Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Ferrari

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team.

Early career

After winning the Spanish Karting Championship in 1986, Sabadell-born Gené moved up to automobiles, where he became instantly competitive, winning the Fiat Uno Championship in 1987 and the Spanish

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Championship the following year. In 1989, Gené emigrated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where he drove in the British Formula Ford Championship, also taking part in the

Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are hel ...

, where he took 4th place. Moving up to

British Formula 3 Championship The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

, Gené spent two years in the series, taking 4th place in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

with

West Surrey Racing West Surrey Racing is a UK-based motorsport team run by New Zealander Dick Bennetts. He is responsible for masterminding the careers of such names as Ayrton Senna, Mika Häkkinen, Jonathan Palmer, Rubens Barrichello, Maurício Gugelmin and Eddi ...

, driving a Ralt-

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

. Gené also attended the Marlboro Masters in Zandvoort, where he lost the international F3 meeting to

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

, and took part in the traditional season-ender races in Asia, the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

and Fuji Superprix, winning the latter.

Formula 3000 and Formula One attempts

Thanks to

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

sponsorship, Gené found a seat in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

in 1992, partnering

Laurent Aïello Laurent Aïello (born 23 May 1969 in Fontenay-aux-Roses) is a French former Auto racing, race car driver, most notable for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1998, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1999 Brit ...

for Pacific Racing. Gené won the opening round at Silverstone and finished 5th in the Championship in his

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

- Mugen. The following year, Gené was involved in the Bravo F1 project, an attempt by former Spanish F1 driver Adrián Campos to create a

team. However, the project was aborted upon the sudden death of team owner Jean Mosnier and the failure of the car to pass the mandatory crash tests, the Team did however turn up at 1993 South African Grand Prix. Gené repeated F3000, this time with TWR Jr., but failed to score a single point. However, the Walkinshaw connection led him to a test driver contract with the Benetton team in , alongside his third year in F3000, now with

Nordic Racing Coca-Cola Nordic Racing (formerly Nordic Racing 1993-2000) was an auto racing team from United Kingdom. Nordic Racing was owned by Derek Mower. It was headquartered in Thetford, UK. The team achieved its best results came in 2001 International Fo ...

and a

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chassis.

Touring cars

Spanish Touring Car Championship

Failing to move up to Formula One, Gené returned to his native Spain and joined the Campeonato de España de Turismos. In 1995, he became an Opel works driver and drove an

Opel Vectra The Opel Vectra is a mid-size car ( large family car) that was engineered and produced by the German automaker Opel from 1988 until 2010. Available in saloon, hatchback and estate body styles, the Vectra was also sold by the Vauxhall marque ...

to second place in the championship, but a switch to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

the following year gave him the title after five wins.

European Touring Car Championship

This led to him joining

Roberto Ravaglia Roberto Ravaglia (born 26 May 1957 in Venice, Italy) is a former auto racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most s ...

's BMW Team Italy-Spain in 2002, driving a BMW 320i in the

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

and finishing 8th overall, but although the BMW was one of the two most competitive cars in the field, Gené left the team at the end of year to join SEAT's new attack on the ETCC, starting in 2003. After a disappointing first season (17th place overall), the Spanish driver's (and the team's) fortunes improved in 2004, where Gené finished on the podium twice, taking the Toledo to 8th place overall in the series.

World Touring Car Championship

SEAT Sport (2005–2009)

In 2005, Gené raced for SEAT in the

, initially with the

SEAT Toledo The SEAT Toledo is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT, part of Volkswagen Group. The Toledo name was first introduced to the SEAT line up in May 1991 being named after a Spanish city with the same name, with the fourt ...

, and took a win towards the end of the season with the brand new SEAT León. He finished 11th in the championship. Jordi Gene 2009 WTCC Race of Japan (Free Practice)

Jordi Gene 2009 WTCC Race of Japan (Free Practice)

Gené stayed at SEAT Sport in 2009 as part of an unchanged lineup at the team. He took two podium results from the season opening Race of Brazil in an event where SEAT filled both podiums. He briefly led race two of the Race of Mexico before being passed by multiple drivers and finishing seventh. Gené finished on the podium for race one of the inaugural Race of Morocco after passing teammate

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

on the last lap, he retired from the second race with electrical problems. The start line incident in race one of the Race of the Czech Republic saw Gené along with

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...

Robert Huff Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...

and Nicola Larini taken out of the race by Augusto Farfus who had veered to the left approaching the first corner. Gené along with teammate Muller failed to get through to the second part of qualifying for the Race of UK, he then had all his times disallowed because the engine speed sensor of his car's data logging system was disconnected and he dropped to the back of the grid as a result. He was involved in an incident at the first chicane in race one of the Race of Germany and he retired on the second lap. Gené dropped out of contention in race one of the Race of Italy on the opening lap. He triggered an accident when he hit Huff's

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

under braking, Huff lost control and made contact with Rickard Rydell who then hit Gené and Farfus. He had to sacrifice his position in race two of the Race of Japan in order to benefit championship contender Tarquini. He finished off the season at the Race of Macau with a podium in race one and was eighth in the drivers' championship.

SR–Sport (2010)

Following the withdrawal of the works SEAT outfit at the end of 2009, in January 2010 it was confirmed that he would partner

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He h ...

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

and

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

in the SEAT supported SR–Sport team, run by SUNRED Engineering. He was the best SEAT driver in qualifying by lining up second, he finished seventh in the first race and second in the second race. At the Race of Belgium he passed teammate

at the start of the first race but he was under investigation after it appeared he had been ahead of Tarquini at the

rolling start A rolling start is one of two modes of initiating or restarting an auto race; the other mode is the standing start. In a rolling start, the cars are ordered on the track and are led on a certain number of laps (parade or caution laps) at a pre-de ...

. Gené went on to take the victory but was later disqualified for a technical infringement, handing Tarquini the win. He did not finish either of the races at the Race of Portugal due to punctures. He was caught out by a first lap crash in race one of the Race of the Czech Republic which also forced teammate

to retire while a number of other drivers continued with minor damage. He was replaced at the Race of Japan by SEAT León Eurocup racer Michaël Rossi. He did not return after that and he finished the season twelfth in the drivers' standings.

Scandinavian Touring Car Championship

Gené moved to the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, driving a

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2017. Production ended without a ...

for Volkswagen Team Biogas. His best result was a second place at Åre Östersund Airport, he finished seventh in the drivers' championship while teammate Johan Kristoffersson won the championship.

Truck racing

Gené's career took a completely different path in 1998, when he accepted Manuel Santos Marcos' invitation to drive the

Cepsa Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A.U. (''Spanish Petroleum Company''), commonly known as Cepsa, is a Spanish multinational oil and gas company. It operates in several European countries as well as in Algeria, Canada, Colombia, Morocco, Braz ...

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

in the European Truck Racing Cup. However, in spite of spending two years in truck racing, he achieved no notable results and went back to cars full-time in 2000.

Sportscars

Gené entered the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

, racing in the

LMP675 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

category in a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

-powered Reynard for Noel Del Bello's ROC team, and also took part in the

Spanish GT Championship The Spanish GT Championship / Iber GT (''Campeonato de España de GT / Iber GT'') was a Spanish auto racing series founded in 1999 and organised by the GT Sport Organización. The series runs multiple classes of grand tourer cars in events aroun ...

in a Porsche. In 2001, Gené remained with ROC and took the Reynard-VW to a class win at Le Mans, also climbing to 5th place overall. The team's Reynard-VW also took part in the European Le Mans Series, winning the 500km Most in the LMP675 class. At the end of the year, Gené returned to touring cars by taking part in the 24 Hours of Barcelona, where he drove the winning

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

. Gené also co-drove the SEAT Toledo GT car in the Spanish GT, winning the title in 2003 with Gines Vivancos, but in 2004, the new SEAT Cupra GT was not so competitive.

Racing record