Bertrand Gachot

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2009)

Bertrand Gachot

Gachot at the 1991 United States Grand Prix
Born	(1962-09-23) 23 September 1962 (age 49)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Belgian (1989-1991) French (1992, 1994-1995)
Active years	1989–1992, 1994–1995
Teams	Onyx, Rial, Coloni, Jordan, Larrousse, Pacific
Races	84 (47 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	5
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First race	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last race	1995 Australian Grand Prix

Bertrand Gachot (born 23 December 1962) is a French former racing driver.

Career

Gachot was born in Luxembourg, the son of a French European Commission official. He began karting at the age of 15. In 1983 he attended Winfield School, a well-known racing-driving school in France. After this, he focused on his racing career, competing first in the Formula Ford 1600 series. By 1986, he had won the British Formula Ford championship.

In 1987, Gachot joined the British Formula 3 series, finishing second in the championship for the West Surrey Racing team. In 1988, he switched to the Formula 3000 series, but met some success. In 1989, he entered the storied world of Formula One, driving for the newly-formed Onyx team. Although his performances were promising, after making statements in the press which raised the ire of his erratic team boss, Gachot lost his drive before the season's end. Instead, he switched in 1990 to the Subaru-powered Coloni team with little success.

Gachot giving the Jordan team its F1 début at the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

Gachot driving for Pacific at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

In 1991, he joined the Jordan Grand Prix racing team, helping them to fifth in the constructor championship. However, his season was cut short by a two-month prison stint, received for spraying CS gas on a London taxicab driver after a traffic altercation (his race seat was filled temporarily by then-unknown Michael Schumacher, making his Formula One debut). When he was finally released from prison after two months, he had missed four Grands Prix (including his home Grand Prix in Belgium). The Jordan Grand Prix racing team was not interested in returning his seat (which was given to Alessandro Zanardi) for the last two races of the season, in Japan and Australia. Finally, he was able to compete in the last Grand Prix of that season with Larrousse, replacing Éric Bernard, but he failed to qualify. Gachot then spent the complete 1992 season with the Larrousse team, scoring 1 point in the Monaco Grand Prix where he finished in 6th place.

Gachot spent the next several years racing in various formulae. He was involved in the Pacific Racing F1 team behind the scenes, as well as driving for them for most of their two-year existence. The high point of Gachot's career is winning the renowned 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race in 1991 in a Mazda (with co-drivers Johnny Herbert and Volker Weidler). In later years, Gachot has concentrated on his business interests which include marketing "Hype", a high-energy beverage; he still keeps his contacts with Formula One and owns an F1 website.

Gachot competed in a total of 47 grands prix for eight different teams. He never won a race, but he did score five championship points during his F1 career, and recorded the fastest lap of the 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix for Jordan.

Nationality

Born in Luxembourg as the son of a French European Commission official, Gachot raced under more than one one flag during his career. He initially competed with a Belgian FIA Super Licence, despite carrying a French passport.^[1] From the 1992 season onwards he changed to a French licence.^[2][3][4]

In a 1991 interview, Gachot said that "I am not really one nationality. I feel very much a European, but today I have to accept that a united Europe is not yet a reality. Certainly from a legal point of view."^[1] Gachot's helmet design features the circle of yellow stars on a blue background from the flag of Europe.^[1]

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1990	GTP	201	D	Mazda 787 Mazda R26B 2.6L 4-Rotor	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Volker Weidler Johnny Herbert	148	DNF	DNF
1991	C2	55	D	Mazda 787B Mazda R26B 2.6L 4-Rotor	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Volker Weidler Johnny Herbert	362	1st	1st
1992	C1	5	M	Mazda MXR-01 Mazda (Judd) MV10 3.5L V10	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Oreca	Johnny Herbert Volker Weidler Maurizio Sandro Sala	336	4th	4th
1994	GT2	48	D	Honda NSX Honda-935 3.0L V6	Kremer Honda Racing	Armin Hahne Christophe Bouchut	257	14th	6th
1995	GT1	47	D	Honda NSX GT1 Honda 3.0L Turbo V6	Honda Motor Co. Ltd.	Armin Hahne Ivan Capelli	7	DNF	DNF
1997	GT1	30	G	Porsche 911 GT1 Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	Kremer Racing	Christophe Bouchut Andy Evans	207	DNF	DNF

American Open Wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
1993	Dick Simon Racing	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR 12	MIS	NHM	ROA	VAN	MDO	NZR	LS	34th	1

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bertrand Gachot

• Official website