Gottfried Grasser

Gottfried Grasser is an Austrian former racing driver and an owner of the Grasser Racing Team, which competes in different GT championships since 2011.

As a driver, being active from 1999 to 2013, Grasser wasn't successful so much but as a team owner, he already has several championship titles on his account. Most recently, his drivers have won the 2017 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

Early in a career, Gottfried Grasser competed in Formula Konig and Formula 3

Four seasons in the single-seater competitions

Born in December 1978, Gottfried Armin Grasser started his racing career in 1999, entering the Formula König with Kern Motorsport. He stayed in that series for two seasons, scoring no wins or podiums. Next two seasons, in 2001 and 2002, Grasser was driving for Team Ghinzani in the German Formula 3 Championship, again without any success.

GT racing debut in 2000

In the meantime, he made a GT racing debut in 2000, joining Freisinger Motorsport in two races. In August, he and Wolfgang Kaufmann finished third in the FIA GT race at A1-Ring (today Red Bull Ring) in the #3 Porsche 911 GT2. Three weeks later, Grasser was a part of Freisinger's team at 1000 km of Suzuka, finishing in the 14th place.

Gottfried Grasser

Founding the Grasser Racing Team in 2011

In 2004, Grasser left open-wheel racing and competed in various sports car competitions in the following years, including Austrian Endurance Championship, Divinol Cup, Rhino's GT Series or Czech Endurance Series. He was out of racing for two seasons before founding his own team in 2011.

The debut season was tough. The team entered few rounds of the ADAC GT Masters with DodgeViper Competition Coupe but didn't manage to start a single race.

Gottfried Grasser was a driver/owner for three seasons

Two active seasons with his own team

In 2012, Grasser finally made a start in the ADAC GT Masters, driving the #43 Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3. He participated in five rounds, sharing a car with five different co-drivers: Mario Dablander, Tomaš Enge, Daniel Bohr, Andrea Piccini and Carsten Seifert.

In 2013, Grasser participated on a part-time schedule both in the ADAC GT Masters and Blancpain Endurance Series. His best result was the third place in the Pro-Am class at Paul Ricard 3 Hours, where he was sharing the #78 Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3 with Hari Proczyk and Gerhard Tweraser.

Gottfried Grasser with his drivers

Successfully leading a team to many victories

At the end of 2013, Gottfried Grasser retired from racing to focus on leading the team. The team made a breakthrough in 2014, starting to win races and finished third in the Teams' standings of the Blancpain Sprint Series.

The team continued to collect wins and reached a peak in 2017 when the #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 became the championship-winning car in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Grasser's drivers were Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Andrea Caldarelli.

Photos: Axel Weichert, grasser-racing.com,