Winkelhock started in the one-make Renault 5 Cup in 1979, but it would be almost a decade before he found his first major success, by winning the 1988
German Formula Three Championship as well as that year's F3 European Cup (at the unusually late age of 28). He progressed the following year to
Formula One with the small
French AGS team, who paired him with his future touring car rival
Gabriele Tarquini; Winklehock's brief time in F1 was unsuccessful, failing to pre-qualify the car on seven occasions. His reputation however remained strong enough that he was subsequently hired by
BMW Motorsport for German's premier
touring car racing series the
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, first for the
Bigazzi and then
Schnitzer teams. He finished sixth, seventh and eighth in the final standings and scored three wins in total during his three years in the series, as well as winning the 1990 and 1991
24 Hours of Nürburgring races for BMW and Schnitzer. at
Brands Hatch during the
1994 British Touring Car Championship season. When BMW exited the DTM at the end of 1992, Winkelhock moved with the manufacturer and Schnitzer to the
British Touring Car Championship, where he and teammate
Steve Soper dominated the first half of
the 1993 season. The pair took seven wins from the first eight rounds (Winklehock four, Soper three). Although the second half of the year was more challenging for Winkelhock, seeing him earn only one more win, he was still eventually crowned champion. During his time in Britain, he was also commonly known as ''Smokin' Jo'' for his cigarette smoking habit. Winkelhock's next win was the 1994
Asia Pacific Touring Car Championship, and in 1995, he won the
German Supertouring Championship (STW). He also triumphed in the 1995
Spa 24 Hours, and the 1994 and 1998
Macau Grand Prix's
Guia touring car races. His last success for BMW came at the
1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won driving the
BMW V12 LMR prototype run by
Schnitzer Motorsport.
Team Phoenix Opel Astra at the
Sachsenring during the
2002 DTM season. In 2000, Winkelhock joined
Opel in the new
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (a revived version of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, which had been defunct since 1995). In his first season in the new DTM, Winkelhock was competitive, winning at the
Norisring and finishing fifth in the final standings. However, the collapse in Opel's fortunes in DTM after 2000 saw a consequent decline in Winkelhock's fortunes and after a 2003 season in which he only scored a single point, he announced his retirement from motor racing at the age of 43. Winkelhock runs his family's
Waiblingen-based truck-
crane and towing business, occasionally getting personally involved in recovering crashed trucks. A special edition of the
BMW M5 has been made in honor of Winkelhock. A 2005 poll run by
Motor Sport magazine voted Winkelhock the 16th greatest touring car driver ever. Winkelhock is nicknamed "Smokin' Jo". ==Racing record==