Steve Zacchia (born 15 August 1982 in

Yverdon-les-Bains Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

racing driver, currently competing in the

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

for Hope Racing.

Early career

Zacchia began

go-karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

in 1998 when he finished fourth in the Swiss Regional Championship in Category B. He raced in Category A in 1999 finishing third in the standings. In 2000, he started competing in European Championships and getting into the finals of the Winfield World Challenge. His single seater career only lasted a year, when he began competing in the

2001 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup season The 2001 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup season was the eleventh Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season. The season began at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 30 March and finished at the Autódromo do Estoril on 4 November, after ten races. RC Motorsport dri ...

. He competed in every race weekend but did not score a point. In 2002, he started competing in sports car racing by racing in

Porsche Carrera Cup France Porsche Carrera Cup France is a one make motor racing championship held in France. The cars are Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991.2) with 4.0 liters, flat-6 naturally aspirated engines that produce and 480 N·m. Champions References External li ...

. He picked up one win and three podiums.

GT Racing

2003 saw Zacchia compete in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

. The

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

saw Zacchia team up with ex-

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver

Philippe Alliot Philippe Alliot (born 27 July 1954) is a former racing driver who participated in Formula One from to and from to . He raced for RAM, Ligier, Larrousse and McLaren. Early career Prior to his career in Formula One he competed during 1976 and 19 ...

and French singer

David Hallyday David Hallyday (born David Michael Benjamin Smet; 14 August 1966) is a French singer, songwriter and amateur sports car racer. Early life Hallyday was born in Boulogne-Billancourt and is the son of the French singers Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie V ...

for Force One Racing

Festina Festina F16184 Festina is a Spanish watch brand. In 1985, businessman Miguel Rodríguez acquired Festina, a brand founded in Switzerland in 1902, thus forming the ''Festina-Lotus group.'' History Festina was created in 1902 by the Stüdi f ...

. He raced five of the ten races, picking up 14 points, including a podium at Donington. After racing in

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 ...

in 2004, he returned to FIA GT in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

with

Larbre Compétition Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international FI ...

He teamed up with Swiss compatriots

Lilian Bryner Lilian Bryner (born 21 April 1959) is a racing driver from Switzerland. Career She has mainly raced in the FIA GT Championship from 1997 until 2005 and has raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Her first race at Le Mans was in 1993, but her most ...

and

Enzo Calderari Enzo Calderari (born 18 April 1952, Bienne, Switzerland) is a Swiss entrepreneur and former car racing driver. Career Enzo Calderari is the son of Jacques Calderari, who was active as a sports car driver in the 1960s. The son, a real estate a ...

He earned 16 points during the season. In 2006, he competed in the newly formed

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

. He raced in all events during the season, racing for French team Racing Logistic alongside Olivier Dupard. Zacchia and Dupard earned 14 points finishing 20th in the drivers standings. He participated in one round of the

2006 FIA GT Championship season The 2006 FIA GT Championship season is the 10th season of FIA GT Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring style cars broken into two classes based on power and manufacturer involvement, called GT1 and GT2. Invitational G2 and G3 classes are a ...

at the 2006 FIA GT Dubai 500km. He raced for

and their evolution of

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile, cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advan ...

Ferrari 550 The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ye ...

-GTS Maranello in the G2 class as it was an unhomologated GT1 car. He finished seventh along with

Gabriele Gardel Gabriele Gardel (born 22 October 1977 in Milan, Italy) is a Swiss racing driver. He is the 2005 FIA GT Champion. Career Complete chronology: * 1995: Formula Ford, best finish: 4th. * 1996: Italian F3, Italian runner, best driver under 21 ( ...

and

Frédéric Makowiecki Frédéric Makowiecki (born 22 November 1980) is a French professional racing driver, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class. Career After competing in karting, Arras ...

. He returned to the

for two events for Larbre, picking up three points. 2007 saw Zacchia race in the

French 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 ...

for Solution F earning 18 points with co-driver Jean-Yves Adam. He raced in the

2007 FIA GT Championship season The 2007 FIA GT Championship was the 11th season of FIA GT Championship auto racing. It was a series for Grand Touring style cars competing in two classes, GT1 and GT2, the latter being less powerful and more closely related to road-going models.GT ...

for one event in the French circuit of

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sain ...

. François Jakubowski was his team mate for the Solution F

finishing 20th overall. Zacchia was more focused on Le Mans Series afterwards but did compete in a round of the

Belgian GT Championship The Belgian Racing Car Championship (formerly Belcar Endurance Championship or Belgian GT Championship) is a national sports car racing championship primarily in Belgium. The series is sanctioned by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium and run by ...

in 2008 and two rounds of the

International GT Open The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec car ...

in 2009.

Le Mans Series/24 Hours of Le Mans

Zacchia got his first taste of endurance racing at the

2003 24 Hours of Le Mans The 71st 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: 71e 24 Heures du Mans, link=no) was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race held for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars from 14 to 15 June 2003 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le ...

. He raced for

in the GTS class using a

Chrysler Viper GTS-R The Chrysler Viper GTS-R (also known as the Dodge Viper GTS-R when raced in North America) was a successful racing variant of the Dodge Viper developed in conjunction with Chrysler of North America, Oreca of France, and Reynard Motorsport of the ...

. His team mates were

Patrice Goueslard Patrice Goueslard (born 26 November 1965) is a French racing driver. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans each year from 1999 until 2010, having initially made his debut at the event in 1994. His best finish in the event came in 2006, when he a ...

and

1993 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 61st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1993. The race was won by Peugeot Talbot Sport, with drivers Geoff Brabham, and Le Mans rookies Éric Hélary and Christophe Bouchut completing 3 ...

winner

Christophe Bouchut Christophe Bouchut (born 24 September 1966 in Voiron, Isère) is a French professional racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving for Dexwet-df1 Racing and Alex Caffi Motorsport in a part-time effort. He won ...

. They finished 16th overall and fourth in class. Larbre signed Zacchia prior to the

2004 Le Mans Series season The 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series was the inaugural season of ACO's Le Mans Endurance Series. It is a series for Le Mans prototype and Grand Touring style cars broken into 4 classes: LMP1, LMP2, GTS, and GT. It began on 9 May 2004 and ended on 1 ...

. He reunited with 2003 Le Mans team mate Bouchut, his other team mate was ex-F1 driver

Pedro Lamy José Pedro Mourão Lamy Viçoso, OIH, known as Pedro Lamy (; born 20 March 1972) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently racing in endurance races teaming up with Mathias Lauda and gentleman driver Paul Dalla Lana. He was the fir ...

. The trio won every race in the GTS class with their

-GTS Maranello, thus winning the championship. Zacchia focused on FIA GT for the next two seasons before returning to LMS in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, once again with Larbe with support from

Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Racing is a British auto racing team established in 2004 as a partnership between automobile manufacturer Aston Martin and engineering group Prodrive. The partnership was initially created for the purpose of returning Aston ...

as Larbre ran their DBR9. His team mate for the majority of the season was

Gregor Fisken Gregor Fisken is a British racing driver and businessman (born 28 September 1964) who currently races historic and modern-day sportscars. He is one of only a handful of racing drivers to have driven in all four classes (LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2) ...

. For the final round, the 2007 Mil Milhas Brasil, the duo were joined by Roland Bervillé and Brazilian racer

Fernando Rees Fernando Rees (born January 4, 1985) is a retired Brazilian racecar driver. He started his career racing with go-karts back in 1993 at age 8. Fernando made his international single-seaters' debut in 2001, his endurance racing debut in 2007, a ...

. It was the final round at

Interlagos Interlagos is a neighborhood located in the district of Socorro in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that the region is located between two large reservoirs, Guarapiranga and Billings, built in the early 20th century ...

that he won in the GT1 class but only half points were awarded due to less than five cars competing in that particular class. Zacchia and Fisken finished eighth in the GT1 standings, with their No. 51 car finishing sixth in the teams championship. In 2008, he was signed by Swiss team Speedy Racing Team Sebah (now Rebellion Racing) for the Le Mans Series season. Zacchia raced a

Lola B08/80 The Lola B08/80 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International. It is effectively the LMP2 version of the larger Lola B08/60; they are the first closed-cockpit sports prototypes built by Lola since the T92/10 of 1992. The B08/80 is o ...

- Judd in the LMP2 class along with team mates

Andrea Belicchi Andrea Belicchi (born 18 December 1976) is an Italian professional racing driver. He has competed in such series as the Porsche Supercup, Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship. He won the Russian Formula Three Championship in 200 ...

and

Xavier Pompidou Xavier Pompidou (born 27 July 1972) is a French racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the i ...

The trio picked up points in only the first event of the season, the 1000 km of Catalunya where they finished second in class Zacchia and co. finished tenth in the drivers championship and seventh in the teams. Zacchia returned to the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

in 2008 for Speedy, teaming up with LMS team mates Belicchi and Pompidou. Their LMP2-spec Lola-Judd retired after 194 laps. 2009 was a quiet year for Zacchia, racing only on a couple of occasions in the International GT Open but also raced one round of the

2009 Le Mans Series season The 2009 Le Mans Series was the sixth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It was contested over five events between 5 April and 13 September 2009. Aston Martin Racing trio Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished ev ...

, reuniting with Larbre Compétition in the 1000 km of Catalunya. Only four cars competed in the GT1 class in which Zacchia raced in with a

Saleen S7 Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...

-R. Zacchia along with Roland Bervillé and

Sébastien Dumez Sébastien is a common French given name. It is a French form of pasté Latin name ''Sebastianus'' meaning "from Sebaste". Sebaste was a common placename in classical Antiquity, derived from the Greek word ''σεβαστος'', or ''sebastos'', ...

finished third in class and 22nd overall. 2010 saw another year of

racing for Zacchia, this time for Swiss team Hope Polevision Racing. He competed a full season in the one-make

Formula Le Mans The Le Mans Prototype Challenge (shortened to LMP Challenge or LMPC) was a spec sports prototype formula created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sports car constructor Oreca. The formula is inte ...

(FLM) class along with Luca Moro and Wolfgang Kaufmann. The trio took their only class victory of the season at the 100 km of Spa. Zacchia and Moro finished runners-up in the drivers and teams championships. Zacchia is set to race in 2011 once again for Hope Racing in the

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

driving an Oreca 01

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

chassis. It will be powered by a two-litre four cylinder petrol engine from

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

modified by Lehmann Motoren, badged as Swiss HyTech. It also features KERS, an automotive system whereby the kinetic energy of a moving vehicle is recovered under braking and stored in the flywheel for later use under acceleration, developed by Flybrid. Zacchia is set to compete with this car in the LMP1 class in the ILMC and at this year's

alongside French driver

Nicolas Marroc Nicolas Marroc (born 5 December 1986 in La Roche-sur-Yon) is a French racing driver. Career Formula Renault Campus France Marroc began his formula racing career in the 2006 Championnat de France FFSA Formule Campus Renault Elf season. He finis ...

and Le Mans veteran and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

winner

Jan Lammers Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver from the Netherlands whose most notable claim to fame is victory in the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours for Silk Cut Jaguar/ TWR, next to a four-season spell in Formula One ...

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Official websiteCareer stats at driverdb.comProfile at history.fiagt.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zacchia, Steve Living people 1982 births Swiss racing drivers FIA GT Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers International GT Open drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers People from Yverdon-les-Bains Sportspeople from the canton of Vaud Morand Racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers Larbre Compétition drivers Rebellion Racing drivers 24H Series drivers