| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
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1985-89
Wipes the floor with French F3 |
Born on New Years Day 1963 in Aubermas, France (where he continues to live), Jean-Marc Gounon began his career in Formule Renault in 1985, coming 10th. In the same category over the next two years, he was runner-up twice, taking 2 wins in 1986 and 4 in 1987.
Stepping up to French F3 in 1988, he finished as rookie of the year in 4th. With the famous Oreca team in 1989, though, he swept all aside to record 5 wins and become champion. |
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1990-91
So-so in F3000 |
With that on his CV, one could perhaps say that he underachieved in F3000. In 1990 his best was 3rd at Hockenheim for the Mansell-Madgwick team.
In 1991, he moved to Mike Earle's 3001 team, winning at Pau and coming 6th in his Ralt, which compared to the Reynards and Lolas was highly unfashionable. He also won at Enna, but ended up being penalised for a jump start. |
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1992-93
Poor couple of years |
Then in 1992 he was firm favourite having moved to the DAMS team with a Lola chassis, but unfortunately it was no match for the Reynards. Gounon had to be content with a solitary win at
Magny Cours and 2nd at Nogaro.
In 1993, he was originally scheduled to drive for March in F1, but that team, short of funds, folded before the season began. His other option of another season in F3000 with a Lola chassis also failed to materialise. |
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| FORMULA ONE | ||
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1993 Minardi Two race chance bombs |
What did materialise, though, was a Minardi F1 drive at the end of 1993, in the last two races of the season in place of
Christian Fittipaldi. Not that Gounon covered himself in glory.
In Japan and Australia he qualified 24th and 22nd respectively out of 24, but proceeded to retire in both. At Suzuka it was due to collision damage, and at Adelaide he simply spun out. |
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1994 Simtek Accidents galore give Gounon a go |
Out of a drive again in 1994, Gounon was signed up to drive a BMW 318i in the French touring car season. Throughout the year, he was consistently competitive but usually off the leading pace. In 12 rounds, he only failed to finish once when he crashed; otherwise he was never out of the top 10, coming 2nd at Paul Ricard.
But halfway through the year he was in an F1 cockpit again. Though there were rumours that he was signed by the new Simtek team for the start of 1994, Roland Ratzenberger ended up getting the nod. When the Austrian died, Andrea Montermini filled the seat but was injured in Spain. Gounon then got to drive from France onwards. |
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1994
Pretty disappointing display for a disappointing team |
Apart from the Pacifics, the Simteks were the minnows of the 1994 pack. In seven races, Gounon never failed to qualify, but then again was never higher than 25th out of 26 (in Belgium and Italy). On the other five occasions he only just scraped in.
In his very first race at Magny Cours, Gounon kept it together and finished 9th, which turned out to be Simtek's joint-best result in its 18-month history. It was his best finish in F1; though he finished in 3 other races for Simtek, he also retired three times. After Portugal, Gounon was replaced in the team by Domenico Schiattarella, who brought much-needed loot to Nick Wirth's struggling outfit. |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
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1995-96
Gounon's career on ice |
Since his abortive F1 career, Gounon's focus has been on sports cars. In 1995, he drove a Venturi 600LM at Le Mans, and returned in 1996 in a Ferrari F40 GTE which he shared with
Eric Bernard and Paul Belmondo, though the car retired with electronic problems. With the same drivers, in the same car, he competed in the 1996 Global GT series, coming 5th overall.
Also that year, Gounon drove in a Lamborghini Diablo in the Philippe Charriol Supersport Trophy, coming 2nd overall, finishing runner-up three times. At the start of the year, Gounon was also part of the works Seat outfit at the Chamonix 24hrs ice race, sharing the car with ice racing specialist Christophe Vaison with Daniel Ortelli as navigator. |
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1997-98
Better than average in FIA GT racing (just) |
In 1997, in the FIA GT championship, he drove a Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren BMW F1 GTR with
Pierre-Henri Raphanel (and occasionally with Anders Olofsson), coming 11th in the series, despite many results between 2nd and 6th. Having caught the ice racing bug from the year before, he also drove a Daewoo Nexia in the Andros Ice Racing Trophy, winning one event.
Continuing in FIA GT racing in 1998 with the Persson team in a Mercedes CLK-GTR, sharing it with Marcel Tiemann, Gounon came 9th overall, again with some good results (5th four times) but just a little off the pace. Chosen for the works Mercedes team for Le Mans to drive alongside Christophe Bouchut and current BAR driver Ricardo Zonta, the car retired early with an engine failure. |
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1999
The flip side of a motor racing career plus wins at Brno |
This year Gounon returned to the works Mercedes stable for Le Mans, sharing a car with Tiemann and Australian sensation Mark Webber. But this was a disastrous campaign for the Mercedes team. With an inherent aerodynamic fault in the design, Webber flipped twice in practice whilst going in a straight line, and at that point team management offered to withdraw.
The drivers would not do so, but five hours into the race, Peter Dumbreck, driving another works Mercedes, had an even more spectacular flip, the car rising many metres above the ground before crashing back to earth upside-down. The drivers did not need any more persuasion this time to agree to withdraw. Gounon has also been driving in the Sportsracing World Cup this year for DAMS in a Lola/Judd B98/10. He won at Donington with Bernard, and also at Brno in the following round with Christophe Tinseau. |
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