1,000 Greatest Drivers: André Lotterer

Marshall Pruett, you are wrong, sir!

Are you sure that Lotterer isn’t an all-time great of prototype sports car racing, Marshall Pruett? I’m not. He won Le Mans three times and he was universally considered the linchpin of those teams. He is one of only three drivers along with Mike Hawthorn and Jacky Ickx to set the fastest lap at Le Mans four times. He has now won two WEC prototype titles twelve years apart and he won two Super GT titles in the GT500 class (which is very similar to the Le Mans Prototype class) before he left Japan. I think a very strong case can be made that he is one of the best sports car drivers ever, and seeing Pruett be so weirdly dismissive of him a few weeks ago is just odd. I do agree with him that Derani is not in that same class.

Last Sunday, I made a master list of 300 drivers who might be worthy of consideration for my top 200 this year along with their accomplishments. I have obviously not filled in the season details for the drivers whose seasons have not finished (those who compete in series like F1, F2, Super GT, Stock Car Brasil/Pro, etc…) but I think I have everybody listed there who might be worthy of consideration for my top 200 this year. It’s possible I might have forgotten some grassroots/minor league drivers though. Please let me know if there is anyone you think is worthy of consideration who I might have overlooked.