Bernard Jourdain

Bernard Jourdain (born August 16, 1950, in Brussels) is a Belgian born Mexican racing driver. Jourdain is the uncle of racer Michel Jourdain Jr., and a pivotal figure in Michel Jr.’s progression from novice to Champ Car race winner. Now retired from racing, Bernard runs a restaurant in California, as well as other business projects.

Racing career

Open Wheel Racing

Although Jourdain had been racing professionally since 1969, he did not appear on the international scene until late 1987, when he raced twice in Formula Atlantic. Despite crashing in both these races, he gained a drive with Cimarran Racing for the following season in Formula Super Vee USA Robert Bosch/Valvoline Championship. In his first full season, racing internationally in USA, he scored two major race victories by winning the Dallas Grand Prix and St. Petersburg GTE Grand Prix. This helped him to finish third in the overall standing. Also during the ’88 season, Jourdain made his CART debut. He signed with Andale Racing to race their March-Cosworth 86C in the last two races of the year. Broken suspension stopped him in his debut at Laguna Seca, he returned for the Miami Indy Challenge, where finished sixth.

Jourdain remained with Andale for the 1989, with the team upgrading the car to a Lola-Cosworth T89/00. It was with Andale that he made the first of his two Indianapolis 500s starts. After finishing nine laps down in ninth place, he was named the Indy 500 Co-Rookie of the Year along with Scott Pruett. He would only score one more top 10 finish, taking tenth in the Molson Indy Toronto. At the end of the season, he finished 18th in the overall standing, and was awarded the CART Rookie of the Year title.

Sports Car Racing

1988 also was Jourdain make his international race debut in sport cars in the SunBank 24 at Daytona with Kalagian Racing. After finishing fifth, he would continue to race Kalagian's Porsche 962 in a number of Camel GT Championship, alongside his Formula Super Vee commitments. When in 1989, he step up into CART, he cut back his sport cars racing to just another visit to the SunBank 24 at Daytona, with an outing in the works Spice Engineering team when the FIA World Sports Prototype Championship visited the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Jourdain returned to the Camel GT Championship in 1990, with the Spice Engineering USA team, finishing on the third step on the podium in the Camel Grand Prix of Heartland Park, prior to his big Indy crash. He would return to racing in time for the 480km of Mexico City with Team Davey in their Porsche 962C. 25th Kalagian Racing Porsche 962 CART PPG Indy Car World Series 26th Andale Racing March-Cosworth 86C 1989 USAC Gold Crown Series 9th Andale Racing Lola-Cosworth T89/00 CART PPG Indy Car World Series 18th Andale Racing Lola-Cosworth T89/00 Camel GT Championship season 46th Bernard Jourdain Porsche 962 1990 Camel GT Championship season 26th Spice Engineering USA Spice-Chevrolet SE90P 1991 USAC Gold Crown Series 18th A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola-Buick T90/00 CART PPG Indy Car World Series 42nd A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola-Chevrolet T90/00Lola-Buick T90/00

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1988 Kalagian Racing Jim Rothbarth Michel Jourdain Sr. Rob Stevens Porsche 962 GTP 680 5th 5th 1989 Bernard Jourdain Oscar Manautou Allen Berg Andres Contreras Porsche 962 GTP 485 18th (DNF) 7th (DNF) 1990 Panasonic/Carlos & Charlies Jeff Kline Hiro Matsushita Spice-Chevrolet SE90P GTP 90 47th (DNF) 13th (DNF)

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1988 John Kalagian Racing Jim Rothbarth Porsche 962 GTP 90 62nd (DNF) 13th (DNF) 1990 Spice Engineering GB Tom Kendall Albert Naon Jr. Spice-Chevrolet SE90P GTP 222 18th (DNF) 8th (DNF)

American Open Wheel racing results (key)

Formula Super Vee

Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 1989 Lola T89/00 Ford Cosworth DFX 20 9 Andale Racing 1990 Lola T89/00 BuickInjured Andale Racing 1991 Lola T91/00 Buick 21 18 A. J. Foyt Enterprises