Éric Bernard
Éric Bernard (born 24 August 1964) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between 1989 and 1994.
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| Éric Bernard |
|---|
| (1964-08-24) 24 August 1964Martigues, France |
| Charles Pic (godson) |
| French |
| 1989–1991, 1994 |
| Larrousse, Ligier, Lotus |
| 47 (45 starts) |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| 10 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 1989 French Grand Prix |
| 1994 European Grand Prix |
| 1995–2002 |
| Courage, Ennea, DAMS, Panoz, Cadillac |
| 7th (1999) |
| 0 |
Éric Bernard (born 24 August 1964) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between 1989 and 1994.
Born in Martigues, Bernard began competitive kart racing aged 13, winning several national titles. He graduated to Formula Renault after attending the Winfield Racing School at Paul Ricard. Bernard debuted in Formula One at the 1989 French Grand Prix for Larrousse, where he remained until 1991. He returned in 1994 with Ligier, achieving his only podium at the German Grand Prix. He made his final appearance at the European Grand Prix with Lotus. After his departure, he competed in sportscar racing, finishing runner-up in the 1999 American Le Mans Series with Panoz.
Bernard was born in Martigues, near Marseille. He started karting in 1976 and in the seven years that followed, won four French titles. In 1983, he attended racing school at Paul Ricard and was one of the finalists at the Volant Elf competition. He beat Jean Alesi and Bertrand Gachot to the prize, earning himself a fully sponsored drive in Formula Renault for 1984. He finished sixth in the series, but won the following year, and entering French Formula Three in 1986. He won the series the following year, finishing in second place for the championship, behind his old rival, Alesi. In 1988, he entered Formula 3000. He drove the initial part of the season for the Ralt Team before switching to Bromley Motorsport which ran a Reynard chassis. His best finish that year was second at the Dijon-Prenois and placed ninth in the championship with 13 points. For 1989, he drove for the DAMS team, scoring one win and placing 3rd in the championship with 25 points.
In mid-1989, Bernard was called up to the French Larrousse Formula One team for the French Grand Prix, replacing Yannick Dalmas. On his debut, he ran as high as fifth place, and was still in seventh when his Lamborghini V12 engine failed a few laps from the end (Alesi also debuted at the race for Tyrrell, running as high as second before finally finishing fourth). Bernard stood in again at the following British Grand Prix, before returning to his Formula 3000 commitments with DAMS.
Bernard driving for Ligier at the 1994 British Grand Prix.
Bernard was rewarded with a full-season drive for Larrousse in 1990. He took his first point for sixth place at the Monaco Grand Prix, and his best result came at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix, where he took fourth place. He elected to stay on at Larrousse for the 1991 season, but the team were in trouble, losing their Lamborghini engines to the quasi-works Modena team, having their 1990 points stripped by the FIA, and also losing sponsors. Bernard took sixth place in the Mexican Grand Prix, which was the last points finish for Larrousse with Lola Cars, but slipped back down the field, failing to qualify for the first time in his career at the Portuguese Grand Prix - partially due to a bereavement. Worse was to come, however, when Bernard broke his leg in the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Bernard fought back to fitness, and for the 1993 season his old sponsors Elf managed to get him into a test driver seat for the Ligier team. The two-year testing contract paid off, as a team backer was jailed for fraud before the 1994 season, and the reduced budget saw Bernard promoted to a race seat, alongside rookie Olivier Panis. Sadly for Bernard, Panis largely outpaced him, and the team's Renault V10 engine was counterweighted by the team using a "B"-spec version of the 1993 JS39 chassis - by this time a very unusual practice in Formula One which greatly harmed competitiveness. Bernard took third place in the high-attrition German Grand Prix, but by the European Grand Prix he was dropped in order to accommodate Johnny Herbert. He was engaged by Herbert's previous team, Team Lotus, to fill the seat at the European GP, but it was to be his last F1 drive, with Mika Salo taking over later in the season. For 1995, he was linked to a return to Larrousse, but the team folded before the season began.
Bernard moved to sportscars, enjoying considerable success in GT and ALMS series.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championnat de France Formule Renault Turbo | ? | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 7th | |
| Championnat de France Formule Renault Turbo | Ecurie Elf | 12 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 140 | 1st | |
| French Formula Three | Ecurie Elf | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 5th | |
| Italian Formula Three | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||
| French Formula Three | Ecurie Elf | 13 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 129 | 2nd | |
| Macau Grand Prix | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 8th | ||
| International Formula 3000 | Bromley Motorsport | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 9th | |
| Ralt Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| International Formula 3000 | DAMS | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 3rd | |
| Formula One | Equipe Larrousse | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| Formula One | Espo Larrousse F1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13th | |
| Formula One | Larrousse F1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18th | |
| Formula One | Ligier Gitanes Blondes | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 18th | |
| Team Lotus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Courage Compétition | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | |
| BPR Global GT Series | Ennea/Igol | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 155 | 8th | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Ennea SRL Igol | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | |
| FIA GT Championship | DAMS Panoz | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Société DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | |
| FIA GT Championship | DAMS | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 11th | |
| United States Road Racing Championship | Panoz-Visteon Racing | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4th | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Panoz Motor Sports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | |
| American Le Mans Series | Panoz Motor Sports | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 135 | 2nd | |
| Sports Racing World Cup | DAMS | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 60 | 9th | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Panoz Motor Sports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 7th | |
| American Le Mans Series | Motorola-DAMS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 20th | |
| Sports Racing World Cup | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 37th | ||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 19th | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | |
| American Le Mans Series | Team Cadillac | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 18th | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 12th |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
(key)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Pos. | ClassPos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courage Compétition | Henri Pescarolo Franck Lagorce | Courage C41 | WSC | 26 | DNF | DNF | |
| Ennea SRL Igol | Jean-Marc Gounon Paul Belmondo | Ferrari F40 GTE | LMGT1 | 40 | DNF | DNF | |
| Société DAMS | Franck Lagorce Jean-Christophe Boullion | Panoz GTR-1 | LMGT1 | 149 | DNF | DNF | |
| Panoz Motor Sports | Christophe Tinseau Johnny O'Connell | Panoz GTR-1 | LMGT1 | 236 | DNF | DNF | |
| Panoz Motor Sports | David Brabham Butch Leitzinger | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | LMP | 336 | 7th | 6th | |
| DAMS | Emmanuel Collard Franck Montagny | Cadillac Northstar LMP | LMP900 | 300 | 19th | 9th | |
| DAMS | Emmanuel Collard Marc Goossens | Cadillac Northstar LMP01 | LMP900 | 56 | DNF | DNF | |
| Team Cadillac | Emmanuel Collard JJ Lehto | Cadillac Northstar LMP02 | LMP900 | 334 | 12th | 10th |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
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