Thierry Boutsen

Thierry Boutsen

Nation:	Belgium
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1983 Belgian Grand Prix
Last start:	Belgian Grand Prix 1993
Constructors
1983–1987  Arrows  1987–1988  Benetton  1989–1990  Williams  1991–1992  Ligier  1993  Jordan
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup fourth ( 1988 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 163 3 1 2
World Cup points :	132
Podiums :	15th
Leadership laps :	164 over 662 km

Thierry Marc Boutsen (born July 13, 1957 in Brussels ) is a former Belgian racing driver and Formula 1 driver .

Career

Boutsen's racing career began in 1975 as a student at the Teddy Pilette driving school. He soon gave up his engineering studies, which he was initially still pursuing, in favor of his racing career. In 1979 he drove in European and German Formula 3 . In 1980 he switched to Martini, won three times and finished second in the European Formula 3 Championship behind Michele Alboreto . In 1981 he switched to Formula 2 and finished second in the overall standings behind Geoff Lees ; 1982 he drove for the Spirit - Honda team alongside Stefan Johansson and was with three wins third in the Formula 2 European Championship.

Boutsen also tested the new Spirit-Honda Formula 1, but since he Johansson was brought forward as a race driver, he celebrated his Formula 1 debut at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1983 in Spa on Arrows . From 1983 to 1993 he drove in Formula 1 and took part in a total of 163 races, of which he won three, scoring one pole position and the fastest race lap as well as a total of 132 championship points. He remained loyal to Arrows until 1987 , culminating in second place in San Marino in 1985 .

But his career really started 1987/ 1988 at Benetton . Boutsen became a constant point collector, in 1988 he finished fourth in the World Cup with five third places. In 1989 Frank Williams hired him, whose team was equipped with Renault engines that year . This combination turned out to be very competitive and Thierry Boutsen was able to win the two rain battles in Canada and Australia , finishing fifth overall. In 1990 he drove his best race at the Hungarian Grand Prix , which he won despite the grueling pressure from Ayrton Senna and a number of other pilots. But at the end of 1990 he had to leave Williams because Nigel Mansell was brought back to the team and on the other hand Riccardo Patrese stayed in the team.

Boutsen signed a two-year contract with Ligier . But that turned out to be a bad move, because he subsequently had to struggle with below-average material, never got beyond midfield and the only gain in two years was only two World Cup points. In 1993 he contested ten Grands Prix for Jordan , but he never really got going and at the Belgian Grand Prix he came full circle when he retired after ten years of Formula 1.

His calm and reserved manner outside the cockpit was a reflection of his idea as a racing driver. Not exactly a driver for the fastest lap, but he always convinced in the races with calm, serenity and precision. He made hardly any driving errors and seldom resigned through his own fault.

In addition to his Formula 1 career, he also competed in numerous races for the World Sports Car Championship and at Le Mans , preferably in a Porsche and Toyota .

Boutsen's racing career ended in 1999 when he sustained serious back injuries in an accident at the Le Mans 24-hour race .

Boutsen now lives as a dealer in small aircraft in Monaco . Since his retirement as an active racing driver, he has also had his own racing team, Boutsen Energy Racing , with which he participates in various national racing series as a team leader. Boutsen himself speaks very good German.

statistics

Grand Prix victories

1989 Canadian Grand Prix ( Montréal )  1989 Australian Grand Prix ( Adelaide )

1990 Hungarian Grand Prix ( Mogyoród )

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1981	WM AEREM	WM P79 / 80	Serge Saulnier	Michel Pignard	failure	accident
1983	Ford Concessionaires France	Rondeau M482	Henri Pescarolo		failure	Engine failure
1986	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Didier Theys	Alain Ferté	failure	accident
1993	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	Yannick Dalmas	Teo Fabi	Rank 2
1994	Joest Racing	Duration 962LM GT	Danny Sullivan	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Rank 3
1995	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kremer K8 Spyder	Christophe Bouchut	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Rank 6
1996	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	Bob Wollek	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Rank 2 and class win
1997	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	Bob Wollek	Hans-Joachim Stuck	failure	Gearbox damage
1998	Toyota Motorsport	Toyota GT-One	Ralf Kelleners	Geoff Lees	failure	Gearbox damage
1999	Toyota Motorsport	Toyota GT-One	Ralf Kelleners	Allan McNish	failure	Gearbox damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1998	Champion Motors	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Bob Wollek	Andy Pilgrim	Rank 3
1999	Champion Racing	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Bob Wollek	Dirk Mueller	Rank 4

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1979	Team Willeme	BMW 530	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
															DNF
1981	Welter Racing	WM P79 / 80	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
										DNF
1982	Jean Rondeau Italya Sport	Rondeau M382	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	MUG	FUJ	BRH
							DNF		DNF
1983	Joest Racing Ford France Matsuda Collection John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956 Rondeau M482	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	FUJ	KYA
			1	3		DNF	9	4th	DNF
1984	Bandit team	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	BRH	MOS	SPA	IMO	FUJ	KYA	SAN
			DNF	8th		2	3		DNF	DNF			DNF
1985	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
			3	DNF	10		DNF		DNF
1986	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962 Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	JER	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
			5	11	DNF	10	3		DNF	1

literature

• Steve Small: Grand Prix Who's Who, 3rd Edition . Travel Publishing, London 2000, ISBN 1-902007-46-8

Web links

Commons : Thierry Boutsen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thierry Boutsen at Racing Sports Cars