Roland Ratzenberger

Roland Ratzenberger (July 4, 1960 - April 30, 1994) was an Austrian Formula One driver who died tragically during qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the same race that took the life of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, and seriously injured Rubens Barrichello (in practice). Born in Salzburg, Austria, Ratzenberger often claimed 1962 (rather than 1960) as his birth year, wanting to appear younger to extend his racing career.

A racing car driver, Ratzenberger first came to prominence in 1986, winning the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. This led to campaigns in the European Formula 3 and touring car championships. He briefly gained fame in the UK for the similarity of his name to that of British TV puppet Roland Rat, appearing alongside him on an edition of TV-am. Later he forged a successful career in the Japanese Formula 3000 series.

He was plucked from Japan as a surprise choice by Nick Wirth's new Simtek team to drive in the 1994 Formula One season. After failing to qualify for the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, Ratzenberger made his only F1 Grand Prix start two weeks later at the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at the TI Circuit in Aida, Japan.

He was killed in qualifying for the third race of the season at the ill-fated Imola circuit, ploughing into a wall at the Villeneuve corner at over 300 km/h after a front wing failure, apparently caused by an off-track excursion on the previous lap. A time he had achieved earlier in the session would have been sufficient to give him a place on the grid. The force of the head-on impact was enough to break his neck.

Ratzenberger was the first driver to perish at a Grand Prix in the eight years following the 1986 deaths of Elio de Angelis.

(Source: wikipedia)