Top Gear’s Sabine Schmitz, 51, dies after three-year cancer battle

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 Nurburgring, her home track, revealed Schmitz’s death in a statement today, writing: ‘The Nurburgring has lost its most famous female racing driver.

‘Sabine Schmitz passed away far too early after a long illness. We will miss her and her cheerful nature. Rest in peace Sabine!’ 

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

McGuinness, one of the most recent hosts, 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.’ 

Sabine Schmitz in her Porsche racing overalls. She has been absent from the team at last year’s Nürburgring Endurance Series when she revealed her illness

Top Gear presenter Sabine Schmitz answers media questions during the launch of Top Gear at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey in 2016

Schmitz revealed last July that she was suffering from a persistent form of cancer 

Top Gear presenters (left to right) Chris Harris, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Evans, Eddie Jordan and The Stig during the launch of the new-look car show in 2016

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 on in between her studies as a hotel manager and sommeliere.

Schmitz started racing professionally in 1993, 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. 

Ten years later she drove with Klaus Abbelen, who would later become her husband, competing in the Nurburgring VLN endurance racing series in a Porsche 997.

She later 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 she 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 sports 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 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.

Sabine Schmitz poses with her Porsche ahead of a race in 2010

Schmitz inside her Porsche 997 in 2010

Top Gear presenter Chris Harris uploaded this post today of him playfully holding Schmitz around the chest

‘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.”‘ 

Schmitz remains the only ever woman to have won the 24 Hours Nurburgring.