Olivier
Grouillard

Olivier Grouillard was born on 2 September 1958 in Fenouillet, in the Haute-Garonne department of France. He began karting at the age of 14, won the Formula Renault title in 1982 and the French Formula 3 championship in 1984. From 1985 to 1988 he raced in International Formula 3000, where he won two races.

In 1989 he joined Ligier as team-mate to René Arnoux. At his home race, the French Grand Prix, he started 17th and finished sixth, which gave him his only championship point. He ended the season 26th in the standings, his best championship position. In 1990 he moved to Osella, where he had to take part in pre-qualifying and started nine of his 16 entries. He stayed with the team in 1991, when it was renamed Fondmetal, and qualified tenth in Mexico, his best qualifying result of that year. After the Portuguese Grand Prix he switched to AGS, which folded before the races in Japan and Australia. Only four of his 14 entries that season led to a start.

In 1992 he drove for Tyrrell alongside Andrea de Cesaris and started all 16 races, finishing in San Marino, Canada, France and Britain. After that season he found no seat for 1993. In total he was entered in 62 Grands Prix and started 41.

In 1993 he moved to CART but failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. From 1994 he competed in sports car racing, including the BPR Global GT Series, the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. He finished fifth at Le Mans in 1995 in a McLaren F1 GTR and fourth in 2000. His racing career ended in 2001.

Source: Wikipedia, “Olivier Grouillard”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.