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. After Formula One, he competed in sports car racing, with two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Info from Wiki
Delétraz scored two 3rd places in Formula 3000, but he earned his three F1 drives based on funding rather than talent.Jean-Denis Deletraz learned to race at the Avia La Chatre racing school in France and began competing in French Formula Ford 1600 in 1985, scoring two wins.
In 1986 he moved to French Formula 3 with the unusual Swica-Alfa Romeo chassis. In 1987 he raced in various series before beginning a Formula 3000 career in 1988 with Sport Auto Racing and later with GDBA.
Two years later he acquired the First Racing F3000 team but he had little success and the team was eventually impounded by a court in Italy in 1991 after legal action from its driver Giovanni Bonanno.
Deletraz then did occasional touring car races in France until 1994 when he joined the Seat factory team in the French Touring Car Championship.
At the end of the year he raced for the struggling Larrousse F1 team in Australia but retired for the race. In 1995 he bought a drive with the financially struggling Pacific F1 team for two races. He was always off the pace, although he did finish the 1995 European Grand Prix in 16th place, albeit 7 laps down. When it became clear that his funding was not coming through, he left and disappeared from the F1 scene.
Deletraz has since continued his racing activities quite competitively in sports car racing, campaigning a McLaren F1 GTR, the factory Lotus GT and a Ferrari 333SP in partnership with Fabien Giroix.
Since 2000 Deletraz has been successful in the FIA GT Series driving Ferrari, Lister and Lamborghini.
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