Bert Anders Olofsson[1] (31 March 1952 – 22 January 2008) was a Swedish racing driver.[2]

Racing career edit

He won back-to-back Swedish Formula Three titles in 1977 and 1978 and finished runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in the same seasons.[3]

He won three consecutive Japanese Touring Car titles as a works Nissan driver and triumphed in the 1991 Spa 24 Hours, driving a Nissan Skyline with David Brabham and Naoki Hattori.

From 1988 to 1995, Olofsson competed six times in the Bathurst 1000 touring car race in Australia, all with Gibson Motorsport. He drove in the 1988 Tooheys 1000 with Glenn Seton in a Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R, though the pair failed to complete a lap after the gearbox broke when Seton changed from second to third gear only seconds after the rolling start (the same fate had befallen Seton and Olofsson on lap 3 of the Sandown 500 just three weeks earlier, the traditional lead in to Bathurst). In 1989 he returned, driving with George Fury in a HR31 Skyline to finish fourth. After a two-year absence he returned for Winfield Racing (Gibson) in 1992 (the final year of Group A) in a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R to finish third outright with television commentator turned racer Neil Crompton. Despite Australian touring car racing abandoning Group A at the end of 1992 and moving to a V8 formula, Olofsson was held in such regard by the Fred Gibson run team that he was invited to return in 1993 and finished fourth with David Brabham in a Holden VP Commodore and 1994 to drive with veteran Colin Bond (the 1969 race winner) to finish sixth in a VP Commodore. Olofsson's last Bathurst 1000 was again with the Gibson team in 1995 where he teamed with Steven Richards in a Holden VR Commodore to again finish fourth.

Olofsson finished second overall and won the GT1 class of the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Gulf McLaren F1 with Jean-Marc Gounon and Pierre-Henri Raphanel.

He retired from racing at the end of 1997 and worked in driver management with Swedish racers in the Swedish Touring Car Championship.

Death edit

Olofsson died in his sleep on 22 January 2008, aged 55.[4]

Career Results edit

Complete Spa 24 Hour results edit

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1985   Magnum Racing   Ulf Granberg
  Ingvar Carlsson
Volvo 240T Div. 3 98 DNF DNF
1986   RAS Sport   Johnny Cecotto
  Mauro Baldi
Volvo 240T Div. 3 456 12th 7th
1987   Bastos Toyota Team   Pierre-Alain Thibaut
  Eric Bachelart
Toyota Supra 3.0i MA70 Div. 3 346 DNF DNF
1988   Nissan Motorsports Europe   Allan Grice
  Win Percy
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R Div. 3 482 6th 4th
1991   Nismo Zexel   David Brabham
  Naoki Hattori
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R A/Div. 3 517 1st 1st
1992   Nismo   David Brabham
  Masahiro Hasemi
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R A/Div. 3 102 DNF DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results edit

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1987   Italya Sports   Alain Ferté
  Patrick Gonin
Nissan R86V C1 86 DNF DNF
1988   Italya Sports
  Team Le Mans Co.
  Lamberto Leoni
  Akio Morimoto
March 88SNissan C1 69 DNF DNF
1989   Team Le Mans Co.
  Courage Compétition
  Takao Wada
  Akio Morimoto
March 88SNissan C1 221 DNF DNF
1990   Team Le Mans   Takao Wada
  Maurizio Sandro Sala
Nissan R89C C1 182 DNF DNF
1991   Courage Compétition   Johnny Dumfries
  Thomas Danielsson
Cougar C26SPorsche C2 45 DNF DNF
1994   Strandell
  Obermaier Racing
  Max Angelelli
  Sandro Angelastri
Ferrari F40 GT1 51 DNF DNF
1995   Ennea SRL
  Ferrari Club Italia
  Luciano Della Noce
  Tetsuya Ota
Ferrari F40 GTE GT1 42 DNF DNF
1996   Ennea SRL Igol   Luciano Della Noce
  Carl Rosenblad
Ferrari F40 GTE GT1 98 DNF DNF
1997   Gulf Team Davidoff
  GTC Racing
  Jean-Marc Gounon
  Pierre-Henri Raphanel
McLaren F1 GTR GT1 360 2nd 1st

Complete Bathurst 1000 results edit

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1988   Peter Jackson Nissan Racing   Glenn Seton Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R A 0 DNF DNF
1989   Nissan Motorsport Australia   George Fury Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R A 160 4th 4th
1992   Winfield Team Nissan   Neil Crompton Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R A 143 3rd 3rd
1993   Winfield Racing   David Brabham Holden VP Commodore A 159 4th 4th
1994   Winfield Racing   Colin Bond Holden VP Commodore A 161 6th 6th
1995   Winfield Racing   Steven Richards Holden VR Commodore 161 4th 4th

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (–1993) results edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Pts
1986 RAS Volvo 240 DIV.3 NIS SUG TSU SEN FUJ
1
SUZ
1987 Volvo 240 DIV.3 NIS SEN TSU
Ret
SUG
Ret
Nismo Nissan Skyline GTS-R DIV.3 FUJ
9
SUZ
4
1988 Nismo Nissan Skyline GTS-R JTC-1 SUZ
1
NIS
1
SEN
4
TSU
3
SUG
7
FUJ
Ret
134
1989 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Skyline GTS-R JTC-1 NIS
4
SEN
2
TSU
1
SUG
1
SUZ
1
FUJ
Ret
1st 161
1990 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Skyline GT-R JTC-1 NIS
2
SUG
2
SUZ
1
TSU
Ret
SEN
2
FUJ
2
3rd 160
1991 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan Skyline GT-R JTC-1 SUG
2
SUZ
1
TSU
1
SEN
2
AUT
1
FUJ
4
1st 200
1992 Nismo Nissan Skyline GT-R JTC-1 TAI
5
AUT
1
SUG
2
SUZ
4
MIN
NC
TSU
3
SEN
2
FUJ
1
5th 100
1993 Hitotsuyama Racing BMW M3 JTC-2 MIN AUT
3
17th 12
Impul Nissan Skyline GT-R JTC-1 SUG
2
SUZ TAI TSU TOK SEN FUJ 15th 15

Complete JGTC results edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Pts
1997 Team Ferrari Club of Japan Ferrari F355 GT300 SUZ
11
FUJ
4
SEN FUJ
2
MIN SUG
Ret
9th 25
1998 Team Ferrari Club of Japan Ferrari F355 GT300 SUZ
Ret
NC 0
Inging Toyota Supra GT500 FUJ
C
SEN FUJ MOT MIN SUG NC 0
1999 Nismo Nissan Skyline GT-R GT500 SUZ FUJ
5
SUG MIN FUJ TAI MOT 21st 8

Complete FIA GT Championship results edit

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Pts
1997 Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren F1 GTR GT1 HOC SIL HEL NÜR
Ret
SPA
Ret
A1R
5
SUZ
3
DON
7
MUG
8
SEB
10
LAG
6
20th 7

References edit

  1. ^ "Pilote des 24 heures du Mans : Bert Anders Olofsson". www.24h-en-piste.com (in French). Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Profile". mitorosso.com. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  3. ^ Brown, Allen. "European Formula 3 1978". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  4. ^ English, Steven (24 January 2008). "Anders Olofsson dies aged 55". Autosport. Retrieved 10 September 2012.