Érik Comas

Érik Gilbert Comas (; born 28 September 1963) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In Japanese motorsport, Comas won the All-Japan GT Championship in 1998 and 1999 with Nismo.

He won the French Formula Three Championship in 1988, before winning International Formula 3000 in 1990, after finishing runner-up to Jean Alesi on count-back in 1989. He participated in 63 Formula One Grands Prix between 1991 and 1994, scoring a total of seven championship points. His last point, in the 1994 German Grand Prix, was also the last one for the Larrousse team. After his Formula One career, he won the All-Japan GT Championship for Nismo in the top GT500 class in 1998 and 1999, and finished runner-up at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with Pescarolo.

Career

Formula One

1991 and 1992: Ligier After his F3000 championship victory in 1990, Comas was selected to drive for the Ligier F1 team in 1991. The Ligier JS35 with its Lamborghini engine proved uncompetitive throughout the season. Comas failed to qualify for the race on his first attempt in Brazil, achieved his first finish with 10th at Imola, and achieved his highest finish of the season with eighth in Canada, scoring no points during the season. Although he failed to qualify on two other occasions and suffered a spectacular crash at Hockenheim, he generally compared well with more experienced teammate Thierry Boutsen who also failed to score any points. Early in 1992, Comas's place in the team was briefly threatened by Alain Prost who tested the team's new Renault-powered car with a view to driving for, and possibly buying the team, with Comas revealing years later that he had not been given any testing mileage during the winter. Ultimately Prost chose not to proceed, and Comas retained his drive alongside Boutsen for the season. The 1992 car, the Ligier JS37 seemed promising, a brand new design featuring the race-winning Renault V10 engine, but it proved to be only inconsistently competitive. Comas scored his first career F1 point with sixth place in Canada, scored fifth at Ligier's home race in France and a further point in Germany during a mid-season revival of the team's fortunes. With four points, he was generally faster than and outscored Boutsen, and finished eleventh in the Driver's Championship. At the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix Comas was involved in a severe accident at the Blanchimont corner during Saturday qualifying. Left unconscious in his car beached in the middle of the track with the engine still running at its rev limiter, Comas was rescued by Ayrton Senna who stopped his own car and ran to help Comas, by shutting off the car's screaming engine (which was still pumping fuel and could have blown at any moment starting a fire), and holding the Frenchman's head in a stable position until medical assistance arrived. Comas credited Senna with saving his life.

1993 and 1994: Larrousse

Comas was not retained by Ligier for 1993; he instead signed with the small Larrousse team, running the LH93 chassis powered by Lamborghini V12s. The car was uncompetitive, Comas retiring from half the sixteen races of the season, and scoring only one point for sixth at Monza.

Retained by Larrousse in 1994, Comas drove the LH94 car, now powered by more reliable Ford HB engines. Comas scored a point for sixth at the Pacific Grand Prix, and benefited from the retirement of many other cars to take another point at Hockenheim. This was both his and Larrousse's final F1 points finish. For the last race of the season in Australia, Comas relinquished his seat to make way for Jean-Denis Delétraz who brought more funding to the team.

At the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, due to a radio miscommunication, Comas was released onto the track during the red flag after Senna had crashed, arriving at the Tamburello corner where he met the workers and vehicles, including an aid helicopter which had landed at the scene. Having had to brake hard to avoid hitting either marshals, their vehicles, or the helicopter, Comas declined to participate in the restart of the race, after witnessing medical staff treating the mortally-injured Senna. After returning for the Pokka 1000 km, on 5 September 2006, Comas announced that because of his health, he would not compete in the final three races of the season.

In 2010 and 2011, Comas won the electric vehicle category of the Rallye Monte Carlo des Véhicules à Énergie Alternative (the opening event of the FIA Alternative Energies Cup) with a Tesla Roadster. In 2014, he won the Carrera Panamericana in a Studebaker. Between 2012 and 2017, he rallied a Lancia Stratos.

Comas has now retired from all forms of racing. He spends his time running Comas Historic Racing, which provides for paying customers to enter historic rallies driving cars from his fleet of blue Alpine automobiles. In 2019, Comas obtained one of the Nissan R390 GT1, a car he competed in the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours with, and had it restored as well as being made street-legal.

Racing record Career summary

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Complete JGTC/Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Société Larbre Compétition Jean-Pierre Jarier Jesús Pareja Porsche 911 GT2 Evo GT1 64 DNF DNF NISMO Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama Nissan R390 GT1 GT1 294 12th 5th NISMO Jan Lammers Andrea Montermini Nissan R390 GT1 GT1 342 6th 6th NISMO Michael Krumm Satoshi Motoyama Nissan R391 LMP 110 DNF DNF PlayStation Team Oreca Olivier Beretta Pedro Lamy Dallara SP1-Judd LMP900 359 5th 4th Pescarolo Sport Soheil Ayari Benoît Tréluyer Pescarolo C60-Judd LMP1 361 4th 4th Pescarolo Sport Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd LMP1 368 2nd 2nd Pescarolo Sport Emmanuel Collard Nicolas Minassian Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd LMP1 352 5th 4th

Complete JTCC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Rally Championship results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points Érik Comas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI MON SWE KEN POR ESP ARG GRE NZL FIN CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR NC 0

Complete Le Mans Endurance Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 Points 2005 Pescarolo Sport LMP1 Pescarolo C60 Hybrid Judd GV5 5.0L V10 SPA MNZ SIL NÜR IST 14th 8