Éric Hélary
Éric Hélary ( born August 10, 1966 in Paris ) is a French racing driver. In 1993, he was the overall winner of the 24- hour race at Le Mans.
Career
Éric Hélary began his career in karting and moved in 1985 to the French Formula Ford Championship. In 1987, he secured the championship title this series and increased the following year in the French Formula 3 Championship. Also in this series, the young Frenchman to win the overall title. In 1990 he was victorious on a Reynard - Mugen.
About the Peugeot Spyder Cup came into Hélary 1992 Peugeot factory team and made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1993 it celebrated its biggest success in motorsport, as the Peugeot 905 he won the overall title of this endurance race along with Geoff Brabham Christophe Bouchut and. By 2006 Hélary was regularly for different teams at Le Mans at the start and still came three times on the podium of the first three. In 1995 he was, together with Bob Wollek and Mario Andretti on a Courage C34 Second and on a McLaren F1 GTR, third in 1997 overall. In 2006 he drove a Pescarolo C60, in which the French World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb was sitting on the second place overall. In 2006 he returned to Peugeot and was a test driver for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP to prepare for the return of the French brand to Le Mans.
From 1994 drove Hélary also touring car races and was factory driver at Opel in the French Touring Car Championship. After the Restoration of the DTM in 2000 he started with Opel also in this race series. In 2002 he returned to France, and since then moves back in the French Touring Car Championship.
In October 2011, he announced his final retirement as drivers.