Peter Mücke: Team Principal and petrol head

While the majority of the FIA Formula 3 European championship Team Principals are used to solely watching the race action from the pit wall, Peter Mücke likes to get behind the wheel of a racing car himself, every now and then. With a Ford Capri, the boss of kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport regularly contests races – and his Formula 3 drivers also benefit from these activities.

Peter Mücke can look back on a long motor-racing career – that began in the former GDR. The Berliner who is 67 today contested his first races back in 1973 with a Wartburg – to switch to the more powerful Zastava, three years later.

I’ve got the impression that the drivers believe me what I’m telling them as they know that I also know the driver’s angle.

Peter Mücke

He secured a total of nine road-racing and auto-cross GDR titles and on the way to winning these titles, he often even defeated the works drivers of other brands. After the German reunification, the Formula 3 Team Principal won the European Auto Cross Championships before switching to motor racing with young classic cars, called ‘Youngtimer’ in Germany.

Today, he races a Ford Capri, there, and does so very successfully. In the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix, in early August at the Nürburgring, Mücke secured two second places in the overall rankings and won his class in both races. “It was huge fun to be back behind the wheel and battle it out for the top positions,” he beamed afterwards.

Peter Mücke is determined to not give up is hobby although he hasn’t got the time to go racing as often as he would love to. His Formula 3 drivers, Felix Rosenqvist, Lucas Auer und Roy Nissany (all kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), also benefit from his passion: “I again and again have to find out that I’m making the same mistakes as they make. If you are 67 or 17…

Out there on the track, this doesn’t make a major difference,” he admits. Being aware of that, it’s easy for Mücke to put himself in the position of his young drivers. “I know what they feel in the car and due to my own experience I’m able to evaluate and assess the different situations very well. I’ve got the impression that the drivers believe me what I’m telling them as they know that I also know the driver’s angle.”

FIA Formula 3