Winkelhock started in the one-make Renault 5 Cup in 1979 but it would be almost a decade before he found his first major success, by winning the 1988 German Formula Three Championship as well as that year's F3 European Cup (at the unusually late age of 28). He progressed the following year to Formula One with the small FrenchAGS team, who paired him with his future touring car rival Gabriele Tarquini; Winklehock's brief time in F1 was unsuccessful, failing to pre-qualify the car on 7 occasions. His reputation however remained strong enough that he was subsequently hired by BMW Motorsport for German's premier touring car racing series the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, first for the Bigazzi and then Schnitzer teams. He finished 6th, 7th and 8th in the final standings and scored three wins in total during his three years in the series, as well as winning the 1990 and 1991 24 Hours of Nürburgring races for BMW and Schnitzer.
In 2000, Winkelhock joined Opel in the new Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (a revived version of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, which had been defunct since 1995). In his first season in the new DTM Winkelhock was competitive, winning at the Norisring and finishing 5th in the final standings. However, the collapse in Opel's fortunes in DTM after 2000 saw a consequent decline in Winkelhock's fortunes and after a 2003 season in which he only scored a single point, he announced his retirement from motor racing at the age of 43.[2]
He runs his family's Waiblingen-based truck-crane and towing business, occasionally getting personally involved in recovering crashed trucks.[3]
A special edition of the BMW M5 has been made in honor of Joachim Winkelhock.
A 2005 poll run by Motor Sport magazine voted Winkelhock the 16th greatest touring car driver ever.[4]
Racing record
Complete German Formula Three results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)