Dieter Quester

Since coming into motor racing in 1965, after many years competing in speedboats and motor cycling, Quester has been identified with the BMW marque for the bulk of his long career – not surprisingly, perhaps, since he had married Julianna, the daughter of Alexander von Falkenhausen.

Dieter really came to prominence by winning the Austrian touring car championship in a BMW 1800 in 1966, and his sideways driving style in the factory BMW then took him to two consecutive European touring car titles in 1968-69. He was also part of BMW’s largely unsuccessful Formula 2 programme, though he did manage a victory at Hockenheim at the end of 1970. Quester switched to a March for a season of Formula 2 in 1971, and performed well, winning the Lottery GP and scoring five second places. It was around this period that, frustrated at being unable to get a Formula 1 ride, he more than once seriously considered retirement, but he carried on and eventually drove a rented Surtees in the 1974 Austrian GP.

Subsequently concentrating on sports cars and saloons, he was European G2 touring car champion in 1977 and a regular in the BMW Procar series of 1979-80, while throughout the nineties he has been a permanent fixture in BMW touring cars in the European, German and Austrian championships, as well as competing in a BMW M3 in the IMSA GT3 class in America in 1996 and 1997.