DOB: 8th Sept 1956
Nationality: Swedish
GP Starts: 79
GP Wins: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Points Scored: 88
Stefan Johansson started his racing career in karts in his home country of Sweden in the 1970’s. He won his first major title, Nordic Karting Champion in 1973, aged just 17, and then went on to become the British F3 Champion in 1980.
Johansson’s F1 debut was with team Shadow in 1980. During his F1 career he started 79 grands prix and amassed 12 podiums finishes and 88 championship points.
He joined Tyrrell half-way through the 1984 season to replace the injured Martin Brundle and impressed fellow team managers. This resulted in him signing for Ferrari in 1985.
In 1987 he became Alain Prost's number two at Mclaren and achieved podium finishes for the team; however Mclaren were eyeing up Ayrton Senna for the 1988 season and Johansson lost his seat to the legendary Brazilian.
Despite his successes on track and 11 podium finishes in 3 years, he struggled to secure a drive with a top team.
He moved to Ligier alongside Rene Arnoux in 1988 but an uncompetitive car hampered his results. In 1989 he became the lead driver for new team Onyx, taking home 3rd place in the Portuguese Grand Prix - his final F1 podium finish.
After a disagreement with Onyx team owner Peter Monteverdi in 1990 Johansson was dropped from the team.
He did make further F1 appearances for AGS and Footwork in 1991. But with no secure seat for 1992, Johansson moved to Indycars where he was awarded "Rookie of the Year" after achieving two third place finishes during the ’92 season.
Although a talented driver, Stefan never won a race in either F1 or Indy cars. This was not the case in the latter part of his career however. In 1997 he finished first at the 12 hours of Sebring race, driving a Ferrari 333SP and at Le Mans where he drove a Joest Porsche.
Johansson changed tack altogether in 2000 and set up Johansson-Matthews, the team took part in the American Le Mans series that year, but after an unsuccessful race the partnership ended as did the newly-founded team.
2001/2002 saw backing from Gulf Oil and Johansson competed in the European Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans itself.
Stefan has since been involved in a number of ventures including his own team, American Spirit Team Johansson in 2003 and more recently the American Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
In 2005 Stefan joined fellow F1 stars from his heyday including Nigel Mansell and Rene Arnoux in the Grand Prix Masters series.
Career History:
1973: Nordic Karting Champion
1973: 6th World Karting Championship
1977: Swedish Karting Title
1980: British F3 Champion
1980: F1 Debut at the British Grand Prix with Shadow.
1981: Moves to Formula 2 with Toleman.
1982: Hired by Spirit:Honda.
1983: Spirit
1984: Competed in Japan and finished 2nd in the Japanese Formula 2 Series and Winner of the Sebring 12 hour IMSA race.
1984: Toleman, Italian, European & Portuguese GP.
1985: Tyrrell, Brazil GP only
1985: Ferrari, 7th in the Drivers Championship
1986: Ferrari, 5th in the Drivers Championship
1987: McLaren TAG, 6th in the Drivers Championship
1988: Ligier
1989: Onyx, 11th in the Drivers Championship
1991: AGS, US & Brazilian GP only After an uncompetitive season moved to America to continue his career in CART.
Johansson soon moved into team management and established Johansson Motorsports to race in the Indy Lights Series. In the 1990's Johansson became a regular sports car driver, winning Le Mans in 1997. He then set up American Spirit Racing, entering in the CART Champ Series.
