Ferdinand Habsburg: Le Mans LMP2 Winner and Heir to a Habsburg Title

Ferdinand Habsburg is an Austrian racing driver who is also next in line to lead his family's dynastic house. He competes in the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series, and in 2021 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the WEC title in the LMP2 class. He has raced in single-seaters, touring cars and sports prototypes since his teens.

What is Habsburg's family background?

Habsburg arrived on 21 June 1997, the son of Karl von Habsburg and Francesca von Thyssen-Bornemisza. His paternal grandfather was Otto von Habsburg, the final crown prince of Austria-Hungary. On his mother's side, his grandparents include Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and Fiona Campbell-Walter. His cousin Jamie Campbell-Walter races too and acts as his manager.

He was baptised on 20 September 1997 in Zagreb, and he is a Catholic who has spoken openly about his faith. He was named after the king Zvonimir of Croatia. His father has held the family headship since 2007, and Ferdinand is next in line to it. He is the brother of Eleonore and Gloria von Habsburg, and their brother-in-law is the former driver Jerome d'Ambrosio. The titles attached to him are unofficial, because Austria is a republic and abolished royal titles in 1918.

An Austrian whose racing career has run through Formula 3, touring cars and the endurance title chase, and who has a family line that goes back centuries.

How did Habsburg start his racing career?

Habsburg started racing aged 14 with the Austrian outfit Speedworld Academy, and he used the number 62 from the start of his karting career. After four years in the ROTAX Junior category, where he won several titles, he moved up to Rotax DD2 in 2014. He reached the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals on three occasions, with a best of eleventh in 2013.

His first single-seater campaign was the 2014 Formula Renault 1.6 NEC series, run by Lechner Racing. He ended it fourth in the standings and saw the flag in all fifteen starts. The following year he moved to New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series with Victory Motor Racing, and he finished eleventh in the championship and fifth in the rookie class.

What did Habsburg achieve in New Zealand and Europe?

Habsburg returned to the Toyota Racing Series in 2016 with Giles Motorsport. He was fourth in the championship, behind Lando Norris, Jehan Daruvala and Brendon Leitch, and collected four podiums. His first win in car racing came in the season opener at Mike Pero Motorsport Park. In 2017 he drove for M2 Competition in his final season in the series, finishing eighth with two podiums.

In 2015 he also contested the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup with Fortec Motorsports. He only ran the first five rounds and was nineteenth in the standings. A fifth place at the Red Bull Ring, his home round, was his best finish there. He made his Euroformula Open debut at the 2015 season finale in Barcelona, where he finished in the top ten in both races.

In 2016 he committed to Euroformula Open full time with Drivex School. He trailed the experienced title favourite, Leonardo Pulcini, in the early rounds, but he won his first race in the series at Paul Ricard and added seven podiums in the five remaining rounds, including a win in Barcelona. He finished second in the standings, with twelve podiums from 16 races.

How did Habsburg perform in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship?

Habsburg stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2017 with Carlin. He had a successful season with four podiums and his first series win at Spa. His most impressive drive came at the Macau Grand Prix at the end of the year, where he fought for the lead with Sergio Sette Camara. On the final lap he took the lead around the outside of the last corner, but he braked too late and understeered into the barriers. Sette Camara made the same mistake, and the win went to Dan Ticktum. Habsburg limped to fourth with broken front suspension, and his team boss and the journalists praised the move. The winner, Dan Ticktum, was Sette Camara's teammate.

He returned to the series with Carlin in 2018, partnering Jehan Daruvala, Sacha Fenestraz, Nikita Troitskiy and Ameya Vaidyanathan. He was unable to find the form of the previous year, scoring a single podium at Misano and finishing 13th in the championship.

What did Habsburg do in touring cars and eSports?

In 2019 Habsburg raced an Aston Martin Vantage for R-Motorsport II in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He scored points at Zolder and at the Norisring and finished eighteenth in the championship. For 2020 he moved to Audi Sport Team WRT, racing the RS5 Turbo DTM. That season he won ten points positions, including a podium at Zolder, and he finished tenth with 68 points, ahead of both teammates Fabio Scherer and Harrison Newey. It was his most productive DTM season.

In 2020 he also took part in the virtual Le Mans race for Mahle Racing, driving a 2018 Aston Martin Vantage GTE with former IndyCar driver Robert Wickens and two sim racers. The crew classified 46th.

What was Habsburg's 2021 season like?

In early 2021 he raced in the Asian Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing, sharing the car with Yifei Ye and Rene Binder. They won the drivers' championship, with Habsburg taking two of the wins along the way. He also raced at the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona with High Class Racing, alongside Robert Kubica, Dennis Andersen and Anders Fjordbach, but the car retired with a gearbox failure.

On 26 February 2021 the news came that he would race in the WEC with Team WRT. His co-drivers were Robin Frijns and Charles Milesi, and the car was an Oreca 07 in LMP2. The trio finished tenth at Spa and fourth at Portimao, and at Monza they took their first LMP2 podium, finishing second.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans the team won the LMP2 class after its sister car suffered a throttle sensor failure on the final lap while leading. After a two-month break the trio won the 6 Hours of Bahrain, and the following weekend they clinched the LMP2 title by winning the 8-hour race at the same venue. Habsburg became the first Austrian to win the WEC LMP2 title.

How did Habsburg's endurance career continue after 2021?

In 2022 Habsburg joined RealTeam by WRT in the No. 41 car, alongside Rui Andrade and Norman Nato. Three podiums came for the team, one of them a victory at the 6 Hours of Monza, which left them fourth in the standings. In the same season he raced for Prema Racing in the European Le Mans Series, where the team won the season opener at Paul Ricard. At Imola the team still won, despite Lorenzo Colombo serving two drive-through penalties for separate infringements, and the team later took victory at Barcelona and a podium in the penultimate race at Spa.

Habsburg and Louis Deletraz clinched the ELMS drivers' title with Prema, with a victory at the Portimao finale. Habsburg remained with Team WRT for the 2023 WEC season, partnering Sean Gelael and reuniting with Robin Frijns. The trio finished fourth in the standings after bad luck cost them several important results, including a suspension problem at Le Mans, an engine failure at Monza, and a wheel gun problem at the final pit stop in Bahrain that dropped them from first to second.

In 2024 he moved up to the top class of the WEC with Alpine Endurance Team, driving an Alpine A424. He finished eighth in the first round, the Qatar 1812 km race. On 27 March 2024 he was injured in a crash during testing at MotorLand Aragon, fracturing two lumbar vertebrae. He missed the next two rounds at Imola and Spa, and Alpine's reserve driver Jules Gounon stood in for him before he returned for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

What is Habsburg's dynastic role?

Habsburg has taken part in several dynastic events. In 2011 he attended the requiem mass for his grandfather Otto von Habsburg in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. In 2014 he joined more than 120 descendants of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Artstetten Castle, the royal family's former summer home where the archduke's remains rest, for the centenary of his death, and in 2022 he and his family marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Charles I of Austria.

He was installed as a Knight of the Order of Saint George on 5 May 2016 by his father, Archduke Karl, the Grand Master. He also holds the Order of the Golden Fleece and an Austrian Military Service Medal in bronze. The Order of Saint George traces its history back many centuries, to Rudolph, Count of Habsburg, who reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from 1273 to 1291.

Career summary at a glance