Jean-Denis Delétraz

Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters | check | ignoreblank = y | unknown = Template:Main other | preview = Page using Template:Infobox F1 driver with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | embed | child | subbox | name | Name | image | Image | image_size | upright | image_upright | alt | caption | birth_name | birth_date | birth_place | death_date | death_place | relations | relatives | nationality | Nationality | years | Years | teams | Teams | Team(s) | team | Team | engines | Engines | current_team | current team | Current team | 2025 Team | 2026 Team | car_number | car number | Car number | races | Races | championships | Championships | wins | Wins | podiums | Podiums | points | Points | poles | Poles | fastest_laps | fastest laps | Fastest laps | first_race | first race | First race | first_win | first win | First win | last_win | last win | Last win | last_race | last race | Last race | last_position | last position | Last position | last_season | last season | Last season | bf1_years | bf1 years | BF1 Years | bf1_races | bf1 races | BF1 Races | bf1_championships | bf1 championships | BF1 Championships | bf1_wins | bf1 wins | BF1 Wins | bf1_podiums | bf1 podiums | BF1 Podiums | bf1_points | bf1 points | BF1 Points | bf1_poles | bf1 poles | BF1 Poles | bf1_fastest_laps | bf1 fastest laps | BF1 Fastest laps | signature | signature_size | signature alt | signature_alt | website | module | module1 | module2 | module3 | module4 | module5 | record template1 | record template2 | record template3 | record template4 | record template5 | career template1 | career template2 | career template3 | career template4 | career template5 | updated | Updated }} 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.<ref name="words on sport book">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="f1rejects">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He went on to compete in Formula Three between 1985 and 1987 in the French championship, finishing 14th in the final standings in 1987.<ref name="fia gt">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="grandprix.com Délétraz">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During 1991 the team was impounded by an Italian court for a time after legal action from the team's other driver, Giovanni Bonanno.<ref name="grandprix.com Délétraz" />

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.<ref name="f1rejects" />

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.<ref name="grandprix.com Larrousse">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="grandprix.com Larrousse" /> 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.<ref name="grandprix.com Larrousse" />

During qualifying, Delétraz qualified in 25th position, ahead of Simtek's Domenico Schiattarella.<ref name="f1rejects" /> 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."<ref>transcript of recording from F1 Rejects</ref>

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.<ref name="complete encyclopedia">Template:Cite book</ref> It was announced that Delétraz would be competing in the final five races of the season.<ref name="f1rejects" />

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.Template:Fact 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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

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."<ref name="f1rejects" />

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.Template:Fact

Sports Car Racing

Template:Infobox Le Mans driver 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1988	Sport Auto Racing	Lola T88/50	Cosworth	JER Template:Small	VAL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small	PER Template:Small	BRH	BIR Template:Small				13th	8
	GDBA Motorsport											BUG Template:Small	ZOL Template:Small	DIJ Template:Small
1989	First Racing	Leyton March 89B	Cosworth	SIL Template:Small	VAL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small									NC	0
		Reynard 89D					JER Template:Small	PER Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	BIR Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	BUG Template:Small	DIJ Template:Small
1990	First Racing	Reynard 90D	Cosworth	DON Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	JER Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small	PER	HOC	BRH	BIR	BUG	NOG	NC	0
1991	First Racing	Reynard 91D	Cosworth	VAL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	JER Template:Small	MUG	PER	HOC	BRH	SPA	BUG	NOG		NC	0
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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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1988	Swiss Team Salamin	C1	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type 935/79 2.8 F6t	JER	JAR	MNZ	SIL	LMS	BRN	BRH Template:Small	NÜR	SPA	FUJ	SAN	NC	0
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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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
Template:F1	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 Template:Small		NC	0
Template:F1	Pacific Team Lotus	Pacific PR02	Ford EDC 3.0 V8	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR Template:Small	EUR Template:Small	PAC	JPN	AUS	NC	0
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24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Giroix Racing Team	Template:Flagicon Fabien Giroix Template:Flagicon Olivier Grouillard	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	290	5th	4th
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing Template:Flagicon Giroix Racing Team	Template:Flagicon Fabien Giroix Template:Flagicon Maurizio Sandro Sala	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	146	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon GT1 Lotus Racing	Template:Flagicon Fabien Giroix Template:Flagicon Ratanakul Prutirat	Lotus Elise GT1-Chevrolet	GT1	-	DNQ	DNQ
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Racing Organisation Course	Template:Flagicon Ralf Kelleners Template:Flagicon David Terrien	Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen	LMP675	44	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon ROC Auto	Template:Flagicon Jordi Gené Template:Flagicon Pascal Fabre	Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen	LMP675	284	5th	1st
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Noël del Bello Racing Template:Flagicon ROC Compétition	Template:Flagicon Christophe Pillon Template:Flagicon Walter Lechner, Jr.	Reynard 2KQ-LM-Volkswagen	LMP675	317	19th	1st
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Barron Connor Racing	Template:Flagicon Mike Hezemans Template:Flagicon Ange Barde	Ferrari 575-GTC	GTS	200	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Swiss Spirit	Template:Flagicon Marcel Fässler Template:Flagicon Iradj Alexander	Lola B07/18-Audi	LMP1	62	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Gulf Racing Middle East	Template:Flagicon Keiko Ihara Template:Flagicon Marc Rostan	Lola B12/80-Nissan	LMP2	17	DNF	DNF
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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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1997	GT1 Lotus Racing	Lotus Elise GT1	GT1	HOC Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	HEL Template:Small	NÜR Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	A1R Template:Small	SUZ	DON Template:Small	MUG	SEB Template:Small	LAG Template:Small	NC	0
1998	Zakspeed Racing	Porsche 911 GT1-98	GT1	OSC	SIL	HOC	DIJ	HUN	SUZ Template:Small	DON	A1R	HOM	LAG		NC	0
2000	First Racing	Ferrari 550 Maranello	GT	VAL Template:Small	EST	MNZ Template:Small	SIL	HUN	ZOL Template:Small	A1R	LAU	BRN Template:Small	MAG Template:Small		NC	0
2002	BMS Scuderia Italia	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GT	MAG Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	JAR Template:Small	AND Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	PER Template:Small	DON Template:Small	EST Template:Small		5th	41
2003	Lister Storm Racing	Lister Storm	GT	CAT Template:Small	MAG Template:Small	PER Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	DON Template:Small	SPA	AND	OSC	EST	MNZ		15th	23
2004	DAMS	Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT	GT	MNZ	VAL	MAG	HOC	BRN	DON	SPA	IMO Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	DUB Template:Small	ZHU Template:Small	NC	0
2005	GPC Sport	Ferrari 575-GTC Maranello	GT1	MNZ Template:Small	MAG Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	IMO Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	IST Template:Small	ZHU Template:Small	DUB Template:Small	BHR Template:Small	15th	19
2006	Phoenix Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	SIL Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	PRI Template:Small	DIJ Template:Small	MUG Template:Small	HUN Template:Small	ADR Template:Small	DUB Template:Small		2nd	62
2007	Phoenix Carsport Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	ZHU Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	BUC Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	ADR Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	NOG Template:Small	ZOL Template:Small		4th	55
2008	Phoenix Carsport Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	SIL Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small	ADR Template:Small	OSC Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	BUC Template:Small	BUC Template:Small	BRN Template:Small	NOG Template:Small	ZOL Template:Small	SAN	8th	45.5
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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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
2012	Gulf Racing Middle East	LMP2	Lola B12/80	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 V8	SEB Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	LMS Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	SÃO Template:Small	BHR Template:Small	FUJ Template:Small	SHA Template:Small	70th	2
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