# Pacific Racing

Pacific Racing (later known as Pacific Grand Prix, and finally as Pacific Team Lotus) was a motor racing team from the United Kingdom. Following success in lower formulae, the team took part in two full seasons of Formula One, in 1994 and 1995, entering 33 Grands Prix without any success.

## Origins and success in lower formulae

The team was founded by former mechanic Keith Wiggins in 1984, to race in the European Formula Ford Championship, with Norwegian driver Harald Huysman and Marlboro backing. Huysman won both the European and Benelux titles. On Huysman's advice, Pacific entered Bertrand Gachot in British Formula Ford with a Reynard in 1985. The following year, Gachot, also part of the Marlboro World Championship team, won the Formula Ford 2000 crown for Pacific. Marlboro stayed with Wiggins' team in FF2000 in 1987, winning the British title with JJ Lehto.
In 1988, Pacific entered the British F3 Championship with Lehto and a Reynard car, and won the title on their first attempt. Wiggins did not want to stay in F3 and moved up to Formula 3000, once more in association with Reynard and Marlboro. However, Lehto and Eddie Irvine's season was disappointing and the tobacco company's support moved to rival DAMS in 1990. The team returned to form in 1991, taking Christian Fittipaldi to the F3000 crown.

## Formula One

Pacific Racing had won in every junior category it had participated in, and by 1992 Wiggins was determined that it would make the step up to F1 for the 1993 season, in the process renaming the team as Pacific Grand Prix. Lacking an in-house engineering staff and conscious of how limited his timescale was, Wiggins contacted F3000 constructor Reynard Racing to design and build the new PR01 chassis, hoping to benefit from several years of research and development that Reynard had invested in their recently scrapped in-house F1 project. Unfortunately for Pacific, the Rory Byrne-led design team had gone to Benetton at the end of 1991 and Reynard had sold the design (still in form of paper drawings) to Ligier. The small PR01 design team, working at Reynard but nominally employed by Pacific to conform to FIA Regulations, were forced to start a new design based on what little of the Reynard F1 research remained and utilizing a number of minor components from Reynard's F3000 chassis in an attempt to constrain costs. With their roots in the same project, the resulting Benetton B193, Ligier JS37 and Pacific PR01 shared the same slab-sided, raised-nose profile that later became standard in Formula One.
They instead postponed their entry in January 1993 because of a recession and resulting failure of investors to pay up.
They were unable to enter F1 until 1994. The year was a disaster. Paul Belmondo and former Jordan driver Bertrand Gachot (who was a shareholder in the team) started the season as drivers, with Oliver Gavin testing. The PR01, designed for the 1993 season, had undergone none of the vital wind tunnel testing required to refine the car's aerodynamics, had seen only a few dozen miles of track testing and its Ilmor 3.5 L V10 engine was underpowered by 1994 standards. That season the team failed to score a point or finish a single race, and from the French Grand Prix onwards, neither car qualified.
Aiming for a fresh start in 1995, Pacific made a deal with the owner of the former Team Lotus to enter as "Pacific Team Lotus". Although no staff, equipment or technology came to the team as a result, the aim was for Pacific to benefit from association with the famous Lotus name. The obsolete Ilmor engines had been replaced by Ford ED V8s and a whole host of new sponsors were brought in. Good news also came when the PR02 was guaranteed a start each race, with Larrousse and Lotus disappearing from the entry lists and only Forti coming in. An embarrassing moment happened during the reveal of the car when it took Wiggins 25 minutes to open a bottle of champagne. Belmondo had been replaced with Andrea Montermini. Having had no luck in the first half of the season, team partner Gachot vacated his seat in mid-1995, making way for paydrivers Giovanni Lavaggi (four races, four DNFs) and Jean-Denis Délétraz (two races, one DNF, one NC). Gachot later returned after the money of the two pay-drivers dried up and two drivers Wiggins wanted to run (Formula Nippon driver Katsumi Yamamoto for Okayama and Suzuka and test driver Oliver Gavin for Australia) were denied superlicences. Pacific's best finishes that season were 8th in the German and Australian Grands Prix, both times as the multi-lapped last car in the track.

## Withdrawal and aftermath

At the end of the 1995 season, the team withdrew from Formula One and Wiggins went back to Formula 3000, resurrecting Pacific Racing with Patrick Lemarié and Cristiano da Matta as drivers, but was unable to recapture the success of the pre-F1 era. Both were replaced by Oliver Tichy and Marc Gené for the following season; Gené left the team after his accident at Pau, and Tichy continued alone until the team quit mid-season. In 1997, Pacific's former F1 drivers Gachot and Belmondo were reunited in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, both acting as drivers of the Pacific-sponsored Toyota Supra entered by Cerumo in the GT500 class. On that same year, Wiggins also attempted to enter sportscar racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a heavily modified BRM chassis known as the P301 and using Nissan engines. Following a series of failures for the project into 1998, Wiggins closed the team.
Wiggins joined Lola and helped the constructor reclaim ground in the Champ Car World Series. With a foothold in the United States, the mechanic-turned-team manager joined up with the Herdez brewery and in 2000 acquired Bettenhausen Motorsports, renaming it HVM Racing. In 2006, Paul Stoddart, former owner of the Minardi F1 team, bought an interest in the team and renamed it Minardi Team USA; the team reverted to the HVM Racing name after American open-wheel reunification two years later, before leaving the sport at the end of 2012 season.

## Racing record
### Results summary

| Year | Championship | Car | # | Driver(s) | Races | Wins | Poles | Fastest laps | Points | DC/WDC | TC/WCC |
| 1984 | Benelux Formula Ford 1600 | | | Harald Huysman | | | | | | 1st | |
| 1984 | European Formula Ford 1600 | | | Harald Huysman | | | | | | 1st | |
| 1985 | British Formula Ford 1600 | Reynard | | Bertrand Gachot | | | | | | | |
| 1986 | British Formula Ford 2000 | Reynard | | Bertrand Gachot | | | | | | 1st | |
| 1987 | British Formula Ford 2000 | | | JJ Lehto | | | | | | 1st | |
| 1987 | European Formula Ford | | | JJ Lehto | | | | | | 1st | |
| 1988 | British Formula Three | Reynard 883-Toyota | 8 | JJ Lehto | 18 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 113 | 1st | n/a |
| 1988 | British Formula Three | Reynard 883-Toyota | 10 | Evan Demoulas | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | n/a |
| 1988 | British Formula Three | Reynard 883-Toyota | 10 | John Alcorn | | | | | 21* | 7th | n/a |
| 1988 | Macau Grand Prix | Reynard 883-Toyota | 2 | JJ Lehto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | n/a | Ret | n/a |
| 1989 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 89D-Mugen | 24 | Eddie Irvine | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9th | 7th |
| 1989 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 89D-Mugen | 25 | JJ Lehto | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13th | 7th |
| 1989 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 89D-Mugen | 25 | Allan McNish | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | 7th |
| 1990 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T90/50-Mugen | 24 | Stéphane Proulx | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1990 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T90/50-Mugen | 25 | Marco Greco | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1990 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T90/50-Mugen | 25 | Claude Bourbonnais | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1991 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 91D-Mugen | 29 | Antonio Tamburini | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 4th | 1st |
| 1991 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 91D-Mugen | 30 | Christian Fittipaldi | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 47 | 1st | 1st |
| 1992 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 92D-Mugen | 1 | Laurent Aïello | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13th | 4th |
| 1992 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 92D-Mugen | 2 | Jordi Gené | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 5th | 4th |
| 1993 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 93D-Cosworth | 8 | David Coulthard | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 3rd | 4th |
| 1993 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 93D-Cosworth | 9 | Michael Bartels | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | =11th | 4th |
| 1993 | International Formula 3000 | Reynard 93D-Cosworth | 9 | Phil Andrews | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | 4th |
| 1994 | Formula One | Pacific PR01-Ilmor | 33 | Paul Belmondo | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1994 | Formula One | Pacific PR01-Ilmor | 34 | Bertrand Gachot | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1995 | Formula One | Pacific PR02-Ford | 16 | Bertrand Gachot | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1995 | Formula One | Pacific PR02-Ford | 16 | Giovanni Lavaggi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1995 | Formula One | Pacific PR02-Ford | 16 | Jean-Denis Délétraz | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1995 | Formula One | Pacific PR02-Ford | 17 | Andrea Montermini | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1996 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T96/50-Zytek | 28 | Patrick Lemarié | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | =13th | 7th |
| 1996 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T96/50-Zytek | 29 | Cristiano da Matta | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | =8th | 7th |
| 1997 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T96/50-Zytek | 14 | Oliver Tichy | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14* | 7th | 9th |
| 1997 | International Formula 3000 | Lola T96/50-Zytek | 15 | Marc Gené | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC | 9th |
| 1997 | Intl. Sports Racing Series | BRM P301-Nissan | 14 | Franz Konrad Richard Dean Wido Rössler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
| 1997 | 24 Hours of Le Mans | BRM P301-Nissan | 14 | Eliseo Salazar Harri Toivonen Jesús Pareja | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 1998 | Intl. Sports Racing Series | BRM P301-Nissan | 14 | Tim Sugden Grant Orbell William Hewland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | NC |
* Including points scored for other teams.

### Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Points | TC |
| 1989 | Reynard 89D | Mugen V8 | A | | SIL | VAL | PAU | JER | PER | BRH | BIR | SPA | BUG | DIJ | | 17 | 7th |
| 1989 | Reynard 89D | Mugen V8 | A | Eddie Irvine | DNS | Ret | DSQ | Ret | 3 | Ret | 6 | 9 | 4 | 4 | | 17 | 7th |
| 1989 | Reynard 89D | Mugen V8 | A | JJ Lehto | DSQ | Ret | 4 | 6 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | | | 17 | 7th |
| 1989 | Reynard 89D | Mugen V8 | A | Allan McNish | | | | | | | | | | 8 | | 17 | 7th |
| 1990 | Lola T90/50 | Mugen V8 | A | | DON | SIL | PAU | JER | MNZ | PER | HOC | BRH | BIR | BUG | NOG | 0 | NC |
| 1990 | Lola T90/50 | Mugen V8 | A | Stéphane Proulx | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7 | 0 | NC |
| 1990 | Lola T90/50 | Mugen V8 | A | Marco Greco | DNQ | DNQ | | | | | | | | | | 0 | NC |
| 1990 | Lola T90/50 | Mugen V8 | A | Claude Bourbonnais | | | | | | | | | | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | NC |
| 1991 | Reynard 91D | Mugen V8 | A | | VAL | PAU | JER | MUG | PER | HOC | BRH | SPA | BUG | NOG | | 69 | 1st |
| 1991 | Reynard 91D | Mugen V8 | A | Antonio Tamburini | 3 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | Ret | 1 | Ret | | 69 | 1st |
| 1991 | Reynard 91D | Mugen V8 | A | Christian Fittipaldi | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | DSQ | 4 | 3 | Ret | 2 | 1 | | 69 | 1st |
| 1992 | Reynard 92D | Mugen V8 | A | | SIL | PAU | CAT | PER | HOC | NUR | SPA | ALB | NOG | MAG | | 24 | 4th |
| 1992 | Reynard 92D | Mugen V8 | A | Laurent Aïello | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | 10 | 5 | 6 | Ret | 7 | Ret | | 24 | 4th |
| 1992 | Reynard 92D | Mugen V8 | A | Jordi Gené | 1 | Ret | 3 | Ret | 5 | 8 | 2 | Ret | 8 | 10 | | 24 | 4th |
| 1993 | Reynard 93D | Cosworth V8 | A | | DON | SIL | PAU | PER | HOC | NUR | SPA | MAG | NOG | | | 29 | 4th |
| 1993 | Reynard 93D | Cosworth V8 | A | David Coulthard | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Ret | 7 | 3 | Ret | Ret | | | 29 | 4th |
| 1993 | Reynard 93D | Cosworth V8 | A | Michael Bartels | Ret | 3 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | | | | | 29 | 4th |
| 1993 | Reynard 93D | Cosworth V8 | A | Phil Andrews | | | | | | | | DSQ | 13 | | | 29 | 4th |
| 1996 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | | NUR | PAU | PER | HOC | SIL | SPA | MAG | EST | MUG | HOC | | 9 | 7th |
| 1996 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | Patrick Lemarié | 12 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 8 | Ret | 8 | 15 | Ret | 8 | | 9 | 7th |
| 1996 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | Cristiano da Matta | 9 | 4 | 5 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 5 | 7 | 20 | Ret | | 9 | 7th |
| 1997 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | | SIL | PAU | HEL | NUR | PER | HOC | A1R | SPA | MUG | JER | | 8 | 9th |
| 1997 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | Oliver Tichy | 8 | 8 | 2 | 9 | Ret | 7 | 5 | Ret | | | | 8 | 9th |
| 1997 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek V8 | A | Marc Gené | 13 | DNQ | | | | | | | | | | 8 | 9th |
| Sources: ||||||||||||||||||

### Complete Formula One results

(key)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
| 1994 | PR01 | Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10 | G | | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | JPN | AUS | | 0 | NC |
| 1994 | PR01 | Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10 | G | Paul Belmondo | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | | 0 | NC |
| 1994 | PR01 | Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10 | G | Bertrand Gachot | Ret | DNQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | G | | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | PAC | JPN | AUS | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | G | Bertrand Gachot | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | | | | | | | Ret | Ret | 8 | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | G | Giovanni Lavaggi | | | | | | | | | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | | | | | | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | G | Jean-Denis Délétraz | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ret | 15 | | | | 0 | NC |
| 1995 | PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | G | Andrea Montermini | 9 | Ret | Ret | DNS | DSQ | Ret | NC | Ret | 8 | 12 | Ret | DNS | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | NC |
| Sources: ||||||||||||||||||||||||