Mucke Motorsport - The team that forges talents
Founded in 1998 by Peter Mucke, the Berlin-based Mücke Motorsport was quickly established as one of the best independent racing teams in Germany.
Who is Peter Mücke?
Peter Mucke, born on 21st of November, 1946 in Berlin, is a former a racer in former DDR. He began as a mechanic but in the late 1970s and early 1980s he was pretty successful at the national level, driving the vehicles that weren’t typical racing cars – Wartburg, Zastava, and a self-made Toyota buggy. He was very creative and innovative. He built a proper car and he did it well.
Peter Mücke in Zastava
During his racing career, Peter Mucke scored more than 500 race wins, while the most notable achievements are three titles in European Autocross championship.
The beginning in Formula BMW
Mucke Motorsport, also known as ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg, was formed without too many ambitions. Peter Mucke’s son Stefan began to race in the German Formula BMW in 1998 and he needed the team. A bit surprisingly, Stefan Mucke won the title, winning 15 out of 20 races, and after that success, the ambitions raised. In 1999, the team and Stefan switched to German Formula 3 but continued to compete in Formula BMW, too.
Stefan and Peter Mücke
The team competed in the national Formula BMW championship with a considerable success until 2007. In 2001, Hendrik Vieth was a runner-up, while two years later Maximilian Gotz won the title. Probably the best season was 2004 when Sebastian Vettel became a champion after he has won 18 out of 20 races. In 2005, Sebastien Buemi finished the season as a vice-champion.
Sebastian Vettel was 2004 Formula BMW champion with Mücke Motorsport
From 2008 to 2010 Mucke Motorsport also competed in the Formula BMW Europe, but the results weren’t so good. The best result was the 3rd place that Timmy Hansen won in 2010.
Formula 3 Euro Series and FIA European Formula 3 Championship
In parallel with the duties in the national Formula BMW, Mucke Motorsport successfully participated in the Formula 3 Euro Series and later continued in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. The best year was 2003 when Mucke Motorsport won the Teams’ championship but narrowly missed to win the Drivers’ championship on six occasions. Stefan Mucke was a runner-up in 2001, the same result achieved Christian Klien two years later, while in 2007 Sebastien Buemi was a vice-champion. In 2009, Christian Vietoris ended the season in 2nd place, just as Pascal Wehrlein in 2012 and Felix Rosenqvist a year later.
Pascal Wehrlein also was a driver of Mücke Motorsport
The team also had the best rookie drivers in five seasons – 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2012. However, Christian Klien in 2003 and Felix Rosenqvist in 2011 and 2013 were the winners of Masters of Formula 3 race. The Swedish driver also won 2014 Macau F3 Grand Prix beating his teammate Lucas Auer.
Mucke Motorsport achieved 49 race wins, 160 podium finishes, 34 pole positions, and 60 fastest laps in German Formula 3.
ADAC Formula Masters and ADAC Formula 4
Over the years, Mucke Motorsport grew steadily and became involved in more championships. From 2008 to 2014 the team competed in ADAC Formula Masters. The only Teams’ championship title was won in 2013, while the drivers of the Berlin-based team were twice the series’ champions – Pascal Wehrlein in 2011 and Alessio Picariello in 2013. Other notable results were the 2nd places won by Maximilian Gunther in 2013 and 2014.
Junior formula racing always was the most important
During seven years Mucke Motorsport in the series scored a total of 32 race wins, 68 podium places, 23 pole positions, and 18 fastest laps.
Since 2015, the team is competing in the ADAC Formula 4, the lowest rank of the national formula racing for juniors. Robert Shwartzman was 4th in the team’s first season in the competition, while Mike-David Ortmann finished 3rd in 2016.
Short spell in GP3 Series
Mucke Motorsport also spent two seasons competing in the GP3 Series. Unfortunately, that attempt ended relatively ingloriously.
Nigel Melker scored Mücke Motorsport’s only win in GP# Series
In 2010, the team was last in the standings with only one podium finish scored by Renger van der Zande. The following campaign was better after the team ended 4th in the championship. The first and only win was scored in the season-opening race in Istanbul by Nigel Melker, while later in the season Mucke Motorsport’s drivers had other six podium finishes.
DTM was a priority for Mücke Motorsport
Since 2005, Mucke Motorsport is competing in DTM as one of the Mercedes AMG backed teams. The popular championship over the years became one of the team’s main occupations although the results are not at the high level. Actually, the team almost regularly finished the season at the bottom of the standings.
They had to wait almost three years for the maiden podium finish that was scored by Daniel la Rosa at Hockenheim in 2007. Finally, the first win was scored in 2016 after Lucas Auer was victorious at Lausitzring. At the end of 2016 DTM campaign, Mucke Motorsport announced retirement from the series.
Lucas Auer celebrates at Lausitzring
Many famous racers were the drivers of Mucke Motorsport in DTM for instance, Daniel Juncadella, Pascal Wehrlein, Vitaly Petrov, David Coulthard, Robert Wickens, Maro Engel, Ralf Schumacher, and Susie Stoddart Wolff.
Further expansion
The ambition of Mucke Motorsport is to constantly discover new talents. That’s why the team in 2015 expanded its operations to Italian Formula 4 Championship. The team did well in the first year, taking the runner-up title, while in 2016 Mucke Motorsport finished 3rd in the standings. At the same time, no less than 12 young talents had an opportunity to race with the team in the last two years.
Mücke Motorsport – perfect place for the new talents
Considering the knowledge, experience, and the ambition of Peter Mucke and his team, in future we can expect to see a lot more from the Berliners.
Photo: muecke-motorsport.de racing-forums.com stefan-muecke.de f1fanatic.co.uk mercedes-benz-blog.blogspot.com motorsportpress.co.uk dtm.com
