Ingo Hoffmann (born 28 February 1953) is a Brazilian retired racing driver from São Paulo.
He participated in six Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on January 25, 1976. He scored no championship points. Info from Wiki
In 1972, Ingo Otto Hoffmann (Ingo Hoffmann), bought a “Fuscão” 1600cc (Volkswagen model car). Ingo was 19 (he was born on 28/02/1953) and he started to run with this car in the Festival do Ronco (Snore´s Festival). This category was the Division 1 (in Brazil) and he competed against the Brazilians drivers Júlio Caio and Teleco. He did three races in Interlagos finishing in fourth, fifth and seventh places. Then the engine of the Fuscão gave up. Ingo had no money to buy another engine, so a friend loaned a car to travel to Curitiba for the next three races. He travelled secretly from his parents! Ingo said: “I remember I finished in 2nd place in the first race, but I would have won if I had not stopped to wait for another driver to come back into the race after he had spun…” Then Ingo came back home and after his parents had seen the prize for 2nd place, they encouraged him to race.
In the second race he won and in the third his engine again blew. In December 1972 the Brazilian motor preparator Giba transformed Ingo’s Fuscão to Division 3 category. In this category Ingo took a win and a 2nd place but he did not finish the four other races. He had the title PC (Competition Driver) and won the race in Interlagos after a good battle with Alfredo Guaraná. His father, Dustin Hoffmann (!), was working in the Creditum Group and after these races he got a big Creditum sponsorship for his son. Ingo was the champion in Division 3 in 1973 beating Ney Faustini, Fausto Dabbur, Edson Yoshikuma, Alfredo Guaraná, Alex Dias Ribeiro, Julio Caio A. Marques, Roberto Fanucchi and Sá Carvalho. In Division 1, Ingo and Alex Dias Ribeiro were third on the Brazilian 1000 Miles grid, but a brake problem took away their chance of a win. He then won the Paulista Division 3 championship and joined his friend Giba exclusively to prepare the Brasilia car for Division 3. The car had a Hewland F1 clutch and was adapted by Ricardo Divila. The wheels were narrower to win in top speed. Ingo started his Brasilia in the third championship race. He had problems in qualifying (high temperature) and in the race but made the fastest lap, led on the last lap, but spun off at Interlagos curve 3. In Formula Super Vê (another Brazilian championship category) the chassis were Polar (with Nelson Piquet and Marcos Troncon), Heve and Kaimann (with Ingo Hoffmann). His Kaimann was prepared by Giba (engine), Wilson Fittipaldi (suspension) and Ricardo Divila. The partnership of Wilson-Ingo-Reinaldo Campello won the 1974 Souza Cruz 25 Hours (Division 1 – C class) with a Opala Chevrolet 4100cc. After this race, Ingo and Wilson became good friends.
In Formula Super Vê, Ingo lost the 1974 championship for Marcos Troncon in the last race, when he abandoned with an engine problem. Now he was considered the best driver in Brazil, after two Division 3 championships (with Fuscão and Brasilia). He and his father had founded a firm “Ingo Hoffmann Sports Promotion”. In 1975 he went to Europe to race Formula 3 with a private March 753 with a Toyota Novamotor engine. His chief was Clive Santo and the mechanic was Ken Taylor. His car was totally white because he didn’t have any sponsor but Ingo won one race (at Oulton Park) after having taken pole and the fastest lap. He finished the British Championship in 6th place with 34 points against the 74 of champion Gunnar Nilsson. On 28 September 1975, he started in F5000 at Silverstone with a Chevron of T.Dean Team. He took 7th place. He ran in two more F5000 races: Mallory Park (retired) and Brands Hatch (4th place after he had started from last on the grid).
In 1976 he was in F1 with the second Fittipaldi car. He finished the Brazilian GP in 11th place while Emerson, the team’s first driver, took 13th place. In his second F1 race, at Long Beach, he failed to qualify. Michele Leclere, Arturo Merzario, Bob Evans, Jacky Ickx, Harald Ertl and Brett Lunger didn’t as well. In this race, Emerson Fittipaldi finished 6th, giving the first point to the Fittipaldi team. Ingo had two more goes in F1 in 1976 but did not qualify in Spain and France. Then, in F2, his best result was 5th at Thruxton with a March 762-Ford. He finished the championship with 3 points driving for Willy Kauhsen’s team. In 1977 he raced twice in F1 (both for the Fittipaldi team), in the Argentine and Brazilian GPs. The engine failed in Argentina and in Brazil he was lying in 6th when he had a puncture, causing him to finish 7th. This was his last F1 race. In F2, he was driving for Project Four with a Ralt RT1 (the Ron Dennis team). His sponsors were Bitter Safari and Jota’s. His partner was Eddie Cheever. Ingo finished the championship in 7th place (18 points) joint with Alberto Colombo. He had his worst accident in Estoril with Riccardo Patrese. They weren’t injured, but the cars were severely damaged. After that the locals renamed the corner Hoffmann’s curve. In 1978 he stayed with Project Four, with Eddie Cheever again as his team mate, now driving a March 782-BMW. He won the race in Argentina and in European F2 he finished in 7th place, together with Piero Necchi, on 13 points.
In 1979 he returned to Brazil and started in stock cars. Since then he has never stopped running in it. Today, he has 11 championships in stock cars, two in Formula Fiat-Uno, 2 in Brazilian Marc, one in Argentine F2, and two in Division 3. Ingo also won in Brno with a Czech Touring Car Championship BMW 318. Since 1998 he also ran SudAm Superturismo. He finished the championship in 3rd, behind Oscar Larrauri and Caca Bueno, and in 1999 trailed Emilio Spataro and Caca Bueno. Today he continues in stock cars, with over 50 wins and 50 poles to his name.
In his career, Ingo took more than 90 wins and has been a good businessman. He had four tyre shops (Automotive Centers) selling Michelin and Nakata products. He is married to Ruth and has 3 children: Nina (20), Ligia (17) and Robert (12). In the 2000 Stock Car series, Ingo is once more disputing the title with his friend Chico Serra.
