driver programme in the last of his three years at Sauber, co-driving with Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen over the course of the season. 

He triumphed at Spa with Wendlinger and then in Mexico City with Schumacher. 

Mass finished his career with 32 world championship victories in sportscar racing with Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Sauber-Mercedes, second only to the 37 of endurance legend Jacky Ickx over the 40-year span of the original series. 

#2 Team Sauber Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz C11: Jochen Mass, Karl Wendlinger

Photo by: David Hutson / Motorsport Images

After a three-year stint as a merchant seaman, Mass began competing in hillclimbs with machinery borrowed from the Alfa Romeo dealership where he worked. 

Quickly progressing to the circuits, he was picked up by Ford for its touring car campaigns with the Capri. 

Mass won the Spa 24 Hours in 1972 with the RS2600 version of the car on the way to sealing the European Touring Car series title. 

The German arm of the US manufacturer funded his early single-seater career in Formula 3 in Britain and he quickly progressed to Formula 2 with March and then Surtees. 

Over the course of a race-winning F2 season in 1973 with Surtees, Mass was given his first F1 opportunities by the team. 

A full-season drive with the British squad followed in 1974 before he switched to McLaren for the final two races to replace the injured Mike Hailwood. 

After McLaren, Mass drove for ATS, Arrows and the RAM March team, before calling time on F1 after an aerial accident in the 1982 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, from which he emerged uninjured. 

Mass effectively retired from the cockpit after the 1990 season, before returning on a one-off basis to race at Le Mans for a 12th and final time aboard a McLaren F1 GTR in 1995. 

A regular at the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting for the past 10 years, Mass was an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz.