Christophe Bouchut
Christophe Bouchut (* September 24 1966 in Voiron ) is a French racing driver. He won the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans, from 2000 to 2002 titles in the FIA GT Championship and the 2004 GTS class of the Le Mans Endurance Series. He is one of the most successful GT pilot.
Career
Junior classes
Like almost every racing driver Christophe Bouchut began his career in karting. He became French champion in 1982, 1983 and 1987. Then traveled Bouchut in the Formula Ford School, where he graduated as the winner. In the 1988 season he rode in the French Formula Ford Championship and reached some race wins. These successes brought him a year later in the French Formula 3, where he drove for three years. In his final season in 1991, he won the French Formula 3 Championship. He also drove to third place at the prestigious Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup in Macau in 1989. As of the 1992 season increased by Bouchut in the sports car racing.
Peugeot works driver
In 1992 it went on for Christophe Bouchut in the French Peugeot 905 Spyder Cup, where he was able to win five victories. In the same year he also drove in 905 Spyder European Cup, in which he took three wins. For the Peugeot factory team he drove at his home race in the FIA World Sportscars Championship with the Peugeot 905 to second place. A year later, the first great success was followed in the sports car segment for Bouchut. With the Peugeot 905 he was driving with his partners Éric Hélary and Geoff Brabham to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the same year he also drove a Peugeot works driver in the French Super Touring Championship, where he graduated as the fourth overall.
BPR Global GT Series
After Peugeot withdrew from the sports car racing, Bouchut joined in 1994 Venturi. For the French sports car manufacturer, he denied the newly established BPR Global GT Series. A year later, he joined the French team Larbre Compétition that a Porsche 911 GT1 inserting. He also drove 1995 Kremer Racing, the 24 - hour race at Daytona, where he won a Kremer K8 Spyder with Marco Werner, Giovanni Lavaggi and Jürgen casual. 1996 drove Bouchut in the BPR Global GT Series for Kremer Racing Porsche 993 GT2 Evo.
Porsche Carrera Cup France
In addition to the BPR Global GT Series Bouchut drove between 1994-2002 five seasons in the French Porsche Carrera Cup. Here Bouchut can have the incredible record of 29 wins and four league titles, three of which he imports with the team Sonauto. The title he won in 1994, 1995, 1996. 2000 he succeeded with the team Larbre Compétition. His last Carrera Cup season he drove in 2002, which he finished in fifth in the championship.
FIA GT Championship
After the end of the BPR Global GT Series was founded in the 1997 season, the FIA GT Championship, in which also Bouchut joined. In the first season he again drove for the team Kremer Racing a Porsche 911 GT1. In most races was his partner Carl Rosenblad, but great successes were made . 8th place in the season opener at the Hockenheimring was the best season placement. Thus Bouchut joined the team in 1998 Persson, which has a Mercedes -Benz CLK GTR may establish. Together with Bernd Mayländer the race in Dijon and Suzuka in second place. After a year break, in which Bouchut took only at Le Mans in crashed Mercedes -Benz CLR No. 6, he came in the 2000 season back in the FIA GT Championship. In a fielded by Larbre Compétition Porsche 911 GT3 R, Bouchut won along with Patrice Goueslard the N- GT Championship after six class victories.
A year later, he got together with the team Larbre on in the GT class. The race car was now a Chrysler Viper GTS -R and Bouchut also won this season's championship title, along with Jean -Philippe Belloc. He also won the 24 -hour race in Spa- Francorchamps, which were held as part of the FIA GT. His partners were here beside Belloc Marc Duez.
The 2002 season was like that from the year before. Bouchut took another title in the GT class of the FIA GT Championship in a Chrysler Viper GTS -R, even though he only won the 24 -hour race in Spa- Francorchamps with David Terrien and Vincent Bosse.
2003 denied Bouchut only three races in the FIA GT, which really did not back out again a second class rank in Spa-Francorchamps. In the following season, Bouchut not focus on the FIA GT and only drove occasional race before he again played a full season for the following year 2005.
His team was now Russian Age Racing, for which he drove a Ferrari 550 Maranello in the first race. After a short detour to the team Larbre for the 24 -hour race in Spa- Francorchamps, he drove in the last championship run an Aston Martin DBR9 and won the race in Bahrain with Antonio García.
The year 2006 was the first season of Bouchut in the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT, its now fourth GT1 car. In team B- Racing RS Line, which later was named All- Inkl.com Racing, jumped out no great success. The Lamborghini was not yet mature and hung behind the other vehicles. Furthermore, constantly changing partner made the lives of Bouchut difficult. Nevertheless, he remained in 2007 at All - Inkl.com Racing and got now with Stefan Mücke a steady partner. Along with it, he drove the first victory of the Murciélago in a FIA GT race out of the season opener in Zhuhai. At the end of the season Bouchut was 10 the final table.
In the 2008 season, Christophe Bouchut drove a Corvette C6.R of the team SRT, for which he was already down in national GT series. In the second race of the season at Monza he could win along with Xavier Maassen the first victory of the team.
Le Mans Series
In 2004, Bouchut put after many years in the FIA GT Championship, his focus on the Le Mans Endurance Series. Together with the team Larbre Compétition and its partners Steve Zacchia Pedro Lamy and could win the championship. Here, the trio finished all four championship races as a class winner of the GTS.
The following year, Bouchut took the reigning champion for the Convers team. This season, he could not reach a class win in the Ferrari 550 Maranello and was at the end of the year third in the championship.
For 2006, Bouchut took a step back and drove for IMSA Performance Matmut a Porsche 996 GT3 RSR in the GT2 category. Except for a few points places Bouchut, Raymond Narac and Sébastien Dumez could not achieve much.
2007, it went back to the team Larbre, which took the name Aston Martin team Larbre. This Bouchut was back in the GT1 class. In an Aston Martin DBR9 he went along with Gabriele Gardel and Fabrizio Gollin to two podium finishes. After a year break, he moved to Reiter Engineering. The team has already developed the Murcielago GT1 and enrolled him in 2009 on a new GT2 version of the Lamborghini Gallardo. Ultimately Bouchout started with Albert von Thurn und Taxis, however, only the 1000- km race in Spa -Francorchamps, after the car was not yet ready for the first race in Spain. Technical problems in Spa threw the driver pairing far back so that the Lamborghini was not classified. In the championship round in Portugal in the car was missing again, teammate Thurn and Taxis commented on the situation: " The LMS program, however, is actually finished in Reiter's team, after a major Russian sponsor has withdrawn due to the current economic situation with us. Therefore, the GT1 and, unfortunately, the GT2 will probably only once no longer be used. ". By From the GT2 program thus the season was finished in 2009 for him after a race.
24 - hour race at Le Mans
In addition to his victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1993, Bouchut joined also in various other vehicles at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1994 to 1997 he drove for Kremer Racing in different vehicles, although he only once saw the checkered flag.
1998 was the first year in the Mercedes. However, the use in the CLK LM was not successful, after 31 laps, the engine gave up. The following year, Bouchut drove the Mercedes- Benz CLR, but raised teammate Peter Dumbreck by car from the car and destroyed completely.
Since then, Mercedes withdrew from Le Mans, Bouchut was also here in the GT class. He travels since 2000 for Larbre Compétition ( except 2006), was able to record several target arrivals. His best result was a seventh place overall and a podium finish in the GT1 category in 2007. With its commitment with rider team in 2009 and the last minute cancellation of the GT1 and GT2 program had to Bouchut a few weeks before the 24 -hour race new driver's secure. Ultimately, he was given the opportunity for the team JMB Racing monegassiche to drive. Could Bouchut ride in the car for a short time the leaders in the GT2 category, but he finished the race with teammate Manuel Rodrigues and Yvan Lebon only in the middle of its class.
Le Mans results
Other activities
In addition to the listed race series Christophe Bouchut was also active in many other racing series in recent years. So he drove in the French GT Championship, the Belcar and the ADAC GT Masters. He also drove the 24 hour race at the Nürburgring ( second place ) and at Zolder. In 2003 he took the title in the FFSA Super Tourisme.
In addition to his racing commitments Bouchut is the official tester for FIA GT3 cars. This task includes the balance of all cars on a similar level, for which he is qualified by his experience.