Simon Gachet (born 14 October 1993) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup for Tresor by Car Collection.

Career

Early career

An avid rugby player as a young boy, Gachet was not heavily involved with motorsports in his youth. He was introduced to motorsport through car magazines, and discovered single-seater racing while attending the Formula Motorsport school at the Circuit du Laquais. In 2011, he began competing in the V de V Challenge Monoplace, completely forgoing the karting process.

Junior formulae

In his opening season of single-seater competition, Gachet was crowned champion, taking two wins and 11 podiums in 15 races. That winter, Gachet won the Euroformula Volant test, awarding him a €60,000 bursary which allowed him to compete in the

French F4 Championship French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting gradua ...

for 2012. Scoring six podiums in 14 races, Gachet finished third in the overall points classification. For 2013, Gachet stepped up to the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, joining French team ARTA Engineering. He had a quiet start in his first season in the series, scoring his first points in July at Misano and finishing 14th in the championship. He returned to the team in 2014, adding a full-season effort in the Formula Renault Eurocup to his Alps series commitment. Gachet's second season in the Alps series proved more successful, as he scored a podium in each of his first three races en route to a 5th-place finish in the championship. Prior to the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtai ...

round of the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season, Gachet joined ART Junior Team. He would finish the Eurocup season in 19th, scoring just 10 points. For 2015, he joined Tech 1 Racing for a full-season campaign in the Formula Renault Eurocup, topping the charts in the series' preseason tests at MotorLand Aragón. However, it was another quiet season for Gachet, securing just one podium at

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

and finishing 16th overall.

Sports car racing

For 2016, Gachet moved to endurance racing, joining Panis Barthez Competition's entry into the LMP3 class of the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. The entry scored its first and only podium of the season at

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

, before taking pole position the following week at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Austria, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from t ...

. Entering five of the six races that season, Gachet and co-drivers Eric Debard and Valentin Moineault finished 9th in the LMP3 class championship. He returned to the team in 2017, finishing 14th in the drivers' championship. Alongside his European Le Mans Series campaign, Gachet joined Energy by ART's entry into the GT4 European Series Southern Cup, taking one podium at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is o ...

en route to a 20th-place finish in the Pro-Am class championship. Gachet completed 2017 with a pair of one-off appearances for

Saintéloc Racing Saintéloc Racing is a French motorsport team. It mainly operates in rallying and sports car racing series. Current series include the European Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The ...

in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance cups, finishing outside of the points in both appearances. 24H Series 2022 Spa Nr

2018 saw Gachet move full-time into the GT World Challenge Europe with Saintéloc. Pairing with Christopher Haase in the Sprint Cup, Gachet scored three overall podiums, including a second-placed finish at

, placing eighth in the championship. Gachet began the Endurance Cup season with Saintéloc's Pro entry, scoring a sixth-place finish at

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ...

before joining the team's Am-class entry for the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

. He would finish 37th in the overall Endurance Cup classification. He returned to the team in both championships for 2019, joining Haase once again in the Sprint Cup and returning to the team's Pro-class entry in the Endurance Cup. Gachet and Haase had their best statistical season to date, finishing fifth in the championship after taking four podiums and Gachet's first win in the series at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

. He had another quiet season in the Endurance Cup, finishing 33rd overall. Gachet played a diminished role for the team in 2020, joining Steven Palette in Saintéloc's Silver-class Sprint Cup entry. The duo found immediate success, taking class victory in the opening two races of the season and adding a podium to complete the opening weekend at Misano. The following round at Magny-Cours saw Gachet take the overall pole and victory in race #2, despite being classified in the Silver Cup class. Following the second race at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

, Gachet and Palette clinched the Silver Cup title. The following season saw Gachet switch his focus back to the Endurance Cup, joining

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG (Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG v ...

entrant AKKA-ASP in their Silver Cup entry. Claiming class victories at Paul Ricard and Barcelona, Gachet finished second in the Silver class championship alongside teammates Konstantin Tereshchenko and Thomas Drouet. For 2022, Gachet returned to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

, joining Tresor by Car Collection's Sprint Cup entry. Reunited with Christopher Haase, Gachet scored his first podium of the season at Magny-Cours after taking pole for race #1. He would go on to collect four podium finishes that season, claiming third in the overall championship. Gachet also embarked on full-season campaigns in the FFSA GT Championship and

GT4 European Series The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which utilizes SRO GT4 class cars, and runs alongside the GT World Challenge Europe as a support series. History ...

for Akkodis-ASP. In October, he joined Eric Debard behind the wheel of Team France's GT Relay entry into the

2022 FIA Motorsport Games The 2022 FIA Motorsport Games was the second edition of the FIA Motorsport Games. The event took place on 26–30 October 2022 with Marseille as a host city, and the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, Var, Le Castellet as the venue for all the t ...

. The duo finished second in both qualifying races, before scoring the gold medal in the main race. In 2023, Gachet was promoted to Audi Sport factory driver status. In his first full season as a factory driver, Gachet took on a drive with Saintéloc's Pro class entry in the

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by Stéphane Ratel Or ...

, alongside Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Mies, as well as a Sprint Cup entry in the Gold Cup class, paired with Paul Evrard.

Racing record

Career summary

† As Gachet was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete French F4 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Gachet was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Gachet was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Simon Gachet
at SnapLap
Simon Gachet
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gachet, Simon 1993 births Living people French racing drivers French F4 Championship drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers European Le Mans Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers 24H Series drivers Sportspeople from Bourgoin-Jallieu Auto Sport Academy drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Audi Sport drivers R-ace GP drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers Saintéloc Racing drivers GT4 European Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers 21st-century French sportsmen