Obituary – Anders Olofsson

Anders Olofsson, who has died suddenly at the age of 55, didn’t shout about his talents behind the wheel. That goes some way to explaining why the achievements of this quietly-spoken Swede have often been overlooked.

A multiple race winner in European Formula 3 in 1977-78, and a champion in both those years at home, Olofsson’s single-seater career foundered after a handful of Formula 2 outings. He went on, however, to enjoy success in sports cars and touring cars.

He won a hat-trick of Japanese titles, sandwiching success in the All-Japan Sports-Prototype Championship with tin-top titles. Each championship success came at the wheel of a Nissan, sharing with Masahiro Hasemi.

Olfosson enjoyed an Indian Summer to his career on the re-birth of GT racing in the mid-90s. He won races in Ferrari F40s in the BPR-run Global Endurance GT Series and finished second at Le Mans in a Gulf McLaren F1 GTR in 1997.