Éric
Bernard

Éric Bernard was born in Martigues on 24 August 1964 and came into motor sport through karting, where he won French titles. In 1983 he attended the Paul Ricard racing school and was among the finalists in the Volant Elf competition. He came out ahead of Jean Alesi and Bertrand Gachot, which gave him a place in Formula Renault. He finished sixth in the series in 1984 and won it the following year. He moved up to French Formula 3 in 1986 and to Formula 3000 in 1988, finishing ninth that year with Ralt and Bromley Motorsport. In 1989 he took third in the championship with DAMS, winning one race.

In mid-1989 he made his Formula One debut at the French Grand Prix, replacing Yannick Dalmas at the Larrousse team. He was running fifth at one point and still held seventh when his Lamborghini V12 broke down a few laps from the finish. He also started the following British Grand Prix, then went back to DAMS and Formula 3000. In 1990 he contested the full season for Larrousse, scored his first point with sixth place at Monaco and finished fourth at Silverstone. He ended that season 13th in the championship. In 1991 he was entered for 15 races and started 13 of them. He took sixth in Mexico. At the Portuguese Grand Prix he did not qualify for the first time.

He spent 1993 as a test driver for Ligier and was given a race seat there in 1994, alongside Olivier Panis. He finished third in the German Grand Prix, his only podium. He drove for Lotus at the European Grand Prix, his last Formula One race. In total he made 45 starts, without a win or a pole position.

After Formula One he raced sportscars and was runner-up in the 1999 American Le Mans Series with Panoz.

Source: Wikipedia, “Éric Bernard”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.