Bertrand Gachot

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Bertrand Gachot
Gachot at the 1991 United States Grand Prix
Nationality  Belgian
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1989 - 1992, 1994 - 1995
Teams	Onyx, Rial, Coloni, Jordan, Larrousse, Pacific
Races	84 (47 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	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 December 23, 1962 in Luxembourg) is a Belgian former racing driver.

Gachot was 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 focussed 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 caused 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.

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 2 months, he had missed 4 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 Eric 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's career included marketing "Hype", a high-energy beverage, as well as running 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 even recorded the fastest lap of the 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix for Jordan.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1989	Onyx	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	USA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	FRA 13	GBR 12	GER DNQ	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR	ESP	JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ		Rial	N/A	0
1990	Coloni	USA DNPQ	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR DNQ	ESP DNQ	JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ		Coloni	N/A	0
1991	Jordan	USA 10	BRA 13	SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 5	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 6	GER 6	HUN 9	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS DNQ		Larrousse	=12th	4
1992	Larrousse	RSA Ret	MEX 11	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	CAN DSQ	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 14	HUN Ret	BEL 18	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		Larrousse	=17th	1
1994	Pacific	BRA Ret	PAC DNQ	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	HUN DNQ	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR DNQ	EUR DNQ	JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ		Pacific	N/A	0
1995	Pacific	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 12	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 8	Pacific	N/A	0

Preceded by John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle

Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1991 with: Volker Weidler Johnny Herbert

Succeeded by Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell