18/2/1953
Record updated 11-Feb-08
Started racing in Brazil before contesting 1975 British Formula 3 series. He raced in Formula 1 with the Fittipaldi F1 team in 1976 and 77. Hoffman returned to his native Brazil and where has won the Stock Car Championship no less than 11 times.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, of German descent, Ingo Otto Hoffmann father's name was Dustin. Ingo started competing in 1972 at the wheel of a 1600cc VW Fuscão entering the Division 1 class at the Festival do Ronco. He finished 7th and then did two more races before he destroyed the VW's engine. A friend then lent him a car to continue racing and though he did not tell his parents they saw the trophy he had won for coming second in his first outing with the new car. They encouraged him to continue and he proceeded to win the next race before blowing another engine.
Impressed with his performance, Brazilian engine builder, Giba, agreed to supply him with motors and proceeded to build him a Division 3 spec power plant for his Fuscão. A win and a 2nd place followed but then he failed to finish the four other races.
For 1973 his father, who worked for the Creditum Group, obtained sponsorship from them for Ingo. Hoffmann won both the Sao Paulo and the Brazilian saloon car championship in Division 3. Hoffmann and Alex Ribeiro then teamed up for the annual Division 1 Brazilian 1000 Miles race. They qualified 3rd but went out in the race with brake problems.
Ingo again competed in Brazilian saloon cars Division 3 in 1974, with a car called the Brasilia. Giba was again responsible for the engine which was mated to a Hewland F1 clutch adapted by Ricardo Divila. Debuting the car in the third round at Interlagos, after problems in qualifying, he set the fastest lap in the race and was leading on the last lap when he spun off in turn 3.
He also drove single seaters, racing a Polar chassis in Formula Super Vee and narrowly missing out on the title in the last round when he retired with engine failure.
Driving with Wilson Fittipaldi and Reinaldo Campello, they won the Division 1 class at the 1974 Souza Cruz 25 Hours in a four litre Opala Chevrolet.
With two Division 3 championships under his belt he traveled to Europe in 1975 to race a private March 753 Novamotor in British Formula 3. Racing a completely white car as he didn't have any sponsorship, Ingo won the round at Oulton Park, having taken pole and fastest lap. He finished the British Championship in 6th place on 34 points. In September he drove a Chevron in the F5000 race at Silverstone, finishing 7th. He did two more F5000 races, Mallory Park where he retired and Brands Hatch where he finished a fine 4th after starting from the back of the grid.
In 1976 he moved up to Formula 1 with the Fittipaldi brothers' team. He qualified their old FD03 for the Brazilian Grand Prix in 11th place while Emerson, the team's number one driver, finished 13th. For his next race at Long Beach, he failed to qualify the new car, however Emerson finished 6th, scoring the first point for the Fittipaldi team. Two more races that year, Spain and France, both ended up with DNQs.
In F2 he drove a March 762-Ford for Willy Kauhsen, with a best finish of 5th at Thruxton.
In 1977 he raced for Fittipaldi in the Argentine and Brazilian Grand Prix. Engine failure in Argentina was followed by a good run in Brazil and he was lying in 6th until a puncture dropped him down to 7th.
In F2, he drove a Ralt RT1 for Ron Dennis' Project Four outfit. Ingo finished the championship in 7th equal with Alberto Colombo on 18 points. He had a big accident at Estoril with Riccardo Patrese and though both cars were destroyed, both drivers emerged uninjured.
Stayed with Project Four in 1978, he took a win in Argentina driving a March 782-BMW. In European F2 he once again finished 7th, equal with Peri Yecch, on 13 points.
In 1979 he returned to Brazil to race stock cars and for over two decades, Hoffmann has been the undisputed king, winning the championship eleven times so far.
Ingo entered a few GT and touring car endurance raced in the 1990s, driving with Nelson Piquet in BMW M3s, before becoming one of BMW's works drivers in the SudAm Super Touring Championship in 1998 and 1999.
With interest in Super Touring waning, Hoffmann went back to the Brazilian stock car series in 2000 and once again became a front-runner.
Ingo Hoffman has won the Brazilian Stock Car Championship 11 times (1980, 1985, 1989-1994, 1996-1998). He has also won two Formula Fiat-Uno Championships, 2 Brazilian Marc Championships, one Argentine F2 Championship and two Division 3 Saloon Car Titles.
In 2006 December, he won his 100th win in the category at the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet de Brasília, final race of the 2006 season.
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