Simon Gachet (born 14 October 1993) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, officially known as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS for sponsorship reasons, formerly the FIA GT Series, is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) w ...

for Tresor by Car Collection.

Career

Early career

An avid rugby player as a young boy, Gachet was not heavily involved with motorsports in his youth. He was introduced to motorsport through car magazines, and discovered single-seater racing while attending the Formula Motorsport school at the Circuit du Laquais. In 2011, he began competing in the

V de V Challenge Monoplace The V de V Challenge Monoplace is a single-seater racing series active in Europe. The series was founded in 2010 set up by V de V Sports. History The series was founded in 2010 and originally divided into three sub classes. The series saw the li ...

, completely forgoing the karting process.

Junior formulae

In his opening season of single-seater competition, Gachet was crowned champion, taking two wins and 11 podiums in 15 races. That winter, Gachet won the Euroformula Volant test, awarding him a €60,000 bursary which allowed him to compete in the

French F4 Championship French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting graduates ...

for 2012. Scoring six podiums in 14 races, Gachet finished third in the overall points classification. For 2013, Gachet stepped up to the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, joining French team ARTA Engineering. He had a quiet start in his first season in the series, scoring his first points in July at Misano and finishing 14th in the championship. He returned to the team in 2014, adding a full-season effort in the

Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault Sp ...

to his Alps series commitment. Gachet's second season in the Alps series proved more successful, as he scored a podium in each of his first three races en route to a 5th-place finish in the championship. Prior to the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wan ...

round of the

2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 The 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Renault single seat race cars that con ...

season, Gachet joined ART Junior Team. He would finish the Eurocup season in 19th, scoring just 10 points. For 2015, he joined

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy. Tech 1 also operate the Panis Racing LMP2 entry to the European Le Mans Series and the Ultimate LMP2 Pro ...

for a full-season campaign in the Formula Renault Eurocup, topping the charts in the series' preseason tests at

MotorLand Aragón MotorLand Aragón (alternative Spanish name: Circuito de Alcañiz) is a race track used for motorsports located in Alcañiz, Spain. The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke in conjunction with the British architectural busin ...

. However, it was another quiet season for Gachet, securing just one podium at

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

and finishing 16th overall.

Sports car racing

For 2016, Gachet moved to endurance racing, joining Panis Barthez Competition's entry into the LMP3 class of the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. The entry scored its first and only podium of the season at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

, before taking pole position the following week at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

. Entering five of the six races that season, Gachet and co-drivers Eric Debard and Valentin Moineault finished 9th in the LMP3 class championship. He returned to the team in 2017, finishing 14th in the drivers' championship. Alongside his European Le Mans Series campaign, Gachet joined Energy by ART's entry into the

GT4 European Series Southern Cup The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' an ...

, taking one podium at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is of ...

en route to a 20th-place finish in the Pro-Am class championship. Gachet completed 2017 with a pair of one-off appearances for

Saintéloc Racing Saintéloc Racing is a French motorsport team. It mainly operates in rally and sports car racing series. Current series include the European Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The team ...

in the

GT World Challenge Europe GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's G ...

Sprint and Endurance cups, finishing outside of the points in both appearances. 2018 saw Gachet move full-time into the GT World Challenge Europe with Saintéloc. Pairing with

Christopher Haase Christopher Haase (born 26 September 1987 in Kulmbach) is a German professional racing driver. He became the FIA GT3 European Champion in 2009, racing for Lamborghini and Reiter Engineering, and raced in GT1 for the first time in 2010. He achi ...

in the Sprint Cup, Gachet scored three overall podiums, including a second-placed finish at

, placing eighth in the championship. Gachet began the Endurance Cup season with Saintéloc's Pro entry, scoring a sixth-place finish at

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ho ...

before joining the team's Am-class entry for the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was ...

. He would finish 37th in the overall Endurance Cup classification. He returned to the team in both championships for 2019, joing Haase once again in the Sprint Cup and returning to the team's Pro-class entry in the Endurance Cup. Gachet and Haase had their best statistical season to date, finishing fifth in the championship after taking four podiums and Gachet's first win in the series at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

. He had another quiet season in the Endurance Cup, finishing 33rd overall. Gachet played a diminished role for the team in 2020, joining Steven Palette in Saintéloc's Silver-class Sprint Cup entry. The duo found immediate success, taking class victory in the opening two races of the season and adding a podium to complete the opening weekend at Misano. The following round at Magny-Cours saw Gachet take the overall pole and victory in race #2, despite being classified in the Silver Cup class. Following the second race at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

, Gachet and Palette clinched the Silver Cup title. The following season saw Gachet switch his focus back to the Endurance Cup, joining

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its headquarters in Aff ...

entrant AKKA-ASP in their Silver Cup entry. Claiming class victories at Paul Ricard and Barcelona, Gachet finished second in the Silver class championship alongside teammates

Konstantin Tereshchenko Konstantin Alekseyevich Tereschenko ( rus, Константи́н Алексе́евич Тере́щенко, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐlʲɪkˈsʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʲɪˈrʲeɕːɪnkə; born 17 June 1994) is a Russian professional racing driver who ...

and Thomas Drouet. For 2022, Gachet returned to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, joining Tresor by Car Collection's Sprint Cup entry. Reunited with Christopher Haase, Gachet scored his first podium of the season at Magny-Cours after taking pole for race #1. He would go on to collect four podium finishes that season, claiming third in the overall championship. Gachet also embarked on full-season campaigns in the

FFSA GT Championship The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' and ...

and

GT4 European Series The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which followed a formula similar to the FIA GT3 European Championship, which was itself derived from the FIA GT Cham ...

for Akkodis-ASP. In October, he joined Eric Debard behind the wheel of Team France's GT Relay entry into the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games. The duo finished second in both qualifying races, before scoring the gold medal in the main race.

Racing record

Career summary

† As Gachet was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Simon Gachet
at SnapLap
Simon Gachet
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gachet, Simon 1993 births Living people French racing drivers French F4 Championship drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24H Series drivers People from Bourgoin-Jallieu Sportspeople from Isère Auto Sport Academy drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Audi Sport drivers R-ace GP drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers Saintéloc Racing drivers