Gunnar
Nilsson

Gunnar Nilsson was born in Helsingborg on 20 November 1948. He served as a submarine radio officer in the Swedish Navy and studied engineering at Stockholm University. He began racing in national events in Sweden in the late 1960s and moved into Formula Vee in 1972. In 1973 he drove in Formula Super Vee for Ecurie Bonnier and finished fifth in the championship. After a season in Formula Three, he won the 1975 British Formula 3 Championship in a works March. He also won races in Formula Atlantic, and at the end of that year he tested a Formula One Williams at Goodwood.

Nilsson joined Lotus for 1976 and made his debut at the South African Grand Prix. In his first season he started 15 races, finished third in Spain and Austria, and ended the championship in tenth place. He stayed with Lotus alongside Mario Andretti in 1977. At Zolder he won the Belgian Grand Prix, his only victory in the category, in a race that began on a wet track and gradually dried. With about 20 laps to go he passed Niki Lauda's Ferrari around the outside and held the lead to the flag. He also took third at Silverstone and fourth at Dijon-Prenois, and finished eighth in the championship. All 31 of his Grand Prix starts came with Lotus, and they brought one win and four podiums in total.

Away from Formula One, Nilsson drove a BMW in the World Championship for Makes and the European Touring Car Championship in 1976 and 1977. In 1977 he shared a BMW 3.0 CSL with Dieter Quester and won at the Salzburgring and the Nürburgring.

He had signed for Arrows for 1978 but could not race for them because of ill health, and Rolf Stommelen took the seat instead. Gunnar Nilsson died in London on 20 October 1978, aged 29.

Source: Wikipedia, “Gunnar Nilsson”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.