Sabine Schmitz obit

Top Gear's Sabine Schmitz, 51, dies after three-year cancer battle: Racing world bids farewell to 'Queen of the Nurburgring' as Jeremy Clarkson mourns loss of 'such a sunny person

 

She was not on the list.

Top Gear's Sabine Schmitz has died aged 51 after a three-year battle with cancer.

The German, dubbed the 'Queen of the Nurburgring', revealed last July that she had been suffering from 'an extremely persistent cancer' since 2017.

Schmitz was best known to British audiences for her appearances on the BBC's Top Gear programme, including races with Jeremy Clarkson, Chris Evans and Paddy McGuinness.

The racing team which Schmitz founded with her husband Klaus Abbelen, 60, a fellow driver, announced her death today describing her 'brave fight against cancer.'

'Klaus Abbelen and all relatives and friends are deeply saddened by the immeasurable loss,' Frikadelli Racing said in a statement.

The Nurburgring, her home track, mourned the loss of 'its most famous female racing driver', writing on Twitter: 'We will miss her and her cheerful nature. Rest in peace Sabine!'

Clarkson, who hosted Top Gear until 2015, wrote: 'Terrible news about Sabine Schmitz. Such a sunny person and so full of beans.' 

Chris Evans, who hosted the show for a series in 2016, recalled this morning on his radio show how Schmitz had once made him vomit during a speedy drive.

'It's a shock to hear that she's passed away. It's really sad. She made me throw up!' He said.

'We spent some time in southern California together and she taught me how to drive, how to actually make a car fly around Daytona.'

Schmitz grew up in the town of Nurburg, western Germany, which gives its name to one of the most formidable tracks in motorsport, the Nurburgring.

It was here that Schmitz, the youngest of three sisters, started racing as a 15-year-old and later as a student, between her studies as a hotel manager and sommeliere.

She turned professional aged 24, claiming historic victories as the first woman to win the 24 Hours Nurburgring endurance race in 1996, and then again in 1997, behind the wheel of a BMW M3.

She broke further ground in 1998 when she became the first woman to win the Nurburgring VLN endurance racing series.

In 2006, she teamed up with Abbelen, who she married a year later, to race a Porsche 997 in the VLN. 

It was around this time that Schmitz became known for her entertaining laps in a BMW M5 'ring taxi,' taking visitors around the Nurburgring at breakneck professional speeds.

Her skill around the track earned her appearances on German motorsport TV channels, including for the D Motor programme, where she took on sports cars such as the Ferrari 360, with much slower vehicles like a 1200 horse power truck.

It was in this mode that Schmitz first appeared on Top Gear in 2004, when she tried to beat Clarkson's Jaguar S-Type lap around the Nurburgring in a Ford Transit van. She managed to get within 10 seconds of the saloon car. 

By her own estimates, she whizzed around the terrifying course more than 20,000 times in her life, and last year she had been due to compete in a Porsche at the Nurburgring Endurance Series. 

But she was unable to compete due to her illness, which she revealed for the first time in a heartbreaking Facebook post, writing: 'Dear friends of professional motor sport, many of you have probably wondered why I was on the list of participants on our Porsche in the NSL and then didn't drive after all.

I would like to provide enlightenment here, I think I owe it to my/our fans!

'Since the end of 2017, I have been fighting an extremely persistent cancer that has not been eliminated with the resources so far. It got a little better – but now it's come back with full force.

'Now I have to draw all the strength and nerve to master the next powerful therapies … hoping something [good] will happen. So I say goodbye 'probably' for the first time this season.

'In addition, I would like to thank everyone for their help and support in my everyday life, and encouragement in writing!

'So sweethearts, now you have an update. Please stay healthy and cheerful, see you at the 'Ring.''

As well as working with Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May in the earlier series' of Top Gear, Schmitz was introduced as a presenter by the BBC to host the show alongside Chris Evans, Chris Harris, Rory Reid and Eddie Jordan in 2016.

In recent years she had appeared alongside the most recent hosts of the program McGuinness, Harris and former England all-rounder, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff.

McGuinness today shared a photo of he and Schmitz wearing crash helmets inside a car, writing: 'She gave me pointers on how to drive a Ferrari very fast and hunted me down in a banger race. Brilliantly bonkers and an amazing human being! RIP the great Sabine Schmitz.'

Hammond tweeted: 'Very sad to hear of the passing of Sabine Schmitz, a proper driving legend who'll be sadly missed by many. The Ring has lost its Queen. RIP.'

Meanwhile, May wrote: 'I never thought car makers should be at the 'Ring, but I always thought Sabine Schmitz should, and would, be. Rotten news. #RIP.'

Clare Pizey, Top Gear's executive producer, said in a statement on behalf of the Top Gear team: 'Sabine was a beloved member of the Top Gear family and presenting team since 2016, having first appeared on the show in 2004, and everyone who had the pleasure of working with her on the team is in shock at this news.