Monaco Increase driver Pascal Wehrlein added another trophy to his successful season over the weekend after picking up the prestigious 2024 German Racing Driver of the Year motorsport award, assigned every year by Germany’s top motoring and motorsport magazines Auto Bild and Sport Bild.

FIA Formula E World Champion Wehrlein, Germany’s first motorsport world champion since Nico Rosberg in Formula 1 in 2016, was honoured in the night of German motorsport champions awards event, organized since 2002 by the two magazines at Axel Springer headquarters in Berlin.

“In general, the last two years have been special for me,” said the Porsche star on receiving his award from the former Mercedes sporting director Norbert Haug. “I became a father. It felt like it made me faster because I was concentrating on my family and racing life and giving everything to be the best dad and racing driver possible.”

On presenting the trophy, Norbert Haug, who promoted Wehrlein to the DTM as a Mercedes junior driver, where he became the youngest champion in its history in 2015, had some kind words to say about the factory Formula E driver: “Pascal is a really great, great racing driver. I was very pleased to see how he has overcome setbacks in recent years and developed further. Formula E is a highly complex motorsport. And delivering in the championship battle and keeping a cool head deserves respect.”

Wehrlein and his Porsche Formula E boss Florian Modlinger also accepted the award for the Racing Car of the Year – the Porsche 963 – which Wehrlein was recently allowed to test, and which was honoured for its successes in the IMSA sports car series in the USA and the Drivers’ world championship in the FIA WEC world endurance championship.

“The driving experience was very reminiscent of the old DTM,” added Pascal. “That’s why I push my bosses and say: Well, the DTM wasn’t so bad for me back then, maybe something will come of it in the future, let’s see!”

Photos courtesy of AUTOBILD