Éric Bernard (born 24 August 1964) is a retired French Formula One racing driver, who drove in Formula One from 1989 to 1994 for the Ligier, Larrousse and Lotus teams. His best finish in Formula One was third place at the German Grand Prix in 1994. After his Formula One career ended, he raced sportscars.
In mid-1989, Bernard was called up to the French Larrousse Formula One team for the French Grand Prix, replacing Yannick Dalmas. On his debut, he ran as high as 5th place, and was still in 7th when his Lamborghini V12 engine failed a few laps from the end (Alesi also debuted at the race for Tyrrell, running as high as 2nd before finally finishing 4th). Bernard stood in again at the following British Grand Prix, before returning to his Formula 3000 commitments with DAMS.
Bernard was rewarded with a full-season drive for Larrousse in 1990. He took his first point for 6th place at the Monaco Grand Prix, and his best result came at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix, where he took 4th place. He elected to stay on at Larrousse for the 1991 season, but the team were in trouble, losing their Lamborghini engines to the quasi-works Modena team, having their 1990 points stripped by the FIA, and also losing sponsors. Bernard took 6th place in the Mexican Grand Prix, which was the last points finish for Larrousse with Lola Cars, but slipped back down the field, failing to qualify for the first time in his career at the Portuguese Grand Prix – partially due to a bereavement. Worse was to come, however, when Bernard broke his leg in the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Bernard fought back to fitness, and for the 1993 season his old sponsors Elf managed to get him into a test driver seat for the Ligier team. The two-year testing contract paid off, as a team backer was jailed for fraud before the 1994 season, and the reduced budget saw Bernard promoted to a race seat, alongside rookie Olivier Panis. Sadly for Bernard, Panis largely outpaced him, and the team’s Renault V10 engine was counterweighted by the team using a “B”-spec version of the 1993 JS39 chassis – by this time a very unusual practice in Formula One which greatly harmed competitiveness. Bernard took third place in the high-attrition German Grand Prix, but by the European Grand Prix he was dropped in order to accommodate Johnny Herbert. He was engaged by Herbert’s previous team, Team Lotus, to fill the seat at the European GP, but it was to be his last F1 drive, with Mika Salo taking over later in the season. For 1995, he was linked to a return to Larrousse, but the team folded before the season began. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephan Latham
Born in Martigues, near Marseille, on the 24th August 1964, Eric Bernard competed in F1 from 1989 to 1994 for Ligier, Larrousse and Lotus (one race), with his best finish third place in 1994’s German GP and after F1 he raced sportscars.
Inspired by Alain Prost, Eric began karting in 1976 and won the Cadet category in 1978 and Junior in 1980 then in 1983 he attended the racing school at Paul Ricard and was one of the finalists at the Volant Elf competition, beating Jean Alesi and Bertrand Gachot. This gave him a fully sponsored drive in Formula Renault for 1984 and he finished seventh in his debut season and then became a champion in 1985, winning six of the twelve races.
French F3 was his next step in 1986, and, driving an Alfa Romeo powered Ecurie Elf Martini, he was fifth in the standings in his first season with finishes including third at Paul Ricard and Rouen and fourth at Magny Cours, Bugatti and Albi. In the following year he had victories at Dijon and Nimes (from pole and fastest lap in both wins), was second at Nogaro (and fastest lap), Paul Ricard (from pole plus fastest lap), La Chatre plus another second at Paul Ricard (and fastest lap). There were third place results at Magny Cours (and fastest lap), Rouen and Pau (with fastest lap), fifth at Croix en Ternois and eighth at Macau and he finished second in the championship to Jean Alesi.
In 1988, he progressed to F3000 and contested the first five races with Ralt’s RT22, where he was sixth at Jerez, tenth at Vallelunga, fourth at Pau and eleventh in the International Trophy at Silverstone but did not qualify at Monza. Following this he moved to Bromley Motorsport though was disqualified in his first two races with the Reynard 88D at Brands Hatch and the Birmingham Superprix and did not finish at the Grand Prix de Le Mans, then was fourth at Zolder and second at Dijon-Prenois, and finished ninth in the points. Switching to the DAMS team for the following season, he retired the Lola T89/50 in first three races but then won at Jerez, (from pole plus took the fastest lap), was fourth (and fastest lap) at Brands Hatch and Birmingham, third in the Grand Prix de Mans F3000 (from pole) then second at Dijon (from pole) to finish third in the championship, behind Jean Alesi and his DAMS teammate Erik Comas. In July, he was called up to the Larrousse team for the French GP to replace Yannick Dalmas, who had been ill with Legionnaires’ disease and was dropped after Canada. Eric was running in seventh place when the Lamborghini engine failed three laps from the end though he was classified as eleventh. He was back in the cockpit at the following week’s British GP though an engine problem ended his race after four laps and he then returned to his F3000 commitments.
He then had the first of two seasons for Larrousse in 1990 and it would be the team’s best in F1, despite being forced to pre-qualify for the first half of the season. Racing the Lamborghini powered Lola LC90 there were nine retirements though he was sixth in Hungary, eighth in Phoenix and France and ninth in Canada and Belgium. He took his first point with a sixth place at Monaco and his best result was fourth at Silverstone though team mate Aguri Suzuki scored the team’s first podium at Suzuka (the first for a Japanese driver) and the team finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, in his second season with them, Larrousse had lost their Lamborghini power plants and also lost sponsors. They had their points from 1990 stripped by the FIA though they kept the travel benefits and prize money associated with their championship finish and did not have to take part in pre-qualifying. Now racing a Ford powered LC91 he had a frustrating season with retirements in eleven races plus did not qualify in Portugal and only had two finishes, with ninth in Monaco and sixth in Mexico. In October’s Japanese GP at Suzuka, practice saw several drivers exploring the limits of the circuit and it was heavily affected by an early rain shower. Pierluigi Martini smashed his Minardi up badly enough to bring out a red flag early on then Gabriele Tarquini wrote off his new Fondmetal just moments after the restart. Unfortunately Eric had a big accident when his Lola crashed heavily after 130R, sustaining a broken leg and he was helicoptered to hospital.
Despite a tough recovery, he fought back to fitness and for 1993 his old sponsors Elf managed to get him a test driver role with Ligier the was promoted to a race seat for 1994 alongside Olivier Panis. He had a better season, reliability wise, with the Ligier JS39B and only suffered two retirements, at Monaco and France (due to a spin and a hydraulics issue) while his retirement in the first race at Brazil was due to a collision. He was tenth and twelfth at the Pacific GP and San Marino, eighth in Spain, thirteenth in Canada and Great Britain, third in Germany, tenth in Hungary, Belgium and Portugal and seventh in Italy. Although Panis raced for the whole year, Eric was dropped by the European GP in order to accommodate Johnny Herbert and he switched to Team Lotus, finishing eighteenth at Jerez. This would be his final F1 drive as Mika Salo took over the Lotus for Japan and Australia and Franck Lagorce was in the second Ligier. Early in the year he contested the 4 Hour Paul Ricard with Crystal Competition’s Porsche 911 Carrera RS and finished twelfth alongside Jerome Brarda and Thierry Guiod.
He was linked to a return to Larrousse for 1995 but the team folded before the season began so he turned to sports car racing. In June, he made his debut at Le Mans, racing Courage Competition’s C41-Chevrolet with Henri Pescarolo and Franck Lagorce though they retired after 26 laps. In the following year he shared Ennea/Igol’s Ferrari F40 GTE with Paul Belmondo and Jean-Marc Gounon and was third at Paul Ricard and Jarama, fourth and fifth at Nurburgring and Silverstone, seventh at Suzuka, sixth at Spa and second at Zhuhai. His return to Le Mans ended in retirement after electrics issues after 40 laps.
For 1997 he joined Panoz Motorsports and their partner team DAMS to race the Panoz GTR-1 in the IMSA and FIA GT Championships. He and Franck Lagorce had a number of retirements though were twenty ninth (eleventh in class) at Nurburgring, ninth at Zeltweg, seventh and eighth at Mugello and the 3 hour Sebring and were second in a 1 hour 45 minutes Sebring. He retired from the Sebring 12 Hours (alongside Doc Bundy and Jeff Purner) and at Le Mans with Lagorce and Jean-Christophe Boullion (due to an oil leak after 149 laps) though was second in a 1 hour 45 minutes Las Vegas with David Brabham, Bundy and Andy Wallace and he and Brabham won the 1 hour 45 minutes Laguna Seca.
He continued with the GTR-1 for Panoz Motorsport and DAMS the following year and took some class wins and podiums in the FIA GT and US Road Racing Championships. Teamed with David Brabham at DAMS they were fifth at Oschersleben, eighth at Silverstone, third at Hockenheim and Dijon, sixth at Homestead, fourth at Laguna Seca and sixteenth (sixth in class) at the Hungaroring. Panoz Motorsports/Panoz Visteon Racing drives (alongside variously David Brabham, Jamie Davies, Bundy, Raul Boesel, Johnny O’Connell, Christophe Tinseau and Andy Wallace) he retired on his Daytona debut and at Le Mans (after 236 laps due to gearbox problems) though was fourth (third in class) at the Sebring 12 Hours. He was second and third at Lime Rock and Laguna Seca, fourth at Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen and Mosport, eighth at Road Atlanta and the Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta, sixteenth (second in class) at Las Vegas, and eighteenth (third in class) at a 3 Hour Sebring.
For 1999, he stayed with Panoz and it turned to be his best season in sports cars. Contesting the ALMS with Brabham, there was one outing with a GTR-1 though they did not finish at the Sebring 12 Hours, while the rest of the races were in an LMP-1 Roadster S. They were fifth at Road Atlanta, second at Mosport and Sears Point, won at Portland and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (from pole, joined by Andy Wallace), eighth at Laguna Seca (from pole plus fastest lap) but retired at Las Vegas. They finished second in the final standings and Panoz Motorsports took the Team’s championship title. Teamed with Jean-Marc Gounon in a DAMS Lola B98/10, despite taking pole and fastest lap at Monza they did not finish plus retired at Spa (after starting on pole) though won at Nurburgring, Kyalami and the Tourist Trophy at Donington.
He stayed with DAMS in 2000 but the team switched from a Panoz to a Cadillac Northstar LMP to contest sports cars and ALMS. He and Emmanuel Collard did not finish at Sebring, Monza, Spa and the Race of a 1000 Years at Adelaide though were fifth at Silverstone, sixth (eighth in class) in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, eighth at Barcelona, sixteenth at Nurburgring and nineteenth (ninth in class) at Le Mans (joined by Franck Montagny). There was only a single outing in the next year at Le Mans but he, Collard and Marc Goossens retired the Cadillac Northstar LMP01 due to an accident. He returned to the ALMS in 2002, spending his last season with Team Cadillac and he, Collard and JJ Lehto retired the LMP02 at Sebring and were twelfth in his eighth attempt at Le Mans. In five outings with Collard there were retirements at Washington and Laguna Seca and sixth and seventh at Mosport and Miami then fourth at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
