Bertrand Gachot (born 23 December 1962 in Luxembourg) is a French-Belgian former racing driver.

Career

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 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.



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. He spends his time with his family in southern Spain.

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. From the 1992 season onwards he changed to a French licence.

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." Gachot's helmet design features the circle of yellow stars on a blue background from the flag of Europe.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1989	Moneytron Onyx Formula One	Onyx ORE-1	Ford DFR 3.5 V8	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				NC	0
	Rial Racing	Rial ARC2	Ford DFR 3.5 V8															JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ
1990	Subaru Coloni Racing	Coloni C3B	Subaru 1235 F12	USA DNPQ	BRA DNPQ	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ										NC	0
	Coloni Racing Srl	Coloni C3C	Ford DFR 3.5 V8									GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR DNQ	ESP DNQ	JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ
1991	Team 7UP Jordan	Jordan 191	Ford HB4 3.5 V8	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			13th	4
	Larrousse F1	Lola LC91	Ford DFR 3.5 V8																AUS DNQ
1992	Central Park Venturi Larrousse	Venturi Larrousse LC92	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12	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		19th	1
1994	Pacific Grand Prix Ltd	Pacific PR01	Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10	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		NC	0
1995	Pacific Grand Prix Ltd	Pacific PR02	Ford EDC 3.0 V8	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	NC	0

References

External links

• Official website