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Éric Bernard | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1964-08-24)24 August 1964 (age 61) Martigues, France |
| Relatives | Charles Pic (godson) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Active years | 1989–1991,1994 |
| Teams | Larrousse,Ligier,Lotus |
| Entries | 47 (45 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Careerpoints | 10 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1989 French Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1994 European Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1995–2002 |
| Teams | Courage,Ennea,DAMS,Panoz,Cadillac |
| Best finish | 7th(1999) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Éric Bernard (born 24 August 1964) is a French formerracing driver, who competed inFormula One between1989 and1994.[a]
Born inMartigues, Bernard began competitivekart racing aged 13, winning several national titles. He graduated toFormula Renault after attending theWinfield Racing School atPaul Ricard. Bernard debuted in Formula One at the1989 French Grand Prix forLarrousse, where he remained until1991. He returned in1994 withLigier, achieving his only podium at theGerman Grand Prix. He made his final appearance at theEuropean Grand Prix withLotus. After his departure, he competed insportscar racing, finishing runner-up in the1999 American Le Mans Series withPanoz.
Bernard was born inMartigues, nearMarseille. He startedkarting in 1976 and in the seven years that followed, won four French titles. In 1983 he attended racing school atPaul Ricard and was one of the finalists at the Volant Elf competition. He beatJean Alesi andBertrand Gachot to the prize, earning himself a fully sponsored drive inFormula Renault for 1984. He finished sixth in the series, but won the following year, and entering FrenchFormula 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 enteredFormula 3000.[1] He drove the initial part of the season for theRalt Team before switching to Bromley Motorsport which ran aReynard chassis. His best finish that year was second at theDijon-Prenois and placed 9th in the championship with 13 points. For 1989, he drove for theDAMS team, scoring one win and placing 3rd in the championship with 25 points.
In mid-1989, Bernard was called up to the FrenchLarrousse Formula One team for theFrench Grand Prix, replacingYannick Dalmas. On his debut, he ran as high as 5th place, and was still in 7th when hisLamborghini V12 engine failed a few laps from the end (Alesi also debuted at the race forTyrrell, running as high as 2nd before finally finishing 4th). Bernard stood in again at the followingBritish Grand Prix, before returning to his Formula 3000 commitments with DAMS.
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Bernard was rewarded with a full-season drive for Larrousse in 1990. He took his first point for 6th place at theMonaco Grand Prix, and his best result came atSilverstone in theBritish Grand Prix, where he took 4th 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-worksModena team, having their 1990 points stripped by theFIA, and also losing sponsors. Bernard took 6th place in theMexican Grand Prix, which was the last points finish for Larrousse withLola Cars, but slipped back down the field, failing to qualify for the first time in his career at thePortuguese Grand Prix - partially due to a bereavement. Worse was to come, however, when Bernard broke his leg in the first practice session for theJapanese Grand Prix.[2]
Bernard fought back to fitness, and for the 1993 season his old sponsorsElf managed to get him into a test driver seat for theLigier 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 rookieOlivier Panis. Sadly for Bernard, Panis largely outpaced him, and the team'sRenault V10 engine was counterweighted by the team using a "B"-spec version of the 1993JS39 chassis - by this time a very unusual practice in Formula One which greatly harmed competitiveness. Bernard took third place in the high-attritionGerman Grand Prix, but by theEuropean Grand Prix he was dropped in order to accommodateJohnny 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, withMika 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 inGT andALMS series.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Team Ralt | Ralt RT22 | Judd | JER 6 | VAL 10 | PAU 4 | SIL 11 | MNZ DNQ | PER | 9th | 13 | |||||
| Bromley Motorsport | Reynard 88D | Cosworth | BRH DSQ | BIR DSQ | BUG Ret | ZOL 4 | DIJ 2 | |||||||||
| 1989 | DAMS | Lola T89/50 | Mugen Honda | SIL Ret | VAL Ret | PAU Ret | JER 1 | PER Ret | BRH 4 | BIR 4 | SPA Ret | BUG 3 | DIJ 2 | 3rd | 25 | |
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Equipe Larrousse | LolaLC89 | LamborghiniV12 | BRA | SMR | MON | MEX | USA | CAN | FRA 11 | GBR Ret | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | ESP | JPN | AUS | NC | 0 |
| 1990 | Espo Larrousse F1 | LolaLC89B | LamborghiniV12 | USA 8 | BRA Ret | 13th | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| LolaLC90 | SMR 13 | MON 6 | CAN 9 | MEX Ret | FRA 8 | GBR 4 | GER Ret | HUN 6 | BEL 9 | ITA Ret | POR Ret | ESP Ret | JPN Ret | AUS Ret | |||||||
| 1991 | Larrousse F1 | LarrousseLolaLC91 | CosworthV8 | USA Ret | BRA Ret | SMR Ret | MON 9 | CAN Ret | MEX 6 | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | GER Ret | HUN Ret | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | POR DNQ | ESP Ret | JPN DNQ | AUS | 18th | 1 |
| 1994 | LigierGitanes Blondes | LigierJS39B | RenaultV10 | BRA Ret | PAC 10 | SMR 12 | MON Ret | ESP 8 | CAN 13 | FRA Ret | GBR 13 | GER 3 | HUN 10 | BEL 10 | ITA 7 | POR 10 | 18th | 4 | |||
| Team Lotus | Lotus109 | Mugen HondaV10 | EUR 18 | JPN | AUS | ||||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 |  Courage Compétition | Henri PescaroloFranck Lagorce | Courage C41 | WSC | 26 | DNF | DNF |
| 1996 |  Ennea SRL Igol | Jean-Marc GounonPaul Belmondo | Ferrari F40 GTE | LMGT1 | 40 | DNF | DNF |
| 1997 | Société DAMS | Franck LagorceJean-Christophe Boullion | Panoz GTR-1 | LMGT1 | 149 | DNF | DNF |
| 1998 |  Panoz Motor Sports | Christophe TinseauJohnny O'Connell | Panoz GTR-1 | LMGT1 | 236 | DNF | DNF |
| 1999 | Panoz Motor Sports |  David BrabhamButch Leitzinger | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | LMP | 336 | 7th | 6th |
| 2000 | DAMS | Emmanuel CollardFranck Montagny | Cadillac Northstar LMP | LMP900 | 300 | 19th | 9th |
| 2001 | DAMS | Emmanuel Collard Marc Goossens | Cadillac Northstar LMP01 | LMP900 | 56 | DNF | DNF |
| 2002 | Team Cadillac | Emmanuel Collard JJ Lehto | Cadillac Northstar LMP02 | LMP900 | 334 | 12th | 10th |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Championnat de France Formule Renault Turbo Champion 1985 | Succeeded by |