# Jean-Denis Delétraz

Jean-Denis Delétraz (born 1 October 1963) is a Swiss racing driver. He participated in three Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Before reaching Formula One, he scored two third places in the 1988 Formula 3000 season, but principally earned his three Formula One drives as a pay driver. After Formula One, he competed in sports car racing, with two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

## Career
### Pre-Formula One

Delétraz had some success in his early career, including two wins in Formula Ford cars. He went on to compete in Formula Three between 1985 and 1987 in the French championship, finishing 14th in the final standings in 1987. Between 1988 and 1991, he competed in Formula 3000 and during 1990 he bought the FIRST racing team, but was never able to match the success of 1988 and scored no points. During 1991 the team was impounded by an Italian court for a time after legal action from the team's other driver, Giovanni Bonanno.
In 1992 and 1993, Deletraz competed in the French Touring Car Championship and the Porsche Supercup with little success. In 1994, Delétraz was signed as a driver for the SEAT works team in the French Touring Car Championship. His best result was fifth place in the race at Nogaro and he finished thirteenth overall in the standings.

### Formula One
#### 1994: Larrousse

Towards the end of 1994, Larrousse was, like a number of other teams at the time, running short of money and needed pay drivers to keep the team afloat. Larrousse's number 19 car, which had started the year being driven by Olivier Beretta, was now being driven by drivers who could bring sponsorship money to the team. For the final race of the year in Australia, Larrousse let the aero-car inexperienced, physically unfit Delétraz replace Érik Comas in the team's second car for more sponsorship money in order to aid their financial situation.
During qualifying, Delétraz qualified in 25th position, ahead of Simtek's Domenico Schiattarella. However, Schiattarella overtook him during the first lap of the Grand Prix, and Delétraz gradually dropped back from the rest of the field. He retired on lap 57 with gearbox failure, after he had already been lapped ten times. He was lapping the circuit six seconds slower than the leaders, two seconds slower than his teammate Hideki Noda and 1–2 seconds slower than the next slowest driver Schiattarella. He was described by BBC commentator Jonathan Palmer as "having no business in Formula One."
   Yes Delétraz, really, here having no business in Formula One. And demonstrating it there: he's spending all of his modest effort, frankly, keeping the car on the road. He's holding up Gerhard Berger there, who has now lost a second on Nigel Mansell, in the Larrousse. This is, I'm afraid, one of the problems of the Grand Prix season - at the end of the year we do get one or two drives being taken by people who've got more money than talent, and that's one example of it.

#### 1995: Pacific

Pacific Team Lotus started with shareholder Bertrand Gachot and Andrea Montermini as its drivers, but similar to Larrousse the previous year, the team needed pay drivers to continue the season and Gachot vacated his seat. It was announced that Delétraz would be competing in the final five races of the season.
   "I am very happy to be returning to Formula One and we will work hard together to make this a competitive end to the season. Although the Pacific team is quite small, they have a lot of motivation and I think everyone knows that Keith Wiggins is determined to make strong progress in Formula One. For me it is a good opportunity to gain more Formula One experience, and to develop a programme which hopefully will lead to my participation in the 1996 Formula One World Championship."
During qualifying for his first round of the year, in Portugal, Delétraz was hindered by a gearbox problem which saw him qualify last, twelve seconds behind pole-position sitter David Coulthard. In the race, Delétraz was 40 seconds behind Coulthard after 3 laps, and was lapping the circuit 12 seconds slower than the leaders and 6–7 seconds than the next slowest driver Roberto Moreno in a Forti and 7–8 seconds slower than his team-mate Montermini. He was lapped by the leaders after seven laps of the race, and after fourteen he retired from the race with cramp in his left arm. This drew criticism as Estoril is a clockwise circuit, which requires more work from the right arm. In his second race at the Nürburgring, he qualified just over nine seconds behind pole-position, and he finished the race in fifteenth place as the last finisher, seven laps behind the winner. At one point while he was being lapped by the leaders, Delétraz suddenly darted his car across the track from one side to the other and back again, prompting BBC commentator Murray Walker to exclaim "And what is Delétraz doing? Doesn't matter what he's doing."
At the next race, he was replaced by Bertrand Gachot after planned replacements were denied superlicenses. It had been expected that Delétraz would be competing until the end of the season, but he defaulted on payment and Keith Wiggins, principal of the Pacific team stated, "On ability alone, we are not willing to keep him."
The slow qualifying speeds of drivers like Delétraz resulted in the introduction of the 107% rule for the 1996 season - with some F1 fans nicknaming the new regulation the "Delétraz rule" as a result.

### Sports Car Racing

After his tenure in Formula One, Delétraz focused on endurance racing, running in the 24 Hours of LeMans and the BPR Global GT Series in 1995. 1996 saw Delétraz move to the FIRST Racing operation he now co-owned with fellow driver Fabien Giroix. Two years in the BPR Global GT Series in a McLaren F1 GTR was followed by a move to the FIA GT Championship in 1997, with FIRST running the works Lotus Elise GT1s. After a couple of years away, FIRST and Delétraz returned to the FIA Championship in 2000 with a Ferrari 550 Maranello. In 2002, he took four wins in the series with team-mate Andrea Piccini in a BMS Scuderia Italia-run 550, and the pair finished fifth in the championship. They then drove a works Lister Storm in 2003. He has also scored two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2001 and 2002 in the LMP675 class — profiting from a final lap suspension failure for the leading Welter-Peugeot during the latter. He was also one of the drivers of the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R that won the 2007 Spa 24 Hours.
Jean-Denis's son, Louis, is also a racing driver with experience in Formula 2, endurance, and sports car racing.

## Racing record
### Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
| 1988 | Sport Auto Racing | Lola T88/50 | Cosworth | JER 9 | VAL DNQ | PAU Ret | SIL DNQ | MNZ Ret | PER DNQ | BRH | BIR 10 | | | | 13th | 8 |
| 1988 | GDBA Motorsport | Lola T88/50 | Cosworth | | | | | | | | | BUG 3 | ZOL 3 | DIJ Ret | 13th | 8 |
| 1989 | First Racing | Leyton March 89B | Cosworth | SIL 14 | VAL Ret | PAU Ret | | | | | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 1989 | First Racing | Reynard 89D | Cosworth | | | | JER 15 | PER Ret | BRH DSQ | BIR 12 | SPA DNQ | BUG Ret | DIJ 9 | | NC | 0 |
| 1990 | First Racing | Reynard 90D | Cosworth | DON 7 | SIL DNQ | PAU Ret | JER DNQ | MNZ Ret | PER | HOC | BRH | BIR | BUG | NOG | NC | 0 |
| 1991 | First Racing | Reynard 91D | Cosworth | VAL DNS | PAU DNQ | JER Ret | MUG | PER | HOC | BRH | SPA | BUG | NOG | | NC | 0 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||

### Complete World Sportscar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
| 1988 | Swiss Team Salamin | C1 | Porsche 962C | Porsche Type 935/79 2.8 F6t | JER | JAR | MNZ | SIL | LMS | BRN | BRH 7 | NÜR | SPA | FUJ | SAN | NC | 0 |
| Source: ||||||||||||||||||

### Complete Formula One results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Pts |
| 1994 | Tourtel Larrousse | Larrousse LH94 | Ford HBF7/8 3.5 V8 | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | JPN | AUS Ret | | NC | 0 |
| 1995 | Pacific Team Lotus | Pacific PR02 | Ford EDC 3.0 V8 | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR Ret | EUR 15 | PAC | JPN | AUS | NC | 0 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||||||||

### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 1995 | Giroix Racing Team | Fabien Giroix Olivier Grouillard | McLaren F1 GTR | GT1 | 290 | 5th | 4th |
| 1996 | Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing Giroix Racing Team | Fabien Giroix Maurizio Sandro Sala | McLaren F1 GTR | GT1 | 146 | DNF | DNF |
| 1997 | GT1 Lotus Racing | Fabien Giroix Ratanakul Prutirat | Lotus Elise GT1-Chevrolet | GT1 | - | DNQ | DNQ |
| 2000 | Racing Organisation Course | Ralf Kelleners David Terrien | Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen | LMP675 | 44 | DNF | DNF |
| 2001 | ROC Auto | Jordi Gené Pascal Fabre | Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen | LMP675 | 284 | 5th | 1st |
| 2002 | Noël del Bello Racing ROC Compétition | Christophe Pillon Walter Lechner, Jr. | Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen | LMP675 | 317 | 19th | 1st |
| 2004 | Barron Connor Racing | Mike Hezemans Ange Barde | Ferrari 575-GTC | GTS | 200 | DNF | DNF |
| 2007 | Swiss Spirit | Marcel Fässler Iradj Alexander | Lola B07/18-Audi | LMP1 | 62 | DNF | DNF |
| 2012 | Gulf Racing Middle East | Keiko Ihara Marc Rostan | Lola B12/80-Nissan | LMP2 | 17 | DNF | DNF |
| Source: ||||||||

### Complete FIA GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
| 1997 | GT1 Lotus Racing | Lotus Elise GT1 | GT1 | HOC Ret | SIL Ret | HEL 12 | NÜR Ret | SPA 8 | A1R Ret | SUZ | DON Ret | MUG | SEB Ret | LAG Ret | NC | 0 |
| 1998 | Zakspeed Racing | Porsche 911 GT1-98 | GT1 | OSC | SIL | HOC | DIJ | HUN | SUZ 8 | DON | A1R | HOM | LAG | | NC | 0 |
| 2000 | First Racing | Ferrari 550 Maranello | GT | VAL Ret | EST | MNZ Ret | SIL | HUN | ZOL Ret | A1R | LAU | BRN Ret | MAG Ret | | NC | 0 |
| 2002 | BMS Scuderia Italia | Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello | GT | MAG 6 | SIL Ret | BRN Ret | JAR 1 | AND 1 | OSC 1 | SPA Ret | PER 10 | DON Ret | EST 1 | | 5th | 41 |
| 2003 | Lister Storm Racing | Lister Storm | GT | CAT 4 | MAG 3 | PER 5 | BRN 2 | DON 9 | SPA | AND | OSC | EST | MNZ | | 15th | 23 |
| 2004 | DAMS | Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT | GT | MNZ | VAL | MAG | HOC | BRN | DON | SPA | IMO 14 | OSC Ret | DUB Ret | ZHU Ret | NC | 0 |
| 2005 | GPC Sport | Ferrari 575-GTC Maranello | GT1 | MNZ Ret | MAG 9 | SIL 7 | IMO Ret | BRN Ret | SPA Ret | OSC 6 | IST 4 | ZHU 5 | DUB 6 | BHR 12 | 15th | 19 |
| 2006 | Phoenix Racing | Aston Martin DBR9 | GT1 | SIL 6 | BRN 2 | OSC 3 | SPA 2 | PRI 6 | DIJ 3 | MUG 6 | HUN 4 | ADR Ret | DUB 1 | | 2nd | 62 |
| 2007 | Phoenix Carsport Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | GT1 | ZHU 5 | SIL 2 | BUC Ret | MNZ 3 | OSC Ret | SPA 1 | ADR 5 | BRN 9 | NOG 1 | ZOL 4 | | 4th | 55 |
| 2008 | Phoenix Carsport Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | GT1 | SIL 8 | MNZ Ret | ADR 3 | OSC 3 | SPA 6 | BUC 1 | BUC 1 | BRN 4 | NOG 3 | ZOL 5 | SAN | 8th | 45.5 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||

### Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Pts |
| 2012 | Gulf Racing Middle East | LMP2 | Lola B12/80 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 V8 | SEB EX | SPA 18 | LMS Ret | SIL 15 | SÃO 24 | BHR Ret | FUJ 13 | SHA Ret | 70th | 2 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||

## Footnotes

* ↑ Smith, Bruce; Earnes, Mark (1995). Formula 1 Grand Prix Season 1995. Words on Sport Ltd. p. 60. ISBN 1-898351-25-2.
* 1 2 3 4 5 "Jean-Denis Delétraz - Biography". F1 Rejects. 2003-10-08. Archived from the original on 17 December 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
* ↑ "Driver Biography: Jean-Denis Deletraz". FIA GT Championship. Archived from the original on 5 May 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
* 1 2 "Drivers: Jean-Denis Deletraz". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
* 1 2 3 "Constructors: Larrousse". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
* ↑ transcript of recording from F1 Rejects
* ↑ Jones, Bruce (1998). The Complete Encyclopedia of Formula One. Carlton Books Ltd. p. 206. ISBN 1-85868-515-X.
* ↑ "Jean-Denis Deletraz signing". Pacific Grand Prix. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
* ↑ ""What is Deletraz doing?" - YouTube". www.youtube.com. 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
* ↑ "Audi dominates at Le Mans". GrandPrix.com. 16 June 2002. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
* 1 2 3 4 5 "Jean-Denis Deletraz". Motor Sport. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
* 1 2 3 4 "Jean-Denis Deletraz Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
* ↑ Small, Steve (2000). "Jean-Denis Deletraz". Grand Prix Who's Who (Third ed.). Reading, Berkshire: Travel Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-902007-46-5. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via Internet Archive.
* ↑ "All Results of Jean-Denis Delétraz". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
* ↑ "Jean-Denis Deletraz". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 25 February 2025.