George Fouché

George Fouché in the Formula 1 Jordan 193; during a test drive at Silverstone in 1993

George Robert Fouché (born May 15, 1965 in Pretoria ) is a former South African racing car driver .

Career in motorsport

Youth and early years

George Fouché grew up as the son of a brickworks owner in South Africa. At the age of six he drove his father's excavators . At the age of eight, he sustained a head wound while teaching one of his father's employees to drive a tractor . The vehicle overturned and it was only through great luck that he got away almost unscathed. A scar remained on the left eyebrow. At the age of eight he also began to drive kart races and at the age of 16 received his first racing license - even before he had his driver's license to drive on public roads.

When he made his debut as a racing driver in the Kyalami 1000 km race in December 1983 , not only did he not have any experience in circuit racing, but at 17 years and seven months was also one of the youngest racing drivers in motorsport history to compete in a motorsport world championship participated. In the race, the Kremer-Racing - Porsche 956 , whose cockpit he shared with Franz Konrad and Kees Kroesemeijer , was disqualified after driving 196 laps after a mistake during the pit stop.

Success in sports cars

The connection with Kremer Racing, which was established in 1983, was permanent and successful for both sides. For many years he competed in the sports car world championship for the German racing team . He had a second year-long contractual relationship with the Japanese Trust Racing Team and drove for this team in the All-Japan Endurance Championship.

Fouché was one of the best sports car drivers in the 1980s and 1990s. The amazing thing about his career is the fact that although he crossed the finish line almost two dozen times in the top six in the overall standings, he only celebrated three race wins. In 86 races he made it onto the top three podium 14 times. He celebrated his first race victory in 1986 together with Vern Schuppan and Keiichi Suzuki at the 500-mile race in Fuji . In 1989 he won the Interseries races on the Hungaroring . and in must

In 1989 he lost the possible overall victory in a race in the Japanese sports car championship, the Fuji 1000 km race , when he stopped in the race to free Oscar Larrauri trapped in his burning Porsche 962C . He finished the event in the same round as the winners Vern Schuppen, Eje Elgh and Keiji Matsumoto together with Steven Andskär in second place. He competed 13 times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he made his debut in 1984 . His best placings in this endurance race were fourth overall in 1986 , 1987 and 1994 .

Fouché, who also completed a Formula 1 test for the Jordan Grand Prix in 1993 , retired from racing in late 1999.

Accidents and illness

In 1987 he was booked for South African Airways flight 295 from Taipei to Johannesburg , but missed it because his flight from Tokyo was canceled. The Boeing 747-244B Combi crashed into the sea after a fire in the cargo hold near Mauritius . All inmates were killed in the disaster. In 1992 he had a serious accident while training for the Fuji 1000 km race when a tire burst on his Toyota 92C-V ; the car rolled over several times and he broke both legs. For several months he could only move on crutches.

In 2007, Fouché had a ruptured appendix after a misdiagnosis , spent 63 days in an intensive care unit , but was able to recover completely.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1984	Obermaier Racing	Porsche 956	Jürgen Lässig	John Graham	failure	accident
1985	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	Sarel van der Merwe	Mario Hytten	Rank 5
1986	John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956B	Fermín Vélez	Emilio de Villota	Rank 4
1987	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 962C	Franz Konrad	Wayne Taylor	Rank 4
1988	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 962C	Kris Nissen	Harald Grohs	Rank 8
1989	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 962CK6	Hideki Okada	Masanori Sekiya	failure	Engine failure
1990	Trust Racing Team	Porsche 962C	Steven Andskar	Shunji Kasuya	Rank 13
1991	Courage Compétition	Porsche 962C	Steven Andskar		failure	Gearbox damage
1992	Greedy Trust Racing Team	Toyota 92C-V	Steven Andskar	Stefan Johansson	5th place and class win
1993	Nisso Trust Racing Team	Toyota 93C-V	Steven Andskar	Eje Elgh	Rank 6
1994	Nisso Trust Racing Team	Toyota 94C-V	Steven Andskar	Bob Wollek	Rank 4
1996	Kremer Racing	Kremer K8 Spyder	Stanley Dickens	Steve Fossett	failure	accident
1997	Newcastle United Lister	Lister Storm GTL	Tiff Needell	Geoff Lees	failure	accident

Web links

Commons : George Fouché  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• George Fouché at Racing Sports Cars (English)
• George Fouché in the Driver Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1000km Kyalami Race 1983
2. ↑ 1986 Fuji 500 Mile Race
3. ↑ Interserie Hungaroring 1989
4. ^ Interserie Most 1989
5. ↑ Fuji 1000 km race in 1989
6. ↑ Fuji 1000 km race in 1992