Michael Ammermüller

Michael Ammermüller is a racing driver from Germany, best known for his achievements in the Porsche Supercup but once he was Formula 1 test driver.

He debuted in Porsche Supercup in 2012 and he was always among the front-runners, finally taking the championship title in 2017. He defended it in 2018 and again in 2019.

Earlier in a career, he was second in the 2005 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and third in the 2008 International Formula Masters. He was a Formula 1 test driver for Red Bull Racing in 2006 and 2007.

Michael Ammermuller

Start of the career in Formula Renault

Michael Ammermüller was born on February 14, 1986, in Pocking, a small town near Passau in Bavaria. Michael stepped into the racing scene in 2004, with Jenzer Motorsport, competing in Eurocup Formula Renault and Formula Renault 2.0 Germany. In the national competition, he did very well as he finished third overall after scoring five podium finishes. With the same team, Ammermuller had a successful season of 2005 as he was a runner-up in both Eurocup Formula Renault and Formula Renault 2.0 Italy, clinching a total of nine victories.

Red Bull Racing F1 test driver

In 2006, Ammermuller got a chance to compete in GP2 Series with Arden International team. He won one race but finished the only 11th in the championship. The same year, as a member of Red Bull Junior Team, Michael unexpectedly was promoted in the third driver of Red Bull Formula 1 team for the last three races of the season, replacing Robert Doornbos. After passing necessary tests, he earned an FIA Super licence.

Michael Ammermuller, Red Bull's test driver in 2007

Not so glorious results in GP2 Series

Ammermuller was signed as a full-time test driver for 2007 and at the same time sporadically appeared in GP2 Series and Formula Renault 3.5 Series, but without some notable results. He was also selected to drive for Team Germany in A1 Grand Prix and that was probably the highlight of the year as he won the race in China, eventually finishing 8th in the championship. That year, Michael earned nickname ’Hammermuller’ after causing three accidents in the A1 Grand Prix race at Sepang.

Michael Ammermuller, A1 Grand Prix, Team Germany

Switch to GT racing

Searching for the competition which is best suited for him, Ammermuller entered International Formula Masters series in 2008, driving for Iris Project and Trident. He won the race at Brands Hatch and had numerous Top 3 finishes to finish 3rd at the end of the season.

Michael Ammermuller

After not so glorious times in open wheels racing, Ammermuller switched to GT racing in 2010. ADAC GT Masters was the next station in his career but the results weren’t at the highest level. In his rookie season, Ammermuller had only one podium finish but improved in 2011 when he won one race and collected 64 points what was enough for the 16th place in the Drivers’ championship.

Porsche Supercup debut

For the 2012 season, Michael Ammermüler again changed competition. He got a chance to drive for Lechner Racing in Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. He did pretty well in his rookie season in Supercup and finished 6th in the points while in the Carrera Cup was 11th. In the following year, Michael concentrated solely at Supercup and proved to be a good decision as he finished third overall, still without a win but with four podium finishes from nine starts.

Michael Ammermuller, Porsche Supercup

Ammermüller narrowly missed Porsche Carrera Cup Germany title

The year of 2014 was probably the best in Ammermuller’s career so far. Again, he has competed on two fronts and did a great job. In Porsche Supercup, he has repeated the result from the previous year, but also managed to score the first win, in the last race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas. Michael did even better in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in which he was runner-up, losing to Philipp Eng by only two points. He won six races that year, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to take the crown, mainly because of the poor start of the season.

Michael Ammermuller in 2015 at Catalunya Circuit

Third place three times in-a-row

For the third time in-a-row, Ammermuller finished third in the Porsche Supercup in 2015 when he won the race at Catalunya Circuit and four times finished on the podium. The results in Carrera Cup were slightly worse than in the previous year, so he finished 4th in the championship.

In 2016, Michael Ammermüller continued to race in the Porsche Supercup, finishing fourth in the points.

Michael Ammermüller scored four Supercup wins in 2017

Porsche Supercup champion for three years in a row

Michael finally grabbed Porsche Supercup title in 2017, his sixth season of participation. Sccoring four wins during the season, he was fighting for the title against Dennis Olsen until the last round in Mexico, where he scored two podiums and took the trophy.

In 2017, Ammermuller had a triple programme. He spent full season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, finishing fourth in the points. He also participated full season in the ADAC GT Masters with KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard, sharing the #17 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Mathieu Jaminet. They won the season-opening race at Oschersleben and finished 8th in the final standings after fourteen races.

In 2018, Ammermuller defended the Porsche Supercup title. He won just one race but it was enough to beat Nick Yelloly and Thomas Preining. He also spent a season in the German Posche Carrera Cup, finishing in the second place behind Preining.

He had a similar programme and similar results in 2019, defending Supercup championship title and finishing second in the German Carrera Cup.

Porsche Supercup champion again in 2019

Photo: presse.porsche.de, racecam.de f1fanatic.co.uk wikipedia.org total911.com drivestories.com