This section of the website is dedicated to Bob Wollek, a racing legend, team mate and a close friend to the VICI GROUP. 

We will always remember his boundless enthusiasm and loyalty to the team with great fondness.

Bob Wollek was one of the great sportscar legends, with a career that was to last for more than thirty years. 

His most famous achievements included winning the grueling Daytona 24 Hours no less than four times (1983/85/89/91), and ‘Brilliant Bob' as he was known to the fans, had claimed an amazing eleven world championship titles by the time he retired in his mid 50s. As a result, he is remembered, with the likes of Jacky Ickx, as a true sportscar racing great. 

Many of his best results came during his final years. Told in 1991 by TWR boss Tom Walkinshaw that he was too old to be considered for a drive at Le Mans, Bob went onto claim a podium finish that year after being in the hunt for overall victory for most of the race, He stepped up onto the podium a further three times before he was withdrawn from the factory Porsche line-up in 1998. 

His failure to win at Le Mans also became the stuff of legends and stretched over many years. His first 24 hour participation had in fact come in 1968 at the wheel of an Alpine-Renault A210. During the heyday of the Porsche 962 he failed to finish the famous 24 hour race for three consecutive years, despite matching Jacky Ickx for speed. His final shot at victory came in 1998 at the wheel of a factory Porsche 911 GT1. Seeming on his way to victory, a mistake by one of his team mates cost the French star the chance to set the record straight, and the tears he shed on the podium afterwards offered an insight into just how much he really wanted to win that race. 

VICI's President, Ron Meixner, fondly recalls his involvement with Bob. “He was very much of a racing hero of mine, and to race together with him in a Joest Porsche was something I would previously only have dreamed of. Because he came from Strasbourg he spoke German fluently which greatly helped matters.

"Bob was a real fun guy to work with and had a real racer's will to win, with a tough, stubborn streak. He became a true friend, and we shared many laughs over the years together. We raced together for the first time at Atlanta in 1993, and then later that summer at Le Mans , the last time the Group C cars raced there. During our time in the Porsche 962 he became a real mentor to me and his vast experience and knowledge of the car was invaluable.” 

Wollek was also a seven time winner of the German Super Cup, as well as claiming overall victory at the famous 12 Hours of Sebring (1984) and the Fuji 1000km (1994). Other important points included taking the GT2 class win at Sebring in 1997, and the European Endurance Championship title (1983). While virtually his entire career revolved around Porsche's, he did also win the Spa 1000km at the wheel of the fast, but very fragile Ferrari-powered Lancia LC2 in 1985. 

On Friday March 16th 2001, on the eve of the famous sportscar encounter at Sebring, racing lost one its biggest and best loved stars when Bob Wollek was killed while riding to the circuit on his bicycle. At the age of 57, the Frenchman had become a mentor to many younger drivers. A true gentleman, who gave his all to the sport he loved, he is sorely missed by everyone involved. 

Ron Meixner concludes, “To have for a time known Bob personally, and to have been able to share several racing car cockpits with him, was for me a real honour. His loyalty and enthusiasm to VICI really helped to drive us forward, and certainly no-one at VICI will ever forget all his contributions to us. His untimely death has left a gap which will never be properly filled, and we will always race in Bob's memory."