Winfried Philippe Adalbert Karl Graf Kottulinsky Freiherr von Kottulin, better known asFreddy Kottulinsky (20 July 1932 – 4 May 2010[1]), was a German-Swedishracing andrallying driver who won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1980. He was born inMunich.
A member of an oldAustrian-Silesian noble family, he was born on 20 July 1932, the son ofCount Adalbert Kottulinsky von Kottulin (b. 1904) and his wife, Countess MariaSchenk von Stauffenberg (1905-1940).[2] In 1953, he went toSweden, where he set up a repair shop. In the 1960s, and mostly with a Swedish racing licence, Kottulinsky competed inFormula 3,Formula Vee andFormula 2. In F3 he became Swedish champion in 1966 on a Lotus 35 Cosworth. Together withRonnie Peterson andTorsten Palm he in 1970 scored a Swedish win in the F3 European Cup for nations. In 1974, he won Formel Super V's European Gold Cup on a Lola T320.
He also enteredrallies, as did his daughter Susanne Kottulinsky who had been born in 1960. His granddaughterMikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky is also a racing driver in Audi Sport TT Cup. In 1980, he won the Paris-Dakar Rally together with Gerd Löffelmann in a 4WDVW Iltis prepared byAudi. When asked for the first time to drive one of three cars that were supposed to supportJean Ragnotti, Kottulinsky, who had neither experience nor desire to race in a desert, declined indirectly by asking for a high salary.[3] Shortly before the race began, the team hired him anyway, and Kottulinsky entered the race with hardly any preparation. He did not have tent nor sleeping bag, but enough spare parts to keep the car running without having to wait for support. The design of this four wheel drive system provided the basis for Audi'sQuattro system, which debuted later in 1980 on the originalAudi Quattro. In that time, Kottulinsky also trained the mechanics to drive the team's service vehicles quickly and safely. This developed into Audi Fahrsicherheitstraining (driving safety lessons), for which Kottulinsky worked 25 years until retirement.
Kottulinsky lived inGörkwitz inThüringen for several years, promoting the local race trackSchleizer Dreieck.[4] At over 70 years of age, he was still entering motorsport events, e.g. on 11 August 2006 with aDatsun 240Z in theAvD-Historic-Marathon-400 on theNordschleife of theNürburgring. He died on 4 May 2010 inKarlstad.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Fritz Lochmann Racing | Ralt RT1 | BMW | EST | THR | HOC | NÜR | PAU | HOC | SAL | ROU | MUG | PER | SIL | ZOL | NOG | VAL DNQ | NC | 0 |
| 1976 | Fritz Lochmann Racing | Ralt RT1 | BMW | HOC | THR NC | VAL DNQ | SAL 7 | PAU 8 | HOC DNQ | ROU Ret | MUG Ret | PER Ret | EST 17 | NOG 11 | HOC NC | 17th | 1 | ||
| 1977 | Fritz Lochmann Racing | Ralt RT1 | BMW | SIL 8 | THR Ret | HOC Ret | NÜR 10 | VAL 15 | PAU 13 | MUG 10 | ROU 8 | NOG Ret | PER 9 | MIS Ret | EST 7 | DON | NC | 0 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Audi 200 Quattro | ZOL | HOC | NÜR | AVU DNS | MFA Ret | WUN | NÜR 18 | ZOL | NÜR | 40th | 1 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Dakar Rally Car Winner 1980 | Succeeded by |