Ralf Goldbach

Goldbach in 1994

Ingolstadt, Germany

**Ralf Goldbach** is a German racing driver.

## **Early Life**

Ralf was born on 17th December 1971 in Ingolstadt, Germany. He often went to see races of the local SLR Ingolstadt Stockcar/Banger racing club, with his uncle, who was an early member of it. Ralf was even allowed to drive some of the cars around the track if there wasn't a race that weekend.

## **Racing Career**

### Early Career (1985-1989)

Goldbach started his racing career by competing in several local Stockcar races and rallies in the SLR, often with his uncle as co-pilot. After being successful he switched to driving in different South German junior Touring car races in early 1988, where he was surprisingly fast. After a few races he already got his first podiums and in 1989 he won almost every race he participated in.

### German Formula Ford (1990)

In 1990 a local brewery helped Ralf to fund his first professional racing season were he came second overall. He started in German Formula Ford and finished in 14th in his debut race at the Nürburgring. After some practice with the car, he was getting multiple podiums and a win at the Hockenheimring towards the end of the short season.

### German Formula Three (1991-1993)

After finishing second overall in Formula Ford, Goldbach had the attention of many teams and got a seat in German Formula 3 for G+M Escom Motorsport with their Ralt RT35. At the same time he also competed for Unitron Sports in DTM with a BMW M3 where he finished 15th despite missing half the races. This was due to a schedule conflict as the Formula 3 races took place in the same week. Goldbach finished his first Formula 3 season in ninth place, with three retirements.

In 1992 he only competed in Formula Three with the new Ralt RT36. After a good start to the season with many fifth and fourth-place finishes, Goldbach managed to win four races (Norisring, Nürburgring, Hockenheimring twice) after the middle of the season and also achieved several podium finishes, finishing third overall. After his successful season, G+M Escom Motorsport extended Goldbach's contract for another year after Ralf didn't get a contract for Formula 3000. His Team also changed to the newer Dallara 393 car with an Opel engine. In Goldbach's third Formula 3 season he won three more races but also finished often on the podium, resulting in second overall in the championship. Goldbach never competed in Formula 3000, but his success in German Formula 3 had caught the attention of many Formula One teams. Minardi had the need for a new driver as they hadn't re-signed their contract with Valentini and this gave Goldbach the opportunity to get a seat in Formula One for the 1994 season.

### Formula One (1994-2002)

#### 1994 (Minardi)

Goldbach competed in his rookie season for Minardi, alongside with his Czech teammate Jan Krejci, who was already in his third year as a full time driver.

In his first two races he was involved in incidents caused by Patrik Knudsen, which put him outside of the points. Race three in Imola ended really early for him after the big crash at T5 on the opening lap. Goldbach had a big chance to score points in Monaco, but crashed later in the race. In race five Ralf had great success, finishing 7th in Estoril and scoring his first points in his career due to an unusual tyre strategy. He couldn't start in the US and German Grands Prix due to a serious engine issue. This issue also happened to his Teammate on the formation Lap of the German GP. They were both back with a new engine for the British GP. Where Goldbach finished 9th, showing that the Portuguese Grand Prix result wasn't an exception. The Belgian and Monza Grands Prix went bad for Ralf. He couldn't finish those races, with his retirement in Belgium being caused by an incident with David Johnson. The Last race of the season was very important for Minardi because they were tied with Ligier for 8th position in the Contructors' Championship. Goldbach tried an unusual tyre strategy again, bringing him to tenth for the last few laps, which he defended against the multiple Grand Prix winner Timo Pakkinen for the last two laps of the race, securing 16th for Goldbach in the Drivers' Championship and putting Minardi ahead of Ligier in 8th.

In the end Goldbach had three top 10 finishes, giving him seven points in total. His teammate only got two points and finished 20th in the standings.

#### 1995 (Minardi)

In 1995 Goldbach was promoted to be the main driver of Minardi, once again with Jan Krejci as his teammate. The Team quickly realized that the car was not anywhere near as competitive as it was in 1994. Goldbach only finished once in the points, with a surprising 6th position in Austria. Krejci had simular problems who complained about the new rear wing and couldn't finish in the points all season.

#### 1996 (Minardi)

For the 1996 Formula One season Krejci was replaced by the young Austrian Stefan Scherz, who had won the F3000 Championship in 1995. The first race looked very promising for Minardi, with Goldbach finishing 6th and Scherz finishing 8th. Besides that the season wasn't going on as planned, with no further points for Scherz and only an 8th position in Great Britain for Goldbach.

#### 1997 (Minardi)

In 1997 Goldbach once again had a new teammate. It was planned that Stefan Scherz would be replaced by the Australian Louis Kempton, who was several seconds slower than Goldbach in the pre-season testing. With just weeks before the start of the season he was banned by the FIA for two years after failing a drug test. Minardi quickly found a replacement in Mistral Vernati, who had been very successful in Italy.

In the first race of the season Goldbach was shocked about the incident and the missing safety standards after he saw the massive crash on lap 1, which caused the death of Ford driver Jasper Saetern. Goldbach decided that he couldn't continue the race while there was a medical emergency on the race track. His teammate however managed to win the race for Minardi with unbelievable pace, which was one of the biggest upsets in the decade.

After Vernati won the GP he switched to Ferrari which meant that Goldbach had his 4th new teammate in 2 years. This time it was Stine Olander. The rest of the season was full of disappointments for Goldbach. After finishing 15th in Brazil and failing to qualify for the San Marino GP he had another retirement in Portugal. The best position and the only points he got in the season were in Great Britain where he finished 9th while driving Olanders spare car. In the German GP he had a very scary accident with Heather Misako. Goldbach was following Misako into the *Agipkurve* when Misako lost control, went off track and spun back on the track right in front of Goldbach who hit her at over 200kph. After that heavy collision Goldbach's car was sliding backwards into the concrete wall with high speed. Goldbach reported that he couldn't remember what happened after the first impact and only was conscious again when the marshals arrived at his car. The German driver could somehow walk away from the incident uninjured, with only a headache after the crash.

Goldbach didn't race in the next three rounds to recover from his psychological issues that had arisen after his crash in Germany. These issues were also partly because of the death of Saetern earlier in the season.

He came back to race the last round of the season, without any success. He finished 11th after spinning twice while following Jan Toom. Stine Olander was far more successful than Goldbach, only finishing outside of the points twice in seven races. This carried Minardi to 8th position in the Constructors' Championship.

## Racing Record

**Complete German Touring Car Championship Results:**

\*Round 9+10 didn't count towards the DTM Drivers' Championship

**Complete German Formula 3 Championship Results:**

**Complete Formula One World Championship Results:**

**Indianapolis 500**

**Complete CART Results:**