Background
He was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and is the son of Christa Thielmann and the legendary Hans Stuck. As a young boy, his father taught him driving on the Nürburgring.
He was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and is the son of Christa Thielmann and the legendary Hans Stuck. As a young boy, his father taught him driving on the Nürburgring.
In 1969 he started his first ever motor race at the Nordschleife. Speaking about that day he said, "Getting to the grid was extremely exciting. All of a sudden, my wishes to become a racer came true.
In 1972, Stuck teamed up with Jochen Mass to drive a Ford Capri RS2600 to victory at the Spa 24 Hours endurance race in Belgium.
His campaigns racing the Bayerische Motoren Werke 3.0 Computer Science Laboratory "Batmobile" were very successful in 1974 and 1975, in the German DRM as well as in the United States of America together with Ronnie Peterson. Later in the 1970s he raced the turbo-charged Bayerische Motoren Werke 320i.
After some success in Formula 2 with a March-Bayerische Motoren Werke, he also entered F1 with March. Overall, Stuck participated in 81 Grands Prix, debuting on 13 January 1974.
Stuck was quite successful at Brabham-Alfa in 1977, leading the 1977 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in the rain, but was replaced by Niki Lauda for 1978.
Stuck missed an opportunity to join Williams F1 just before this team became successful. Due to his height of 194 centimetres (6 ft 4 in), he did not fit well into the F1 cars of the late 1970s that had the cockpit moved forward. Leaving F1 at that time probably spared him bad injuries to the leg, as suffered by Ronnie Peterson, Clay Regazzoni, Marc Surer and others
Stuck continued racing touring and sports cars all over the world, winning the 24 hours of Le Mans twice with a Porsche 962.
Stuck says the 962 is the favourite racecar he has driven during his career, describing it has having the "perfect combination of power and downforce". In the 1990s he tasted touring car success, winning the Diploma in Tropical Medicine Championship in 1990 with Audi, before returning to Porsche until the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1998.
He resumed an official role with Bayerische Motoren Werke after that. January 2008 saw Stuck begin his current position with Volkswagen Motorsport.
This role has also seen him use his experience to help refine road cars, including the new Golf VI GTI. Team Stuck³ finished 15th overall following gearbox problems.
In April 2012, Stuck was appointed President of the German Motorsport Association (Deutscher Motor Sport Bund). Complete European Formula Two Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position. Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results.