Jérémie Dufour

Jérémie Dufour (born 2 November 1975) is a French businessman and former racing driver.

Dufour was a Ligier junior in British F3, and tested in Formula One for Ligier in 1995 and Footwork in 1996. Dufour then competed in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) and its successor Super GT between 2001 and 2007. He was GT500 runner-up in 2004 for Denso Toyota Team SARD, and won the Suzuka 1000km in 2006 for Team Impul.

Career Dufour began karting at the age of 10, competing nationally before progressing to Junior ICA.

Dufour made his single-seater debut in 1992, finishing runner-up in the Class B of the French Formula Three Championship with three wins to his name. Following that, Dufour spent three seasons in the British Formula Three Championship, taking a season-high six fastest laps and four podiums for Fortec Motorsport in 1994, before scoring a lone win at Silverstone and fifth in the overall standings for the Ligier Junior Team in 1995. During this time span, Dufour won the Avon Park Supersprint and finished eighth at the Masters of Formula 3 in 1994 with Fortec.

At the end of 1995, Dufour partook in a Formula One test at Mugello with Ligier. In 1996, Dufour became a test driver for Footwork Arrows and drove the Footwork FA17 in free practice at the Argentine Grand Prix. In 1999, Dufour briefly returned to Formula 3 competition, finishing runner-up in the MRF Madras Formula 3 Grand Prix for Carlin Motorsport, and racing in the Pau Grand Prix for Graff Racing.

In 2001, Dufour moved to Japan, joining Inging in Japanese F3, and Denso Toyota Team SARD in the premier class of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship. In his only season in Japanese F3, Dufour scored a win at Fuji and eleven other podiums to secure third in the overall standings. In JGTC meanwhile, Dufour was 14th in GT500 with a best result of fourth at Mine with countryman Romain Dumas. Continuing with SARD alongside Manabu Orido for another campaign in JGTC in 2002, Dufour began the year with a second-place finish at Okayama, before scoring two top fives in the last three races to salvage 14th again. During 2002, Dufour also finished third overall at the non-championship Suzuka 1000km, sharing SARD's Toyota Supra with Orido and Nobuteru Taniguchi.

Switching to fellow Toyota customer Team Advan Tsuchiya for 2003, Dufour took a best result of third at Motegi with Seiji Ara to close out the year 13th in GT500. Returning to SARD for 2004, Dufour partnered André Couto for his best ever season in JGTC. He began with third at Okayama, before achieving his first GT500 win at Sepang and finishing second at Autopolis to secure runner-up honours behind the No. 1 Nissan.

Dufour's Kunimitsu Honda NSX on the Super GT grid at Sepang in 2005.

For 2005, Dufour moved to Raybrig Team Kunimitsu to share a Honda NSX with fellow Frenchman Sébastien Philippe, as JGTC rebranded to Super GT. In his only season with Honda, Dufour won at Motegi to take 14th in GT500 as he fizzled out of full-time racing. Across the next two years, Dufour only made sporadic appearances in Super GT at the wheel of Team Impul's Nissan Fairlady Z, most notably winning the 2006 International Pokka 1000km at Suzuka with Kazuki Hoshino and Benoît Tréluyer.

In 2007, Dufour relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine, in a bid to create a Ukrainian Formula One team. After those plans went quiet, Dufour presented plans for a racing school in 2013, before signing a cooperation agreement with Kyivpastrans in 2015 to help public transport drivers with their professional skills.

Personal life Dufour is married to Alexandra, a Ukrainian woman.

In 2017, Dufour founded J Bikes, a website for selling or restoring bikes. In 2025, he began competing regularly in marathons around France, as part of the Athlé Vaison Ventoux club.

Karting record Karting career summary

Complete British Formula 3 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1993 West Surrey Racing Mugen-Honda A SIL THR BRH DON BRH SIL OUL DON SIL DON SNE PEM SIL SIL THR 9th 11 1994 Fortec Motorsport Mugen-Honda A SIL DON BRH BRH SIL SIL BRH THR OUL DON SIL SNE PEM PEM SIL SIL THR SIL 7th 103 1995 Ligier Junior Team Mugen A SIL SIL THR THR DON SIL SIL DON DON OUL BRH BRH SNE PEM PEM SIL SIL THR 5th 141

Complete Japanese Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete JGTC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Pts 2001 Denso Toyota Team SARD Toyota Supra GT500 TAI FUJ SUG FUJ MOT SUZ MIN 14th 22 2002 Denso Toyota Team SARD Toyota Supra GT500 TAI FUJ SUG SEP FUJ MOT MIN SUZ 14th 33 2003 Team Advan Tsuchiya Toyota Supra GT500 TAI FUJ1 SUG FUJ2 FUJ3 MOT AUT SUZ 13th 35 2004 Denso Toyota Team SARD Toyota Supra GT500 TAI SUG SEP TOK MOT AUT SUZ2nd61 2005 Raybrig Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX GT500 OKA FUJ1 SEP SUG MOT FUJ2 AUT SUZ 14th 26 2006 Team Impul Nissan Fairlady Z GT500 SUZ1 OKA FUJ1 SEP SUG SUZ2 MOT AUT FUJ2 14th 32 2007 Team Impul Nissan Fairlady Z GT500 SUZ1 OKA FUJ1 SEP SUG SUZ2 MOT AUT FUJ2 23rd 4