Formula One career

Johansson's route to Formula One was via the British Formula 3 Championship, which he won in 1980 driving for future McLaren team boss Ron Dennis' Project Four team. In Formula One he participated in 103 grands prix, debuting on 13 January 1980 for the Shadow Racing Team at the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix when he was still a Formula Three regular. He failed to qualify for the race and the next race in Brazil and he was not seen in Formula One again until 1983 after spending 1982 in the European Formula Two Championship with Spirit Racing where he finished eighth overall, his best finish being third at Mugello in Italy.

1983

Johansson's first Formula One race with Spirit was at the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch where he failed to finish due to failure of the Honda engine on lap four. His qualifying time was almost 20 seconds off the pole time set by 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg in his Williams-Cosworth, but his times in the race morning warm-up session were within a second of the Ferrari 126C2B of René Arnoux who was fastest. He moved up to 7th place before pulling into the pits with yet another engine failure (BBC commentator Murray Walker said on air that Spirit and Honda had completed thousands of miles of trouble free testing until that point). Spirit continued to test and develop the 201C and Johansson re-entered Formula One at the 1983 British Grand Prix at Silverstone where he qualified the car in a credible 14th position. He raced in a further five Grands Prix in 1983 with a best finish of seventh in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

1984

Stefan Johansson was replaced at Spirit by Mauro Baldi for the 1984 season when the team lost its Honda engines to Williams and he didn't race until he joined Tyrrell in Round 10 of the championship, the British Grand Prix, at Brands Hatch as a replacement for the injured Martin Brundle. He then went on to Toleman for the last few Grands Prix of the season in place of the injured Johnny Cecotto, finishing fourth in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. While at Toleman, Johansson's regular team mate was future triple World Drivers' Champion Ayrton Senna.

1985-1986

Johansson signed a contract with Toleman for 1985 but it fell through when Toleman failed to secure a tyre agreement. Instead Johansson started again with Tyrrell as a replacement for the suspended Stefan Bellof before being called up to Ferrari when René Arnoux was mysteriously sacked after the first race of the season in Brazil. He led his second race with Ferrari at their 'home' race, the San Marino Grand Prix, and two laps from home passed Senna's out of fuel Lotus to the delight of the Tifosi and would probably have won if his Ferrari 156/85 had not run out of fuel just half a lap after taking the lead. His role at Ferrari for the 1985 season was primarily to back up Michele Alboreto's championship challenge, though he did finish 2nd to the Italian at Canada and backed it up with 2nd in the next race at Detroit.

In 1986 he often outpaced Alboreto, despite the Italian being the team's lead driver. The V6 turbo in the Ferrari F1/86 lacked nothing in power compared to the Honda, BMW, Renault and TAG-Porsche engines, but the car itself proved to be difficult, with both drivers complaining through the season about lack of downforce and the car's reluctance to drive well on all but the smoothest of circuits. Johansson finished the 1986 Drivers' Championship his best ever in 5th place while Alboreto, who finished 2nd in 1985, could only manage 9th place. There were many in Formula One, including highly respected BBC commentator Murray Walker, who believed that Ferrari were sacking the wrong driver, given that the Swede had generally outshone his more highly paid team mate throughout the season.

1987

He was replaced at Ferrari by Austrian Gerhard Berger for 1987, and he moved to McLaren as number two driver behind double and reigning World Champion Alain Prost. McLaren weren't as competitive in 1987 as they had been in 1984-1986, with Prost only adding three wins to his tally (and beating the record of 27 Grand Prix wins held by Jackie Stewart with his 28th win in Portugal) and failing to successfully defend his Drivers' Championship. Further podium finishes did follow for the Swede and Johansson finished sixth in the Drivers' Championship. Stefan Johansson's position at McLaren was considered by many as just a stop gap signing by team boss Ron Dennis who had failed to lure Ayrton Senna from Lotus due to him being under contract until the end of 1987 and always intended signing the mercurial Brazilian for 1988. Johansson famously finished the 1987 German Grand Prix on three wheels having had a puncture on the last lap. He also finished second behind Prost in Belgium, and added further podium finishes in Brazil, Spain and Japan. Despite 11 podiums in three seasons, Johansson was still winless and was not wanted by a top team (he had hoped to join Williams in 1988 as a replacement for the departing 1987 World Champion Nelson Piquet, but Williams signed Riccardo Patrese instead). He did return to McLaren in a test-driver capacity in 1991, testing the Honda V12 engine at Suzuka in Japan.

1988-1991

He joined Ligier for 1988, ironically alongside the man he replaced at Ferrari, René Arnoux, but the team's first non-turbo powered car since 1981, the Michel Beaujon designed JS31 powered by a naturally aspirated Judd V8 engine, was totally uncompetitive, scoring no points and more often than not failing to qualify, even against teams with much smaller budgets such as AGS and Rial (the French teams low point of the year was when both Johansson and Arnoux failed to qualify for the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard in the first weekend of July). Unfortunately for Johansson, he failed to come to grips with the JS31, recording six non-qualifications during the season (compared to Arnoux who only failed to qualify twice). He did record the car's two best finishes of the year though, 9th placings in the opening race of the season in Brazil and the last race in Australia.

Better was to follow in 1989 as he was signed to lead the new Onyx team. Their car was temperamental and didn't always qualify, but Johansson finished a surprise and popular third in Portugal for his last (and the team's only) podium finish. He fell out with new team owner Peter Monteverdi in early 1990 and was duly sacked, making further appearances for AGS and Footwork in 1991.

Johansson's record of podium finishes without a win was equalled by Nick Heidfeld at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix, who then took the record outright at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

In his 11-year Grand Prix career, in which he drove for 10 different teams, Johansson achieved 12 podiums, including 4 second places, and scored a total of 88 championship points.

CART career

Stefan Johansson
CART World Series
Years active	1992-1996
Teams	Bettenhausen Racing
Starts	73
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	11th in 1994
Awards
1992	CART Rookie of the year

For 1992 he moved over to CART Championship Car, winning the Rookie of the Year title with two third places, ahead of Belgium's Éric Bachelart. His first pole came at Portland the next year, but as in Formula One he never won a race. From 1992 to 1996, he started 73 races and had his best season overall in 1994, finishing in 11th. During this time, he competed in the 1993-1995 Indianapolis 500. At the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto race, he was involved in an accident that claimed the life of fellow driver Jeff Krosnoff and track marshal Gary Avrin. After making wheel to wheel contact, Jeff's car hit the barriers and also a tree and lamp post that was too close to the track. Krosnoff died instantly of the injuries sustained from hitting the lamp post.

After Formula One: Sports Cars and team ownership

Before his Formula One career Johansson had participated in sports car races such as 24 Hours of Le Mans, and had won two World Sportscar Championship races in the 1980s (the Mugello round in 1983, driving a Joest Racing Porsche 956 with Bob Wollek, and the 1988 Spa Francorchamps race in a Sauber C9 with Mauro Baldi).

After retiring from CART at the end of the 1996 season he returned to this type of racing. During 1997 he recorded two major race wins, at the 12 Hours of Sebring driving a Ferrari 333 SP with Andy Evans, Fermín Vélez and Yannick Dalmas. Later in 1997 Johansson also won at Le Mans where he drove a TWR-Porsche WSC-95 for Joest Racing alongside his Ferrari F1 team mate of 1985 and 1986 Michele Alboreto, and young Dane Tom Kristensen. For Kristensen it was to be the first of a record (as of 2013) 9 wins in the famous French classic.

In 1997 Johansson founded a successful Indy Lights team running Fredrik Larsson and Jeff Ward; in 1998 its drivers were Guy Smith and Luiz Garcia, Jr.; for 1999 the seats went to Scott Dixon and Ben Collins.

During 1998 & 1999 Johansson raced for various sports car teams (like the unreliable Audi R8C Coupé at Le Mans) but in 2000 he started Johansson-Matthews racing with an American businessman called Jim Matthews. They competed in the American Le Mans Series using a Reynard 2KQ prototype. Unfortunately this wasn't a successful vehicle in its original form (though it was later developed into various other successful cars including the Zytek that he later raced) and the partnership dissolved.

In 2001 Johansson campaigned an Audi R8 prototype with backing from Gulf Oil and the assistance of Mike Earle's Arena team. That year he raced in the European Le Mans Series, the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself. His co-drivers were Guy Smith and Patrick Lemarie. At Le Mans Smith was replaced by Tom Coronel.

2002 saw Johansson back in an Audi R8 but this time one run by the Miami based Champion Racing team. His co-driver was ex Formula One driver Johnny Herbert and they competed in the American Le Mans Series.

For 2003, he returned to CART as a team owner, running American Spirit Team Johansson with Jimmy Vasser and Ryan Hunter-Reay as drivers. This was one of many new teams for the 2003 CART season; ironically, Bachelart's Mi-Jack Conquest Racing team was another. The team was under-funded, and although Hunter-Reay scored a fluke win in the wet conditions at Australia, it folded at the end of the season.

After only competing in a couple of celebrity races and occasional outings in the works Zytek in 2004 Johansson returned to full-time racing in 2005 driving the Chip Ganassi run New Century Mortgage sponsored Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype in the American Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. With co-driver Cort Wagner he scored his best finish, a second place, at Mont Tremblant in Canada, they finished the year in fifth place in the championship.

In 2006 as well as the Grand Prix Masters series, Johansson has made occasional appearances in Grand-Am for the Cheever and CITGO teams, and has continued an association with the works Zytek team in the Le Mans Series.

2007 saw Johansson competing in a Highcroft Racing Courage-Acura in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series, sharing with David Brabham. He was due to race a Zytek at Le Mans in 2007, but the team could not rebuild the car in time after a test-day accident, and Johansson made a last minute deal to drive a works Courage.

Johansson took part in the inaugural Speedcar Series in 2008, where luck once again deserted him as the victim of a lot of other drivers' accidents. For 2008 Johansson did not have a full-time sports car drive, but had some outings planned in the Highcroft Acura ARX-01 in the ALMS and a place with the Epsilon Euskadi team at Le Mans.

Outside the cockpit, Johansson has a number of business ventures (including managing several successful drivers such as Scott Dixon) and is a keen artist - he is particularly known for his watch designs. Also "Lill-Lövis" does expert commentary on Viasat Motor during Formula One races on occasion.

In 2011 he raced a Pescarolo-Judd in the Petit Le Mans 10 Hours and a Ford GT3 in the Malaysian 12 Hours at Sepang.

In 2012 he returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, racing a Lola B12/80.

In popular culture

Johansson was the inspiration for the song "Speedway at Nazareth", by Mark Knopfler.

Career results

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
1979	Polifac BMW Junior Team	March 792	BMW	SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	HOC	ZAN	PER	MIS	DON		—	0
1980	ICI Roloil Racing Team	March 802	BMW	THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	SIL	ZOL	MUG	ZAN	PER	MIS	HOC		—	0
1981	Docking Spitzley Team Toleman	Lola T850	Hart	SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	PER	SPA	DON	MIS	MAN		4th	30
1982	Marlboro Team Spirit	Spirit 201	Honda	SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	MUG	VAL	PAU	SPA	HOC	DON	MAN	PER	MIS	8th	11

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts.
1980	Shadow Cars	Shadow DN11	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			NC	0
1983	Spirit Racing	Spirit 201C	Honda V6 (t/c)	BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL	DET	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA		NC	0
1984	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 012	Ford Cosworth DFY V8	BRA	RSA	BEL	SMR	FRA	MON	CAN	DET	DAL	GBR	GER	AUT	NED				17th	3
	Toleman Group Motorsport	Toleman TG184	Hart Straight-4 (t/c)														ITA	EUR	POR
1985	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 012	Ford Cosworth DFY V8	BRA																7th	26
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156/85	Ferrari V6 (t/c)		POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS
1986	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari F1/86	Ferrari V6 (t/c)	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	5th	23
1987	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/3	TAG V6 (t/c)	BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS	6th	30
1988	Ligier Loto	Ligier JS31	Judd V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0
1989	Moneytron Onyx Formula One	Onyx ORE-1	Ford Cosworth DFR V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	12th	6
1990	Monteverdi Onyx Formula One	Onyx ORE-1	Ford Cosworth DFR V8	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	NC	0
1991	Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives	AGS JH25B	Ford Cosworth DFR V8	USA	BRA															NC	0
	Footwork Grand Prix International	Footwork FA12	Porsche V12			SMR	MON	CAN	MEX
		Footwork FA12C	Ford Cosworth DFR V8							FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1983	Sorga S.A. / Joest Racing	Klaus Ludwig Bob Wollek	Porsche 956	C	354	6th	6th
1984	New-Man Joest Racing	Jean-Louis Schlesser Maurizio de Narváez	Porsche 956	C1	170	DNF	DNF
1990	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	David Kennedy Pierre Dieudonné	Mazda 787	GTP	147	DNF	DNF
1991	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Oreca	David Kennedy Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda 787B	C2	355	6th	6th
1992	Trust Racing Team	George Fouché Steven Andskär	Toyota 92C-V	C2	336	5th	1st
1997	Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Tom Kristensen	TWR Porsche WSC-95	LMP	361	1st	1st
1998	Porsche AG Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Yannick Dalmas	Porsche LMP1-98	LMP1	107	DNF	DNF
1999	Audi Sport UK Ltd.	Stéphane Ortelli Christian Abt	Audi R8C	LMGTP	55	DNF	DNF
2000	Johansson-Matthews Racing	Guy Smith Jim Matthews	Reynard 2KQ-LM-Judd	LMP900	133	DNF	DNF
2001	Johansson Motorsport	Tom Coronel Patrick Lemarié	Audi R8	LMP900	35	DNF	DNF
2003	Champion Racing	Emanuele Pirro JJ Lehto	Audi R8	LMP900	372	3rd	1st
2006	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Alex Yoong	Dome S101Hb-Judd	LMP1	182	DNF	DNF
2007	Arena Motorsports International	Hayanari Shimoda Tom Chilton	Zytek 07S	LMP1	-	DNQ	DNQ
	Courage Compétition	Jean-Marc Gounon Guillaume Moreau	Courage LC70-AER	LMP1	175	DNF	DNF
2008	Epsilon Euskadi	Jean-Marc Gounon Shinji Nakano	Epsilon Euskadi EE1-Judd	LMP1	158	DNF	DNF
2012	Gulf Racing Middle East	Fabien Giroix Ludovic Badey	Lola B12/80-Nissan	LMP2	92	DNF	DNF

American open-wheel results

(key)

CART

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1992	Bettenhausen Racing	Penske PC-20	Chevrolet 265A V8t	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY	DET	POR	MIL	NHA	TOR	MCH	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		14th	47
1993	Bettenhausen Motorsports	Penske PC-22	Chevrolet 265C V8t	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	NHA	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		13th	43
1994	Bettenhausen Motorsports	Penske PC-22	Ilmor 265D V8t	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	NHA	VAN	ROA	NAZ	LAG		11th	57
1995	Bettenhausen Motorsports	Penske PC-23	Mercedes-Benz IC108B V8t	MIA	SRF	PHX	LBH	NAZ		MIL	DET	POR	ROA	TOR	CLE	MCH	MDO	NHA	VAN	LAG	13th	60
		Reynard 94i	Ford XB V8t						INDY
1996	Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 96i	Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8t	MIA	RIO	SRF	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG		15th	43

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
1993	Penske PC-22	Chevrolet 265C V8t	6	11	Bettenhausen Motorsports
1994	Penske PC-22	Ilmor 265D V8t	27	15	Bettenhausen Motorsports
1995	Reynard 94i	Ford XB V8t	31	16	Bettenhausen Motorsports

[ Source: Wikipedia ]