Didier Artzet
Didier Artzet (born 10 February 1963 in Nice) is a French former racing driver. He currently lives in Noumea, New Caledonia after his retirement from motorsport.
Contents
Career
Formula 3000: 1989-1992
A promising driver who had his potential unfulfilled due to a lack of budget, Artzet was best known particularly on street circuits - most notably winning the 1987 Monaco F3 support race beating the likes of Jean Alesi, Johnny Herbert, Nicola Larini or Bernd Schneider. Eventually he moved to Formula 3000 and scored a podium in his first ever race at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit in 1989 while driving for Madgwick International.
He was signed to the street events of the 1990 for Paul Stewart Racing in a year-old Reynard with his best finish being a tenth place at Enna Pergusa. However, Madgwick took notice and signed the Frenchman for the season finale at Dijon - Artzet shocked everyone by taking a convincing pole position and eventually took the fastest lap before he retired from the race lead. Alongside his Formula 3000 duties, Artzet also took part in two WTCM events in 1990 and 1991.
Paul Stewart then signed him full-time for the 1991 season. As the team's leading driver, he got to drive in a Reynard 91D powered by the all-new Ford Cosworth DFY-II engine, which promised good results and indeed Artzet took the team's first ever F3000 points and podium at Silverstone. Another significant result was to be followed at his home race in Pau, however an unfortunate collision between himself and his teammate Paul Warwick during a blue flag event ended his race from third position. The Frenchman rebounded though as he brought home consecutive podiums at Jerez and Mugello, with consistent finishes securing a top-five championship position halfway through the season. Artzet would then score two more 2nd places at Spa-Francorchamps and at Le Mans, the latter of which was shortened due to an accident involving Ukyo Katayama. With five podiums in the season, he finished third in the championship behind Johnny Herbert and Christian Fittipaldi. However, after the season concluded, Herbert was disqualified along with Spirit-TOM'S Motorsport on the bases of the team fielding an illegal car for Herbert. Therefore, Fittipaldi became the champion and Artzet was promoted to second place; moreover, two of his second place finishes - at Mugello and Le Mans - were upgraded to race wins.
After a solid 1992 season that cemented Artzet's position as one of the top French talents, Gérard Larrousse of his eponymous team signed him to a one-year deal for the 1993 Formula One season, thus marking his Formula One debut.
Formula One: 1993-
Racing Results
Complete International Formula 3000 results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Madgwick International | Lola T89/50 | Ford Cosworth DFY | SIL | IMO | PAU | JER | ASS | PER | BHA | BIR | SPA | LEM 3 |
DIJ 11 |
19th | 4 | ||
| 1990 | Paul Stewart Racing | Reynard 89D | Ford Cosworth DFY | DON | SIL | PAU 14† |
MON | JER | IMO | PER 10 |
HOC | BHA | BIR Ret |
LEM | MAG | NC | 0 | |
| Madgwick International | Lola T90/50 | Mugen-Honda MF308 | DIJ Ret | |||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Paul Stewart Racing | Reynard 91D | Ford Cosworth DFY-II | IMO Ret |
SIL 2 |
PAU Ret |
JER 3 |
MUG 1 |
PER 7 |
HOC 4 |
BHA 4 |
SPA 2 |
LEM‡ 1 |
MAG Ret |
2nd | 35.5 |
Complete WTCM Results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | WDC | Pts | Class | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz 190E | C | 
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N/A | 0 | 27th | 24 | |||||||||||
| E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | ||||||||
| BAT 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Graff Racing | Peugeot 405 | I |
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N/A | 0 | 59th | 0 | ||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | E | F | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | E | F | S | F | |||||||||
| MAC DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Larrousse Gitanes Blondes | Larrousse LC93 | Renault RS5 3.5 V10 | RSA 9 |
BRA 10 |
PAC Ret |
SMR 4 |
ESP 8 |
MON 7 |
CAN WD |
FRA 5 |
GBR 3 |
GER Ret |
HUN 10 |
BEL Ret |
ITA 4 |
POR Ret |
JPN Ret |
AUS 7 |
8th | 12 |
| 1994 | Tyrrell Racing Organisation | Tyrrell 022 | Peugeot A6 3.5 V10 | BRA Ret |
PAC Ret |
SMR Ret |
MON Ret |
ESP 16† |
CAN Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 11 |
HUN 12 |
BEL 6 |
ITA 9 |
POR 12 |
EUR 8 |
JPN Ret |
AUS 8 |
19th | 1 |
