Hugo Gehring

Hugo Gehring was a German racing driver, who participated in Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) prior to his first entry in Formula One.
He lost his life in the 1978 San Marino Grand Prix after being hit by Győző Szél due to a high-speed accident at Tamburello. 
== Early Years ==
Gehring was born in Kiel, Germany. His father was a mechanic, and former tank operator in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, and his mother a nurse. He is the youngest of 6 siblings. Gehring started helping his father around his shop when he was 9 years old, quickly falling in love with the environment.
As he grew older he started participating in karting and soon after moving to Touring Cars.
== Racing Career ==
==== 1972 - 1976 (DRM) ====
Gehring made his DRM debut in 1972, driving for Zakspeed Racing, winning several races and the championship in 1974.
=== Formula One ===
==== 1977 (March) ====
Gehring made his Formula One debut during the 1977 Brazilian Grand Prix, after Max Mosley from March Engineering called him up from DRM to race with them.
==== 1978 (Ferrari) ====
Prior to the first race in 1978, Hugo lost his drive with March as they had decided to focus on Formula Two instead. However after Maria Parker's crash in Argentina, Ferrari found themselves without a driver for the South African Grand Prix. Enzo Ferrari invited Hugo over to Maranello to discuss the future together. Hugo signed a contract to race with Ferrari for one season to evaluate his performance.
After two races, Enzo Ferrari decided to cancel their contract with Gehring, and hire Gervais Trémaux instead. Gehring found himself again without a drive for the 1978 season, but secured a seat at Shadow following Gervais Trémaux' move from the team to Ferrari. 
== Death ==
During the 1978 San Marino Grand Prix, Hugo spun on the start-finish straight, causing his front wing to break. A few laps later he suffered massive understeer at Tamburello which caused his car to go straight into the wall. Due to the angle of the crash and the concrete wall, Gehring bounced back onto the race track, just as Ligier driver Győző Szél sped through Tamburello at the wrong time. Szél slammed into Gehring's out-of-control car and their collision caused Szél to suffer a broken femur, while Gehring immediately passed away.Category:Drivers
Category:German
Category:Touring Car
Category:F1