Leonhard von Gottorp

Leonhard Von Gottorp (born 9 January 1941 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, died 4 October 2014 in Shanghai, China) was a German racing driver who has raced in Formula One and in F1RWRS. At 73 years of age, he was the oldest driver in the history of the latter series and the oldest driver in any major open-wheel racing series.

Early Life
Being born into the remnants of German royality, the Gottorp family managed to save their wealth from the many changes at the end of WW2. With said wealth, Von Gottorp enjoyed a fine education and started to race in minor series after being invited by a friend of his. In the winter of 1966, Von Gottorp started planning entering a few Formula 1 races in the following year. For that purpose, he bought a used Cooper and prepared to enter F1.

Formula 1 Career
In his first race he impressed whilst battling with Chris Amon on his debut in France before both cars retired. Despite failing to qualify for the 1967 German Grand Prix, Rob Walker offered him a car for the 1968 F1 Grand Prix. Von Gottorp returned to the grid for the Italian Grand Prix and managed to score a point, profiting from many retirements, an erratic performance by Chris Amon and a late-race spin by Jacky Ickx. In 1968, Von Gottorp earnt a reputation as a top driver with him being able to battle and beat Jim Clark in South Africa before scoring a pole position in Monaco. Sadly technical issues made it impossible for him to challenge for the world championship. The downfall of Rob Walker's team ruined his chance though with three DNQs and only four points in the next two years. Von Gottorp then disappeared of the face of the Earth for a year before attempting an unsuccessful F1 comeback with a BRM in 1972. He realised afterwards that his career in F1 was over.

F1RWRS Career: 2014
Despite being de facto long-time retired from motor racing with a few unsuccessful appearances in the 2012 Lotus Racing League season as well as a moderately succesful career in F1RGP2C in the ninties, Von Gottorp approached Tropico Grand Prix when the team announced their intention to replace Darren Older Jr.. Using the last bit of his once impressive financial assets and a minor sponsorship deal with internet service provider 1&1, the old German bought the seat and was due to debut at the Belgian Grand Prix. Older left the team on his own terms before the Norisring weekend, joining Scuderia Alitalia. This propelled him in the car a week before his planned debut. He showed that he has not unlearnt driving fast, giving rookie Miko Fäkkinen a hard time in both pratice and pre-qualifying, forcing the Finn to bring up the rear. He followed his impressive debut by using the full extent of his experience in the wet Spa pre-qualifying, pushing the inferior Tropican car to 11th place in one of the best laps of the year, beating his team mate by almost 10 seconds. After that impressive performance, reality struck back and the German driver failed to leave the bottom half of the pre-qualifying grid.

Death
Von Gottorp died on October 4, 2014 in his hotel room, in Shanghai, China, after a maid found him not responding to her knocking. Paramedics suspected that Von Gottorp may have been died due to his old age. A memorial service have been scheduled for him after the race, and the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix was held with a one-minute silence before the start.

Complete Formula One Grand Prix results

 * † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.