| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
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1981-86
Karting Champion |
Born on 1 September, 1968, in L'hay-les-Roses, Frenchman Franck Lagorce began racing competitively in karts in 1981, becoming French Junior Karting Champion that year.
Continuing to race in karts for the next few years, he came 10th in the 1985 Junior World Championship. In 1986 he was 2nd in the European 125cc karting championship. |
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1990-92
French F3 Champion with 3 wins |
He came 7th in the French 125cc series in 1987.
But also in 1987, he was 2nd in the Elkron Scholarship Award event at Montlhery, which earned him a drive in French Formula Ford in 1988. He came 5th in that year, and 4th in 1989, before moving up to Formula Renault in 1990, where he scored one win and came 2nd overall.
Continuing his climb up, he raced in French F3 in 1991, scoring two victories to place 4th in the series. He went three better in 1992 to become French F3 champion, having taken three wins. |
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1993
Lets F3000 title slip through his fingers |
In 1993 Lagorce took the plunge into F3000. In a DAMS Reynard/Cosworth as team-mate to eventual champion
Olivier Panis, he had a consistent season running in midfield, but ended the year with a flourish, taking consecutive wins in the last two rounds to come joint 4th.
Despite switching camps to the Apomatox Reynard/Cosworth team in 1994, Lagorce was one of the favourites for the crown. He started on the right note, with pole, fastest lap and victory in round 1, and with three races to go he was looking good for the title. But a series of blunders in the last three races saw Jean-Christophe Boullion snatch the championship from his grasp. 1994 also saw Lagorce make his Le Mans debut, driving for the Courage team, but his race ended in retirement. |
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| FORMULA ONE | ||
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1994 Ligier Briatore's games gives Lagorce a chance |
In September 1994, though, Lagorce signed on as test driver for the Ligier/Renault F1 team. By this stage
Benetton boss Flavio Briatore had bought the Ligier outfit, and soon began playing musical chairs with his drivers.
Firstly, he swapped Eric Bernard for Lotus' Johnny Herbert, and one race later, took Herbert to Benetton and asked Lagorce to fill in at Ligier for the final two races of the year. |
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1994
No chance at Japan, not a huge deal better Down Under |
Lagorce acquitted himself pretty well. In Japan, he qualified 20th, one spot behind team-mate Panis. Then in the race, in appallingly wet conditions, he spun coming out of the infamous
Suzuka chicane and was hit hard by
Pierluigi Martini's
Minardi.
In his second race at Adelaide, he again qualified 20th despite three spins in practice. Then, apart from a brief off on lap one, he ran a highly uneventful race, stopping twice for fuel and tyres to end up two laps down in 11th and last on the road (although Mika Hakkinen was classified 12th, he had crashed out with brake failure). It was probably true that Lagorce did both races without anyone really noticing. |
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1995-96
With no drive, he tests for Forti - what a thrill! |
Anyway, in 1995 Ligier got Mugen engines. Briatore kept Panis, and took in Martin Brundle, unwanted by
McLaren. Mugen then pressured him to share Brundle's car with
Aguri Suzuki, and Lagorce was left completely in the cold, relegated to a test role. And so that's what he did throughout the year, his only diversion being another DNF at Le Mans in a Courage Chevrolet.
With Tom Walkinshaw then taking over at Ligier, Lagorce found himself totally unwanted, and his only refuge turned out to be the test and reserve driver role at the Forti/Ford team in 1996. Joy indeed. As things turned out, the team was disbanded by mid-season, and Lagorce's F1 hopes, minimal as they were, were dashed. |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
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1996
Spider champion |
It's not as though Lagorce then spent the rest of his life twiddling his thumbs, however. He went and competed in the Renault Spider Elf Trophy in 1996, won two races and became champion.
He also raced again at Le Mans, coming 7th in a Courage Porsche C36 with Henri Pescarolo and Emmanuel Collard. |
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1996
Ventures into the high powered world of slot cars |
That year he also set up his own little business venture, the FLF1 Competition Centre for slot cars east of Paris, building the largest commercial track in Europe, and wanting to open up slot-car racing to the general public. As he explained himself:
"The clients can be 70 years old, and women win races here too. This is not a macho activity or one where women do not have their place. There are lots of children, but I won't hide the fact that the average age is 30 ... I've met people here who have said, 'I had nothing to do, and I'm a little too fat to play tennis, so this is great for me.' Today they have several cars, and they come almost every day. They come for the spirit of competition." |
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1997-98
Belgian Procars? Watch out Mr. Adams! |
In 1997 he competed in the FIA GT championship in a DAMS Panoz with Eric Bernard, but a spate of mechanical problems set him back. Similarly, his Le Mans outing with the same team also ended in mechanical failure.
In 1998 Lagorce took part in a variety of events, coming 5th at Le Mans for the Nissan works team with John Nielsen and Michael Krumm. He raced in the Belgian Procar championship in a Renault Megane, coming 3rd at the Spa round, and also 3rd in the Spa 24hrs enduro with P-Y. Corthals and K. Mollekens. He also took part once again in the FIA GT series in a Panoz, scoring two points at Suzuka with Christophe Tinseau and J. O'Connell. |
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1999
Favourite food pasta; favourite drink water. What a bore! |
In 1999, he has competed in the Sports Racing World Cup (formerly the International Sports Racing Series) in a Riley & Scott Mk III with Philippe Gache and Gary Formato. He was also in the Mercedes works team for Le Mans, sharing his car with fellow F1 rejects
Bernd Schneider and Pedro Lamy. But after horrific accidents to Mark Webber in practice, and to Peter Dumbreck five hours into the race, the team pulled out of the event.
On a personal note, Lagorce currently lives in Ballainvilliers in France, and he is married. He is 1.73 metres tall and weighs 60 kg. His favourite food is pasta, and his favourite drink is water. He enjoys karting and going to the cinema, and he also likes many other sports, such as tennis, golf, cycling and jet-skiing. He says that he likes all singers and all types of music. His aim is "to be successful in Formula One". Dream on, Franck. |
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