Benjamin Leuchter

{{Infobox racing driver

| name = Benjamin Leuchter

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| nationality = {{flag|GER|name=German}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1987|11|22}}

| birth_place = Duisburg, Germany

| related to =

| racing licence = 12px FIA Silver

| current series = TCR International Series

| first year = 2017

| current team = Max Kruse Racing

| car number = 10

| former teams =

| starts = 2

| wins =

| poles =

| fastest laps =

| best finish =

| year =

| last finish =

| prev series = VLN
TCR International Series
Champions
ADAC Procar Series
VLN

German Formula Three Championship
Formula BMW
Karting

| prev series years = 2017
2017
2016

2009
2008, 15-17
2006
2004-05
2002-03

| titles = VLN – TCR Class
24h Nurburgring - TCR Class
24H Dubai - TCR Class

| title years = 2017
2017
2018

| awards =

| award years =

}}

Benjamin Leuchter (born 22 November 1987) is a German racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup. Having previously competed in the Champions, German Formula Three Championship and Formula BMW amongst others.

Racing career

Leuchter began his career in 2002 in Karting, he continued in karting until 2003. In 2004 he switched to the Formula BMW series, he finished the season nineteenth in the championship standings that year. The following year he only took part in the first eight races of the season, but still finished fifteenth in the Formula BMW standings in 2005. For 2006 he switched to the German Formula Three Championship, driving the last round of the championship that year. For 2008 he took part in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, finishing fourth in the SP1/2 class. In 2009 he switched to the ADAC Procar Series, finishing tenth in the Division II standings. For 2015 he raced in the VLN series, racing in the BMW M235i Racing Cup, he finished the season sixth in the standings that year. Continuing in the series for 2016, again racing in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class, this time finishing tenth in the standings. The same year he also raced in the inaugural 2016 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship season, taking a couple of podiums and fastest laps on his way to finishing fifth in the championship standings. For 2017 he returned to the VLN series, this time racing in the TCR class. Taking several victories, pole positions and podiums, on his way to winning the class.{{cite web |url=https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/benjamin-leuchter |title=Benjamin Leuchter career statistics |publisher=Driver Database |accessdate=25 November 2017 |archive-date=27 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027030908/https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/benjamin-leuchter/ |url-status=live }}

In November 2017 it was announced that he would race in the TCR International Series, driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR for WestCoast Racing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.touringcartimes.com/2017/11/06/benjamin-leuchter-joins-westcoast-racing-dubai/|title=Benjamin Leuchter joins WestCoast Racing for Dubai|website=TouringCarTimes|date=6 November 2017|access-date=25 November 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107030752/https://www.touringcartimes.com/2017/11/06/benjamin-leuchter-joins-westcoast-racing-dubai/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://tcr-series.com/index.php/news/item/benjamin-leuchter-joins-westcoast-racing-for-dubai|title=Benjamin Leuchter joins WestCoast Racing for Dubai|website=tcr-series.com|language=en-gb|date=6 November 2017|access-date=25 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201080733/http://tcr-series.com/index.php/news/item/benjamin-leuchter-joins-westcoast-racing-for-dubai|url-status=live}}

Whilst competing for the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup class of the 2023 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie for Max Kruse Racing alongside Nicholas Otto, Leuchter became involved in an incident during the penultimate race, as he caused a collision with Michele di Martino.{{Cite web |last=Krefeld |first=Mein |date=2023-10-02 |title=Motorsport: Frühes Aus für Benny Leuchter |url=https://www.mein-krefeld.de/niederrhein/fruehes-aus-fuer-benny-leuchter_aid-98779745 |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=Mein Krefeld |language=de |archive-date=6 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406091454/https://www.mein-krefeld.de/niederrhein/fruehes-aus-fuer-benny-leuchter_aid-98779745 |url-status=live }} After a stewards investigation, Leuchter was found to have crashed into di Martino on purpose and was disqualified from this race, in addition to being excluded from the season finale.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-23 |title=Disqualifikation, Permit-Entzug, Berufung: Folgen des Leuchter-Crashs |url=https://de.motorsport.com/vln/news/disqualifikation-permit-entzug-berufung-folgen-des-leuchter-crashs-23092305/3392294/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=de.motorsport.com |language=de |archive-date=6 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406091454/https://de.motorsport.com/vln/news/disqualifikation-permit-entzug-berufung-folgen-des-leuchter-crashs-23092305/3392294/ |url-status=live }} His teammate Otto would end up winning the Cup2 class on his own two weeks later.

Racing record

=Complete TCR International Series results=

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

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! 18

! 19

! 20

! DC

! Points

2017

! WestCoast Racing

! Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

| RIM
1

| RIM
2

| BHR
1

| BHR
2

| SPA
1

| SPA
2

| MNZ
1

| MNZ
2

| SAL
1

| SAL
2

| HUN
1

| HUN
2

| OSC
1

| OSC
2

| CHA
1

| CHA
2

| ZHE
1

| ZHE
2

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| DUB
1
13

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DUB
2
6

! 26th

! 13

=Complete World Touring Car Cup results=

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

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! 18

! 19

! 20

! 21

! 22

! 23

! 24

! 25

! 26

! 27

! 28

! 29

! 30

! DC

! Pts

2019

! SLR Volkswagen

! Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAR
1
{{small|16}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAR
2
{{small|23}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAR
3
{{small|20}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HUN
1
{{small|20}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| HUN
2
{{small|12}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HUN
3
{{small|17}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SVK
1
{{small|14}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SVK
2
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SVK
3
{{small|16}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| NED
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| NED
2
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| NED
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| GER
1
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| GER
2
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| GER
3
{{small|1}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| POR
1
{{small|15}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| POR
2
{{small|17}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| POR
3
{{small|17}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| CHN
1
{{small|18}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| CHN
2
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| CHN
3
{{small|DNS}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| JPN
1
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| JPN
2
{{small|12}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| JPN
3
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAC
1
{{small|22}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAC
2
{{small|21}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAC
3
{{small|21}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MAL
1
{{small|16}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MAL
2
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MAL
3
{{small|8}}

! 19th

! 111

=Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results=

class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
Year ! Team ! Co-Drivers ! Car ! Class ! Laps ! {{Tooltip\|Pos.\|Overall Position}} ! {{Tooltip\|Class Pos.\|Class Position}}
align="center" ! 2008 \|align=left\| Benjamin Leuchter \|align=left\| {{flagicon\|GER}} Harald Hennes {{flagicon\|GER}} Swen Landgraf {{flagicon\|GER}} Steffen Ramer \|align=left\| Ford Fiesta \| SP1-SP2 \| 91 \| 79th \| 4th
align="center" ! 2016 \|align=left\| racing one GmbH \|align=left\| {{flagicon\|GER}} Fabian Danz {{flagicon\|GER}} Tim Zimmermann {{flagicon\|GER}} Dennis Wüsthoff \|align=left\| Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR \| TCR \| 91 \| 93rd \| 2nd
align="center" ! 2017 \|align=left\| mathilda racing \|align=left\| {{flagicon\|GER}} Andreas Gülden {{flagicon\|GER}} Dennis Wüsthoff {{flagicon\|AUT}} Constantin Kietzer \|align=left\| Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR \| TCR \| 142 \| 29th \| 1st

class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"

Year

! Team

! Co-Drivers

! Car

! Class

! Laps

! {{Tooltip|Pos.|Overall Position}}

! {{Tooltip|Class
Pos.|Class Position}}

align="center"

! 2008

|align=left| Benjamin Leuchter