Olivier Beretta (born 23 November 1969) is a professional racing driver from Monaco who raced in Formula One in 1994 for the Larrousse team, partnering Érik Comas.
He participated in 10 Grands Prix, debuting on 27 March 1994. He scored no championship points, and was replaced when his sponsorship money ran out. During 2003 and 2004, he tested for the Williams team. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
After competing in F1, Olivier Beretta moved into endurance racing and rose to prominence, taking 6 Le Mans class wins and five class podiums plus had five wins at Daytona and Sebring.
Born in Monaco, Olivier Beretta’s racing started in 1989 when he drove a Dallara-Alfa Romeo in French Formula 3. In the following year he took a victory and two podiums (including third at Monaco) and went on to compete in the French and the British championships in 1991. In 1992 he joined Nelson Piquet’s team to compete in Formula 3000 International but it was a disappointing season. The team did not compete in 1993 so he moved to the Forti Corse team, taking pole position and winning the season’s first race at Donington Park, with later results including fourth places at Pau, Hockenheim and Nogaro plus fifth at the Nurburgring.
1994 saw him move up to Formula 1, driving for the Tourtel Larrousse team alongside Erik Comas. The team had sponsorship from the Belgian Alken-Maes brewery and raced with a green Tourtel livery although on occasion it was replaced by a red-and-white livery to display its sister brand, Kronenbourg. There were retirements from the Brazilian, Pacific and San Marino races but at Monaco, after starting eighteenth, he progressed through the field to finish eighth. During the year the regulation changes following San Marino caused development work on the car to stop, which coincided with a number of engine failures for both cars from the Spanish Grand Prix through the middle of the season. He scored his career-best F1 result in Germany with seventh and his last F1 race was in Hungary, where he finished ninth. Unfortunately Olivier’s financial support had dried up and the team recruited pay drivers in an attempt to survive.
He then moved away from Formula 1 (though would return as a test driver for Williams from 2002 to 2004) but didn’t race for almost two years, until 1996 in sports car racing. Although he had taken part in prequalifying with Courage for Le Mans in 1995, he didn’t qualify for the race. He described how Courage Compétition “with little means, was doing great things. Unfortunately, we clinched pole position, but the car was subsequently disqualified due to a weight concern. So I competed at my first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996 with Viper and I did that five times with them…Hughes de Chaunac simply saved my career. After F1, there was nothing on the horizon for me. One day he called me and asked that I come see him at his office, and it changed my life. The Chrysler Viper Oreca project got me going again.”
Olivier then spent the next five seasons with Viper Team ORECA, from 1996 to 2000. He raced in 1996 with Eric Helary and Philippe Gache at Le Mans then competed in several Global GT Championship races, at Suzuka, Brands Hatch, Spa and Nogaro. In 1997’s FIA GT Championship, he took four wins, though retired after 263 laps due to an accident at Le Mans (with Philippe Gache and Dominique Dupuy) and earlier in the year finished third in GTS-1 on his debut at Daytona. 1998 saw him dominate in the Viper, taking eight wins in ten races on his way to the FIA GT2 title with Pedro Lamy while at Le Mans they were joined by Tommy Archer and finished on the podium with second in GT2. The 1999 season was his most successful, when he won the American Le Mans Series and the FIA GT Championship. He and Karl Wendlinger won six races and the highlight came with victory at Le Mans (with Dominique Dupuy joining them). He also won at Daytona and Sebring and during the year had a one-off race in the NASCAR Truck Series, driving Bobby Hamilton Racing’s Dodge at Heartland Park, in Topeka. Olivier followed this with another highly successful season, starting off with a victory at Daytona (with K.Wendlinger and D.Dupuy) in the Viper GTS-R and they followed it with a class victory at Sebring. After taking nine wins during the year he finished as ALMS champion for the second year in a row.
Then came a switch to prototypes but it was a disappointing LMP program. He drove Chrysler’s prototype in two races, in the ELMS race at Donington (with Yannick Dalmas) and at Le Mans (finishing fourth alongside K.Wendlinger and P.Lamy). In the following year there were three races with Team Oreca’s Dallara-Judd prototype (including Le Mans) and one FIA GT race with Team ART’s Chrysler Viper. There was a second place finish in Barcelona and victory at Estoril and teamed with P.Lamy and E.Comas at Le Mans they finished fifth overall. Continuing with prototypes, he raced for JML Team Panoz in 2003’s ALMS and took six podiums from nine races with their Panoz-Elan prototype. He raced at Le Mans with Max Papis and Gunnar Jeannette and they finished fifth overall and were third in LMP900 class.
Then came a major change when he switched to the Corvette Racing team in the ALMS and he and Oliver Gavin raced the C5-R to four victories and finished second in the GTS class. At that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours he took his third class victory (with Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen) and they became the most successful GT racing trio of the mid-2000s, going on to score further Le Mans victories in 2005 and 2006 with the Corvette C6R.
He and O.Gavin also added two more ALMS titles, winning six out of ten races in 2005 and four in the following season. The third consecutive ALMS triumph for them followed in 2007 when they were victorious in nine races though their winning streak at Le Mans came to an end when they retired after 22 laps. Over the next few seasons with the Corvette there were numerous wins and podiums. He was ALMS runner-up in 2008 and at Le Mans, he (with Oliver Gavin and Max Papis) finished third in GT1 class with the Corvette C6.R while his sixth Le Mans victory came in 2011, co-driving with Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia.
After eight years at Corvette, he was offered the chance to drive for Ferrari in 2012 and jumped at the opportunity. He explained the move, “I didn’t have to think for a second….When I was a kid my uncle had a Ferrari Daytona (365 GTB/4). It was riding in this car that gave me my first feeling of speed, and don’t forget I am half Italian.”
As a Ferrari driver over the next few seasons, he first raced for the Italian AF Corse team in the WEC, taking victory at Sebring with Andrea Bertolini and Marco Cioci. In 2013’s ALMS there was a win at Virginia with Matteo Malucelli for Risi Competizione and he took 2014’s ELMS Championship with SMP Racing (co-driving with Anton Ladygin and David Markozov).
In 2015’s Pirelli World Challenge, he took three wins with R.Ferri Motorsport’s Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 and finished second in the series. He also raced at Daytona with Risi Competizione and at Le Mans with AF Corse, finishing on the podium there (with Davide Rigon and James Calado) with a second place finish. In 2016 he participated at Daytona and Spa then returned to Le Mans in 2017, driving a Ferrari 488 GTE for the Spirit of Race team.
During 2017 he raced for AF Corse in the Blancpain GT Series plus finished second in the GT standings with DH Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Asian Le Mans Series. He returned to the FIA WEC in 2018, driving MR Racing’s Ferrari 488 GTE with Eddie Cheever III and Motoaki Ishikawa. The best results were fifth and sixth, at Spa and Shanghai, and continuing with the team into 2019, he raced at Sebring plus intends competing at Le Mans and Spa plus is also involved with Ferrari’s Formula 1 Client department.
