Difference between revisions of "Guillaume Gauthier"
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Very quickly upon joining the French karting scene proper, Guillaume found himself one of the chief protagonists there. Indeed, by the end of 1975, he was second only to Alain Prost. Pierre was more than happy to finance Guillaume's rise to Formula Renault for 1976, after his results had been matched with a marked increase in the business that Pierre's garages were doing. The 1976 French Formula Renault title was bitterly fought, with Prost only just beating Gauthier by 7 wins to 6. Prost then moved on to Formula Renault Europe for 1977, whereas Guillaume remained, allowing himself to win every race in French Formula Renault that year. | Very quickly upon joining the French karting scene proper, Guillaume found himself one of the chief protagonists there. Indeed, by the end of 1975, he was second only to Alain Prost. Pierre was more than happy to finance Guillaume's rise to Formula Renault for 1976, after his results had been matched with a marked increase in the business that Pierre's garages were doing. The 1976 French Formula Renault title was bitterly fought, with Prost only just beating Gauthier by 7 wins to 6. Prost then moved on to Formula Renault Europe for 1977, whereas Guillaume remained, allowing himself to win every race in French Formula Renault that year. | ||
− | Guillaume then moved up to French Formula 3 for 1978, where he would again clash with his rival, Alain Prost. This time, Guillaume was determined to prevail, and did so, winning 5 races. This gained the attention of Teddy Mayer, boss of the McLaren team, who was looking for a rising young star to partner defending World Champion Mario Andretti for the upcoming 1979 F1 season. The offer was an excellent one - an established, experienced team, if a little down on its luck, with a World Champion to learn from. It was the ideal situation for a rising star such as Guillaume. | + | Guillaume then moved up to French Formula 3 for 1978, where he would again clash with his rival, Alain Prost. This time, Guillaume was determined to prevail, and did so, winning 5 races. This gained the attention of Teddy Mayer, boss of the McLaren team, who was looking for a rising young star to partner defending World Champion Mario Andretti for the upcoming 1979 F1 season. The offer was an excellent one - an established, experienced team, if a little down on its luck, and perhaps looking for some money from Guillaume's father, with a World Champion to learn from. It was the ideal situation for a rising star such as Guillaume. |
===Formula 1 career=== | ===Formula 1 career=== |
Revision as of 16:15, 18 February 2013
This page is currently under construction. |
Guillaume Gauthier (Born 6th January 1956 in Toulon, Var, France) is a former French racing driver and owner of Équipe Gauthier, as well as the team principal of Gauthier-Mongooses Racing. He is the father of Arnaud Gauthier, and grandfather of F1RDS driver Aimée Gauthier.
Contents
Early Life
Guillaume was born in 1956 in Toulon to Pierre and Gabrielle Gauthier. Pierre was briefly an amateur racing driver in the years before World War II, and fought in the French Resistance during it. After the war, he settled down and opened a successful chain of garages which eventually covered most of southern France, and which is still in operation today by Guillaume's older brother Robert.
In this position, much of Guillaume's pre-school days were surrounded by cars, and naturally he had a fascination with them that would shape his life. At first however, he wished to work on cars, like his father, not race them. That changed on his father's 50th birthday, when the family travelled to Monaco to watch the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. After watching the race, Guillaume was certain: He wanted to be a Formula 1 driver. His brother, Robert was equally convinced and the two began working hard to ensure their dreams would come true. Eventually the pair earned enough to buy a kart; they would participate infrequently until the end of Guillaume's school days, with mixed success for both brothers.
Racing Career
Early Career
After leaving school at the age of 18 in 1974 with mostly average grades, Guillaume's father proposed a deal to Guillaume and Robert. He was looking to advertise his garage business, and so offered to buy them a competitive kart, and free use of his tools, on the condition that they service it themselves and purchase all necessary parts themselves. The only question left was who would drive. Guillaume and Robert took turns setting times around the local go-kart track, until Robert spun off on his third lap. Pierre decided at that point that Robert's driving style was too wild and declared that Guillaume would be the driver and Robert the mechanic - which was fortunate because Robert happened to be better than Guillaume at servicing cars anyway.
Very quickly upon joining the French karting scene proper, Guillaume found himself one of the chief protagonists there. Indeed, by the end of 1975, he was second only to Alain Prost. Pierre was more than happy to finance Guillaume's rise to Formula Renault for 1976, after his results had been matched with a marked increase in the business that Pierre's garages were doing. The 1976 French Formula Renault title was bitterly fought, with Prost only just beating Gauthier by 7 wins to 6. Prost then moved on to Formula Renault Europe for 1977, whereas Guillaume remained, allowing himself to win every race in French Formula Renault that year.
Guillaume then moved up to French Formula 3 for 1978, where he would again clash with his rival, Alain Prost. This time, Guillaume was determined to prevail, and did so, winning 5 races. This gained the attention of Teddy Mayer, boss of the McLaren team, who was looking for a rising young star to partner defending World Champion Mario Andretti for the upcoming 1979 F1 season. The offer was an excellent one - an established, experienced team, if a little down on its luck, and perhaps looking for some money from Guillaume's father, with a World Champion to learn from. It was the ideal situation for a rising star such as Guillaume.
Formula 1 career
McLaren (1979-)
Post-racing career
Team owner
F1RGP2C (1997-)
F1RWRS (2016-)
Complete Formula 1 Results
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | Marlboro Team McLaren | McLaren M29 | Ford Cosworth DFV | ARG Ret |
BRA 14 |
RSA 18 |
USW 13 |
ESP 5 |
BEL DNQ |
MON Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 7† |
AUT Ret |
NED 7 |
ITA 6 |
EUR 4 |
CAN Ret |
USA Ret |
AUS Ret |
14th | 16 |
1980 | Marlboro Team McLaren | McLaren M29B | Ford Turbo | AUS 6 |
RSA 9 |
BRA 8 |
BEL 5 |
FRA 6 |
MON | SUI | USA | CAN | IRE | GBR | GER | EUR | AUT | ITA | JAP | USE | 12th* | 4* |