Jochen Mass Dies Aged 78

Jochen Mass, winner of the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and the 1989 24 hours of Le Mans has died at the age of 78. 

Jochen sadly passed away on Sunday due to complications following a stroke he suffered in February. 

During his racing career, he competed in 114 Formula 1 races and had eight podium finishes.

Away from F1, Jochen also won the 1989 24 hours of Le Mans, driving for Sauber. 

One of the key factors linked to Jochen eventually retiring from Formula 1 was that he was involved in an accident during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982 when Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve, after colliding with Jochen, sadly lost his life. 

After he finished racing, Jochen became part of the Mercedes junior programme where he helped mentor upcoming drivers. One driver he helped was a young Michael Schumacher before he had made his F1 debut.

Craig and Nick had the pleasure of meeting Jochen at the 2021 Goodwood Members’ Meeting

From Nick:

“I grew up enamoured by the racing drivers of the 1970s and 1980s. Early prototype racing, sportscar racing etc – it was kind of the last heyday of the multidisciplined racing drivers and for me the greatest of them all was Jochen Mass. 

From his early days in Ford Capris, into F1 and then a factory driver for Porsche, he was an absolute hero to me growing up. So, to my surprise at Goodwood Members Meeting 2021, who should walk up to our stand than Jochen and his wife. 

He bought some competition tickets for his daughter to win a Morris Traveller and some for himself for a Sunbeam Alpine but we struck up a chat over our love of old aircooled Volkswagens and Porsches, endurance racing and why it was totally ok to modify your car if you can put it back to how it was originally. 

Those 10-15 minutes will stick with me, and it’s just very sad to hear he’s passed away.

Rest easy Herr Mass.”

From Craig:

”My first experience of Goodwood Revival was thanks to Jochen Mass. Through a mutual friend, Jochen kindly arranged tickets for my first visit. I’ve attended every year since and I am so grateful to him for that first introduction.

I remember him visiting our stand at Goodwood, showing a genuine interest in our little Sunbeam, so much so he went on to buy a few tickets himself, hoping to win. My immediate thought was ‘how do I explain this to the doubters if his ticket number comes up’.

It’s incredibly sad to hear the news today. I had the pleasure of meeting Jochen on a number of occasions, both at Goodwood and elsewhere. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.”