Three-time Le Mans winner Fassler retires from racing
Marcel Fassler, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, has called time on his professional driving career at the age of 44.

After two decades of racing at the highest level in the German DTM and sportscars, Fassler has announced he will step down from professional racing to head the Swiss Sportec team in its climb through the endurance racing ranks, while staying involved as a simulator driver for the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team.
"I am very pleased that the transition from my racing career to a new professional life has gone so smoothly," Fassler commented. "It's a confirmation of the work I've done so far that my experience as a racing driver will continue to be in demand.
"I had this big dream as a boy to become a successful racing driver. The fact that I went this way in my own way, with honest and hard work, with the will to persevere and the belief in my passion, and that I made it to the top of the world with my performances, makes me proud.
"I gave it my all and achieved more than I ever dreamed of. My big thanks go to all the many people who always believed in me and supported me in many ways and with great commitment on the way to the top."
Fassler came through the single-seater ranks in the late 1990s before being snapped up by Mercedes as a works driver for the relaunch of the DTM. In his rookie season in 2000 he finished fourth, a result he would repeat in the next two campaigns before taking third in 2003, scoring three race wins with HWA along the way.
After a two-year stint for the Opel team Holzer, Fassler switched to sportscars in 2006, making his Le Mans debut with LMP1 team Swiss Spirit. In 2007 Fassler won the Spa 24 Hours in a Carsport Holland-run Corvette C6.R.
An American Le Mans Series cameo for Audi Team Joest in 2008 would prove to be the start of a long affiliation with the German marque. Following three races for the works Corvette team in 2008, including Le Mans, Fassler would join Audi full-time from 2010 onwards and form a formidable trio with Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.
In seven years Fassler, Lotterer and Treluyer took three overall Le Mans wins with various iterations of the Audi R18. They won the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012, with Fassler also adding a Sebring 12 Hours win in 2013 with Treluyer and Oliver Jarvis.
In 2016, Fassler returned to Corvette, winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Sebring 12 Hours in GTLM alongside Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin and bringing his Le Mans tally to 15 starts. Fassler's final race for the GM brand was last November's Sebring 12 Hours.

LMP1-H podium: class and overall winners Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
Related video

GM assessing GT3/GTD Corvette program from 2022
Manfred Kremer: Le Mans-winning mastermind engineer dies

Latest news
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
The remarkable fixes Toyota used to avert another Le Mans disaster
The 1-2 finish achieved by Toyota at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours was a result that will have surprised few, given its status as pre-event favourite. But the result was anything but straightforward, as worsening fuel pressure concerns required the team's drivers and engineers to pursue "creative fixes" on the fly. Here is the full story of how it reached the end without a lengthy pit visit
Inside the Le Mans finish too barmy for Hollywood
Team WRT has been at the forefront of GT racing for years and made a successful move to prototypes for 2021, capped by an LMP2 win on its Le Mans debut. It could've been even better had the race been one lap shorter, when its cars ran 1-2, but the stranger-than-fiction reality has spurred the team to reach greater heights.
Why Toyota's Le Mans victory was not as simple as it looked
Toyota scored its fourth Le Mans 24 Hours victory and a 1-2, with the #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez beating the #8. But although it looked straightforward from the outside, Toyota faced serious problem that had to be solved with some quick-thinking and ingenuity.
What we've learned from the Le Mans 24 Hours so far
The new dawn for the FIA World Endurance Championship has arrived at Le Mans, as Hypercars prepare to duel for victory in the world's oldest endurance race. Motorsport.com picks out the 10 things we have learned in the build up to the race.
Le Mans 2021: The team-by-team guide
After a two-month delay due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours is set to get underway with the start of the Hypercar era at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The ex-F1 drivers making a name for themselves in LMP2 at Le Mans
Kevin Magnussen will make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this weekend alongside father Jan in LMP2. But the Danes won't be the only ex-F1 drivers to appear in the hotly contested category this year.
Can Toyota's #7 crew break its Le Mans curse?
One Toyota, normally with the number 7 on the side, always seems to attract the bad luck in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez are hoping for a change in fortune this time around, but face significantly more unknowns than in recent years