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.[1]
Career
Early career
An avid rugby player as a young boy, Gachet was not heavily involved with motorsports in his youth.[2] He was introduced to motorsport through car magazines, and discovered single-seater racing while attending the Formula Motorsport school at the Circuit du Laquais.[3] 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.[4] That winter, Gachet won the Euroformula Volant test, awarding him a €60,000 bursary which allowed him to compete in the French F4 Championship for 2012.[5] Scoring six podiums in 14 races, Gachet finished third in the overall points classification.[6] For 2013, Gachet stepped up to the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, joining French team ARTA Engineering.[7] 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.[8] He returned to the team in 2014, adding a full-season effort in the Formula Renault Eurocup to his Alps series commitment.[9][10] 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.[11] Prior to the Hungaroring round of the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season, Gachet joined ART Junior Team.[12] 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,[13] topping the charts in the series' preseason tests at MotorLand Aragón.[14] However, it was another quiet season for Gachet, securing just one podium at Le Mans[15] and finishing 16th overall.
For 2016, Gachet moved to endurance racing, joining Panis Barthez Competition's entry into the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series.[16] The entry scored its first and only podium of the season at Imola, before taking pole position the following week at the Red Bull Ring.[17] 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,[18] 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,[19] taking one podium at Magny-Cours 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 in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance cups, finishing outside of the points in both appearances.
2018 saw Gachet move full-time into the GT World Challenge Europe with Saintéloc. Pairing with Christopher Haase in the Sprint Cup,[20] Gachet scored three overall podiums, including a second-placed finish at Hungaroring,[21] placing eighth in the championship. Gachet began the Endurance Cup season with Saintéloc's Pro entry,[22] scoring a sixth-place finish at Circuit Paul Ricard before joining the team's Am-class entry for the Spa 24 Hours.[23] 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[24] 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.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28] Following the second race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Gachet and Palette clinched the Silver Cup title.[29] The following season saw Gachet switch his focus back to the Endurance Cup, joining Mercedes-AMG entrant AKKA-ASP in their Silver Cup entry. Claiming class victories at Paul Ricard[30] and Barcelona,[31] Gachet finished second in the Silver class championship alongside teammates Konstantin Tereshchenko and Thomas Drouet.
For 2022, Gachet returned to Audi, joining Tresor by Car Collection's Sprint Cup entry.[32] Reunited with Christopher Haase, Gachet scored his first podium of the season at Magny-Cours after taking pole for race #1.[33] He would go on to collect four podium finishes that season, claiming third in the overall championship.[34] Gachet also embarked on full-season campaigns in the FFSA GT Championship and GT4 European Series for Akkodis-ASP.[34] In October, he joined Eric Debard behind the wheel of Team France's GT Relay entry into the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games.[35] The duo finished second in both qualifying races, before scoring the gold medal in the main race.[36]
^Mandzi, Daniel (26 June 2012). "Simon Gachet in leading positions again". autosportfoto.sk. Retrieved 15 May 2022. Indeed, while his young friends were spinning laps at the wheel of their go-karts, he was "racing" on the fields with a rugby ball in his hands!
^"French F4". grandprixweekly.com. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
^"ARTA Engineering annonce ses pilotes" [ARTA Engineering announces their pilots]. chequeredflags.fr (in French). ChequeredFlags. 9 January 2013. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
^Lloyd, Daniel (4 August 2020). "23-Car Grid Set for Triple-Header Sprint Cup Opener at Misano". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 May 2022. Haase will continue in the Pro ranks with GT4 graduate Arthur Rougier, while Gachet will share Sainteloc's Silver Cup Audi with Steven Palette.
^Lloyd, Daniel (8 August 2020). "Vanthoor's Late Pass Inspires WRT to Misano 1-2". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 May 2022. Pro-Am honors went to Sky Tempesta Racing's Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Chris Froggatt and Eddie Cheever III, while Palette and Gachet won Silver Cup in 10th overall.
^Lloyd, Daniel (11 October 2020). "Emil Frey Pair Wins Again to Create Title Showdown". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 May 2022. While the overall championship remains open heading into Race 3, crews from Sainteloc and Sky-Tempesta Racing wrapped up the Silver and Pro-Am category titles in Race 2. Steven Palette and Simon Gachet secured the Silver crown with fourth-place in class, while their nearest rivals Axcil Jefferies and Ezequiel Companc finished sixth.
^Lloyd, Daniel (29 May 2021). "GPX Porsche Overcomes FFF to Win Paul Ricard 1000km". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 May 2022. AKKA-ASP won the Silver Cup class with its No. 87 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Simon Gachet, Thomas Drouet and Konstantin Tereschenko.
^Lloyd, Daniel (10 October 2021). "AKKA-ASP Wins 3H Barcelona; Iron Lynx Drivers Clinch Title". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 May 2022. Silver Cup honors went to AKKA-ASP drivers Simon Gachet, Thomas Drouet and Konstantin Tereschenko who profited from an out of sequence pit stop for their main rivals.
^"FIA Motorsport Games Preview: GT & GT Sprint". fiamotorsportgames.com. SRO Motorsports Group. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022. The GT Cup assault will see the established duo of Eric Debard and Simon Gachet tackle their home event...
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