Ingo Gerstl, from motocross to Formula 1

Ingo Gerstl is fast with anything on wheels. He was a professional motocross racer for Suzuki and KTM. He retired after having fractured 42 bones though and then decided to try his luck in the car racing industry. He was again quite successful and even received an invitation for a test drive in the Formula 1. He now races in the BOSS GP-series with a limited budget. “I’m hopeful that I will be able to seriously compete with Klaas Zwart at the end of this year.”



Austrian driver Ingo Gerstl has a special career behind him. He started as a motocross racer and locked horns with champions such as John van der Berk and Eric Geboers during his period as professional. He achieved some great successes, like the fourth spot at the World Championship 125 cc in 1983. Ingo also lived in Italy for three years and managed to win the Italian Supercross title. He said farewell to the motocross in 1993. “I sustained a serious foot injury after a crash. That made me decide to retire as a professional motocross racer. I had won over 200 races, but I had also broken 42 bones throughout the years. I still have several metal screws in my body nowadays.”

Formula 3
After his farewell in 1993, Ingo was considering his options and eventually opted to pursue a career in the car racing industry. He made his racing debut in the Formula 3 and immediately finished in fourth position in his first race. He battled it out with men like Jarno Trulli and Nick Heidfeld in the German Formula 3 championship. However, Gerstl was being plagued by a problem all too familiar in the car racing industry: a lack of funds. “I moved on to the Formula 3000 later on. I only raced when there was money available though.” In 1996, when he had the financial support of Red Bull, Gerstl made a test drive in a Forti Formula 1 car. “I drove the test together with Luca Badoer, who raced for Forti back then,” reflects Ingo.

Unfortunately, a definite breakthrough never materialized.