Serge Saulnier

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The Saulnier-Racing- Courage LC75 (front right), driven by Jacques Nicolet , Alain Filhol and Bruce Jouanny , at the 2007 Le Mans 24-hour race
Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with starting number 9; the winning car of the 2009 Le Mans 24-hour race

Serge Saulnier (born October 27, 1952 in Châlons-en-Champagne ) is a French motorsport official, former racing team owner and racing car driver .

Racing career

Serge Saulnier first came into contact with motorsport in the early 1970s. He worked from 1971 to 1973 as a mechanic for Jacques Laffite , the 1972 French Formula Renault Championship and 1973 Formula 3 Championship France won.

In 1974 he started his own racing career. He drove in Formula Renault and reached eighth place in the European Championships in 1976 (overall winner Didier Pironi ) and sixth in 1977 (overall winner Alain Prost ).

He was a driver in the Le Mans 24-hour race three times . Always for Welter Racing , the Gérard Welter team . Welter was a vehicle designer at Peugeot and received logistical and financial support for his racing team from the motor vehicle manufacturer in Sochaux . Saulnier drove for Welter in Le Mans in 1979 , 1980 and 1981 . In 1979, together with Max Mamers and Jean-Daniel Raulet, he was 14th overall in the World Championship P79 and won the GTP class.

Racing team owner and motorsport official

In 1981 Serge Saulnier founded his own racing team. From Promatecme 19 years later Saulnier Racing . The team was involved in monoposto sports for a long time . In 2001 the team won the French Formula 3 championship with Ryō Fukuda as a driver. In 1999 Jenson Button drove for the team in the British Formula 3 Championship , finished the season in third place in the overall standings and was named Rookie of the Year .

During his time as a driver for Welter Racing, Saulnier made first contacts with the executive boards and owners of Peugeot. In September 2006 he was appointed team boss of Peugeot Sport and was thus responsible for all of Peugeot's motorsport activities. Under his leadership, the long-distance team with the winning Peugeot 908 HDi FAP , the Le Mans Series in 2007 and reached 2,009 with the overall victory at Le Mans, the target defined by the Board of racing activities. Peugeot celebrated a double victory with the driver teams David Brabham / Marc Gené / Alexander Wurz and Franck Montagny / Sébastien Bourdais / Stéphane Sarrazin .

At the end of 2006 he sold his own team to his friend Jacques Nicolet , who made it OAK Racing in 2007 . In February 2010, Serge Saulnier resigned as team boss of Peugeot Sport and became managing director of the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1979 FranceFrance WM AEREM WM P79 FranceFrance Max Mamers FranceFrance Jean-Daniel Raulet 14th place and class win
1980 FranceFrance WM Esso WM P79 / 80 FranceFrance Jean-Louis Bousquet FranceFrance Denis Morin failure accident
1981 FranceFrance WM AEREM WM P79 / 80 BelgiumBelgium Thierry Boutsen FranceFrance Michel Pignard failure accident

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Challenge de Formule Renault Europe 1976
  2. ^ Challenge de Formule Renault Europe 1977
  3. ↑ Serge Saulnier becomes team boss of Peugeot (French)
  4. ↑ Serge Saulnier becomes managing director of the Magny-Cours race track (French)
personal data
SURNAME Saulnier, Serge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French car racing driver, racing team owner and motorsport official
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Châlons-en-Champagne