Thierry Boutsen

Thierry Marc Alain Boutsen (; born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver, businessman and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Boutsen won three Formula One Grands Prix across 11 seasons.

Boutsen competed in Formula One for Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan. He finished fourth in the 1988 World Drivers' Championship with Benetton. Boutsen also competed in 10 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from to , finishing runner-up in and with Peugeot and Porsche, respectively.

Since retiring from motor racing, Boutsen has moved into the aviation industry, selling business jets from his firm in Monaco. He is also the founder, co-owner and advisor to Boutsen Racing, who have competed in touring car racing since 1998.

Career

Junior formulae and sportscars After winning the "Volant V" in 1977 at the André Pilette Racing School, Zolder, Boutsen entered the Belgian Formula Ford 1600 championship and won it in 1978 with 15 victories in 18 races. He also entered the 1978 Spa 24 Hours race, the last auto race on the old 14 km (8.7 mi) Spa-Francorchamps circuit- driving a Toyota Trueno. For 1979, he moved to Formula 3, winning three races in 1980 and second place in the European title race, behind Michele Alboreto. Boutsen's reputation as a reliable, fast driver with good development skills saw Williams sign him on a two-year contract.

For 1989, Boutsen drove the new V10 Renault powered Williams FW12C. began with Boutsen on the back foot due to a heavy pre-season testing crash in Rio and because veteran teammate Riccardo Patrese had a major resurgence in form. However at the Canadian Grand Prix, Boutsen drove well in wet conditions and took his maiden victory after Senna suffered a late engine failure. Although it was a welcome win (Boutsen became the first new winner in F1 since former Arrows teammate Gerhard Berger had won the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix for Benetton), it was considered a lucky win for the Belgian as he had been last at one stage and had a full 360° spin, though luckily he managed to keep his car off the walls. He managed to catch and pass Patrese who was suffering with a loose undertray and took the lead three laps from the end when the Honda V10 engine in Senna's McLaren MP4/5 seized. Three more podium finishes came before Boutsen rounded the year off with a second victory at the rain-soaked Australian Grand Prix. Ironically Boutsen had been one of the drivers protesting about the conditions at the circuit before the race.

saw more consistent points scoring drives, including Boutsen's third and final Grand Prix victory - a lights-to-flag victory in Hungary where he took his first pole position and held off sustained pressure from Alessandro Nannini (Benetton) and Ayrton Senna (McLaren) to win. However, with Nigel Mansell available in 1991, Williams felt they needed a 'star' driver to put together a championship bid. Despite Boutsen winning three races in two years to Patrese's one and finishing every race in 1990 in the points (top-six) barring retirements, the team felt that Patrese had been more consistent (and had worked well with Mansell in 1988) and decided to keep the Italian to drive alongside Mansell.

Ligier

With no vacancies among the top teams, Boutsen had to drop down to the Ligier team. Despite having a sizeable budget and Lamborghini V12 engines, the JS35 was an uncompetitive car and Boutsen was frequently unable to disguise his disgust with the machinery given to him. The arrival of Renault engines in 1992 improved matters a little and in his final race for the team he scored fifth place, his first points since leaving Williams.

Jordan Initially, Boutsen was unable to find a drive for 1993, but Barclay secured him a slot at Jordan, replacing Ivan Capelli. Boutsen was too tall for the car and largely outpaced by young teammate Rubens Barrichello, failing to score any points in ten races. With Eddie Jordan keen to bring in younger, well-sponsored drivers to the seat the decision was taken to turn Boutsen's home race into a farewell event, though he retired on the first lap.

Touring cars

For 1994, Boutsen was hired by Ford Motorsport to lead their works challenge on the newly created Super Tourenwagen Cup in Germany. Driving a factory prepared Ford Mondeo built by Eggenberger Motorsport, that first season was a learning year for both Boutsen and the team.

The following year, Boutsen was joined by his old Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese, but the season was a disaster. Attempting to follow Audi's lead by developing a four-wheel drive car, the Mondeo was totally uncompetitive.

Boutsen started in only the first four races in 1996 before leaving the team and turning his attention to sports car racing. After three years of limited success, Ford pulled the plug on the project at the end of that season to focus solely on the British series.

Sportscars Boutsen then drove sports cars in the US, driving for Champion Racing in a Porsche 911 GT1, alongside Bill Adam and Hans Stuck. The trio finished second in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1997, Boutsen won the GT-1 US Championship with the Champion Racing in 1998. After being severely injured in a crash at Le Mans in 1999 at the wheel of a Toyota GT-One he retired from racing altogether. Its business is the "Sale and Acquisition of Business Jets". He founded the company in 1997 with his wife Daniela and up to May 2011, the company had sold 205 aircraft, ranging from Airbus Corporate Jets to Cessna Citation. He is also co-owner of Boutsen Energy Racing alongside his brother-in-law Olivier Lainé and Georges Kaczka. The team competes in the Formula Le Mans class in the Le Mans Series. Boutsen also runs cars in Formula Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Marlboro Racing for Zolder March 812 BMW SILRet HOCRet THRRet NÜR1 VAL3 MUGRet PAU2 PER1 SPA2 DON12 MIS8 MAN4 2nd 37 Marlboro Team Spirit Spirit 201 Honda SIL12 HOC2 THR3 NÜR1 MUG4 VAL6 PAU2 SPA1 HOCRet DON9 MAN4 PER1 MIS6 3rd 50

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps WM A.E.R.E.M. Serge Saulnier Michel Pignard WM P81- Peugeot C 15 DNF DNF Ford France Henri Pescarolo Rondeau M482-Ford Cosworth C 174 DNF DNF Brun Motorsport Alain Ferté Didier Theys Porsche 956 C1 89 DNF DNF Peugeot Talbot Sport Yannick Dalmas Teo Fabi Peugeot 905 Evo 1B C1 374 2nd 2nd Le Mans Porsche Team Joest Racing Hans-Joachim Stuck Danny Sullivan Dauer 962 Le Mans GT1 343 3rd 2nd Porsche Kremer Racing Hans-Joachim Stuck Christophe Bouchut Kremer K8 Spyder WSC 289 6th 2nd Porsche AG Hans-Joachim Stuck Bob Wollek Porsche 911 GT1 GT1 353 2nd 1st Porsche AG Hans-Joachim Stuck Bob Wollek Porsche 911 GT1 GT1 238 DNF DNF Toyota Motorsport Toyota Team Europe Ralf Kelleners Geoff Lees Toyota GT-One GT1 330 DNF DNF Toyota Motorsport Toyota Team Europe Ralf Kelleners Allan McNish Toyota GT-One LMGTP 173 DNF DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1978 Luigi Racing Marc Duez Lella Lombardi Toyota Sprinter Trueno 1 5 DNF DNF 1979 J. P. Willeme Pierre Dieudonné BMW 530i DNF DNF 1983 SJA/Texaco Racing Team Claude Ballot-Léna Thierry Sabine BMW 635 CSi 3 DNF DNF 1985 Brun Motorsport Walter Brun Harald Grohs BMW 635 CSi 3 264 DNF DNF 1986 BMW Belgium Enzo Calderari Hans Heyer BMW 635 CSi 3 85 DNF DNF 1987 Ford Texaco Racing Team Klaus Ludwig Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 3 406 DNF DNF 1988 Ford Texaco Eggenberger Racing Team Pierre Dieudonné Klaus Ludwig Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth 3 506 2nd 1st 1998 Ecurie Toison d'Or Jean-Michel Martin Frédéric Moreau BMW 320i SP 458 12th 11th

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA GT Championship 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 10 11 Points 1997 Porsche AG Porsche 911 GT1 GT1 HOC4 SIL5 HEL 15th 18 Porsche 911 GT1 Evo NÜR10 SPARet A1R6 SUZ5 DON11 MUG4 SEB6 LAG5