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| BRAZILIAN MUSIC |
SURER, MARC
9/18/1951 Aresdorf, Switzerland
Starts: 81
Points: 17
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:1
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Just how good was Marc Surer it is difficult to say, as he only had a half way decent car in a single season during his 8 seasons in F-1. Having been adopted by BMW under its Junior team scheme for 1977, Surer became BMW’s man in the works March F2 team. After driving under the shadow of Giacomelli for two years, he finally had his chance and won the F-2 title in 1979. That same year, he was given his first F-1 chance by Mo Nunn, attempting to qualify the Ensign in three races, actually starting one. For 1980, Surer had one of the toughest jobs in F-1, driving for Gunther Schmidt’s ATS. He did finish 7th in Brazil and qualified 11th in France, but this pretty much sums up his achievements in Gunther Schmidt’s team. Nunn called Surer back in 1981, and by Brazil, Surer seemed to be getting on with the program.. Under the pouring rain, Surer raced wonderfully to finish 4th and post the undisputed fastest lap of the race, Ensign’s single best achievement in almost ten years in F-1. After a 6th in Monaco, though, Nunn had to surrender to economic realities. Surer was not a paying driver, and he needed cash, so Surer got the boot. He was readily picked up by the wealthy Teddy Yip’s team, but did not manage much with the troublesome Theodore. He did, however, finish most races with the contraption and dnq a single time. In 1982 Surer began a long association with Arrows, starting in Belgium. He did get points here and there, with 5th in Canada and 6th in Germany, but Arrows was far from an effective weapon. He continued with the team in 1983, and things appeared to be improving: he scored points in three of the first four GP’s. In Detroit, a street race, Surer placed the car 5th on the grid, but by the end of the year most of the real fast cars were using turbo engines, and Arrows was not. For 1984 Arrows had a good sponsorship package, and a contract to get BMW engines. The year began with the Cosworth equipped car, so, not surprisingly, Surer was off the pace, although he finished 7th, 8th and 9th in the first three races of the year. However, the arrival of the BMW engine did not improve the team’s fortunes so much: a single point from 6th in Austria was the best Surer could do, qualifying midfield during most of the year. Surer’s best chance came in 1985, when he was called by Brabham to replace Francois Hesnault. In the beginning, Surer took some time getting used to a more competitive environment, but as the season progressed, he was qualifying consistently well, including many top 10’s in the final half of the year. However, this was not a good year for Brabham, which was having problems with the Pirelli tires, and the best Marc could do in terms of results was 4th in Italy. Still a BMW darling, though, Surer was back at Arrows in 1986, although by then Boutsen was the clear lead driver. He did not score any points that year, and his season was cut short when a serious rallying accident ended his competition career, killing his co-driver. He continued involved in the sport, managing his wife Yolanda’s career!
OUT OF FORMULA 1Formula 2: March, GRD, Chevron
Formula 3:
Sports cars: BMW (320, M1), Sauber BMW, Ford C100, Porsche (956, 962), Lola BMW