Frédéric Sausset

Frédéric Sausset 2016

Frédéric Sausset (born February 13, 1969 in Blois ) is a French entrepreneur and racing driver .

Entrepreneur

Frédéric Sausset's grandparents founded a car and truck trade in his hometown of Blois , which his parents continued to run. He himself trained as a car engineer , which he completed in 1991. He then worked for a few years as a vehicle salesman in his parents' company. In 1998 he opened with his wife Frédérique textile - boutiques in Blois, Vendôme and Châteaudun . Sausset held several official posts; Among other things, he was Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Loir-et-Cher department in 2011 and 2012 .

illness

While on vacation in the Landes department in July 2012, Sausset fell victim to a rare but devastating disease. He became infected with bacteria through a small wound on his finger , which led to necrosis . He came to Bayonne Hospital and fell into a coma for several weeks . As a result of the infection, both arms and legs had to be amputated at the Regional Hospital in Tours .

Le Mans 24 hour race 2016

Already during the rehabilitation in La Membrolle-sur-Choisille in the winter of 2012/2013, Sausset made the decision to try to participate as a driver in the Le Mans 24-hour race . The idea, which initially sounded completely unrealistic in view of his illness and lack of racing experience, quickly took on concrete form. In 2013 he founded his own racing team with SRT41 (abbreviation for Sausset Racing Team 41) and received support from well-known people in motorsport. Christophe Tinseau , who has already retired from professional racing, was immediately ready to be available as a team-mate for Sausset and is now a close friend of his. He received further support from Wolfgang Ullrich , Head of Motorsport at Audi , and Jean Todt , President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . By Vincent Beaumesnil , the sports director of the Le Mans organizer Automobile Club de l'Ouest , he received the commitment with appropriate racing experience at the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 2016 start to be allowed.

In 2014, the insurance company Axa took over the financing of the project. At Onroak, a Ligier JS53 was converted so that both Sausset and Tinseau could drive it. Sausset was lifted into the vehicle with the seat and taken out again. With a device on his thighs, he could operate the accelerator and brake. He steered with a special hand prosthesis on his right arm. In Morgan LMP2 , who came to Le Mans in 2016 used this concept has been further improved. Both cars had an automatic transmission and an ejector seat that Sausset could have triggered in the event of an accident.

In 2015 he contested his first races in the V de V Challenge Endurcane Series . At Le Mans in 2016, he was assigned garage 56, which is intended for innovations. In preparation for the race at Le Mans, he drove the to the European Le Mans Series in 2016 scoring four-hour race at Silverstone . The third driver, like later at Le Mans, was Jean-Bernard Bouvet . The trio finished the race at Le Mans in 38th place overall.