. Schwarz was born in
Neustadt an der Aisch in
Franken in 1963 and debuted in rallying in 1983. After having won the German Rally Championship for two years in a row, he made his debut in the
World Rally Championship in
1988 and was signed by
Toyota Team Europe, Toyota's factory WRC team, for the
1990 season. Driving a
Toyota Celica GT-Four, Schwarz led a world championship rally for the first time at the 1990
Rally Portugal, took his first podium finish at the 1991
Rally Australia and his first and only win at the 1991
Rally Catalunya. In 1996, due to Toyota's 12-month ban from the WRC, Schwarz drove for the team in the
European Rally Championship. He won the
Manx International Rally and the
Cyprus Rally and captured the overall title. Later that same year, he drove to victory in the
RAC Rally, then part of the 2-Litre World Championship ("Formula 2"). In 1997, Schwarz drove for the now Cumbria based
M-Sport Ford rally team but was later replaced by
Juha Kankkunen after a series of disappointing performances. In the
1999 season, after stints with
Mitsubishi and
Ford, Schwarz started his long partnership with the debuting
Škoda works team. His best result with the team was third place at the 2001
Safari Rally. Schwarz retired from the world championship after the
2005 season, during which he took his first points finish in over a year at the season-ending Rally Australia. Following the successful completion of its Red Bull Young Rally Driver's Search Program, Schwarz joined forces in 2006 with Global Sport Licensing Ltd. (“GSL”) and Mr. Baumschlage to create the WRC designated Red Bull Škoda Team. Simultaneously, Schwarz started in 2007 to race, as a GSL racing driver with the support of California-based All German Motorsport team, in the American
SCORE International off-road championship which includes among others the internationally famous races
Baja 1000. Schwarz now lives in
Austria. He is married with two children, one of them is Fabio Schwarz which as of 2025 will be competing in the WRC 2. == WRC victories ==