Guerlain Chicherit
Guerlain Chicherit (born 20 May 1978 in Paris) is a French rally and rallycross driver, and a professional skier who was four times world champion in freeriding (1999, 2002, 2006 and 2007).
Guerlain Chicherit | |
---|---|
Guerlain Chicherit | |
Nationality | French |
Born | Tignes, France | 20 May 1978
FIA World Rallycross Championship career | |
Debut season | 2015 |
Current team | GC Kompetition |
Car number | 36 |
Former teams | Fors Performance JRM Racing |
Starts | 33 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Best finish | 11th in 2018 |
Finished last season | 12th |
Biography
He made his professional motorsport debut in the French Rally Cup driving a Citroën Saxo, and after a successful season in 2003 he became an official Citroën driver.[1] In 2006, after winning the 2005 Dakar Challenge, he attended his first Dakar Rally, driving a BMW X3, and won a stage on his way to finishing 9th in the final classification.
In the 2009 Dakar Rally he suffered an accident while fighting in the general classification,[2] and finished 9th.[3]
Later that year, after achieving a great series of results including a 3rd place in the Tunisia Rally and wins on Rally Transibérico and UAE Desert Challenge, he won the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup with co-driver Tina Thörner.[4]
In the 2010 Dakar Rally, Chicherit was able to get another stage win and finish 5th in the final classification with an X-Raid BMW.[5]
In the 2013 Dakar Rally, Chicherit won a stage and finished 8th overall driving an SMG buggy. In 2013, he also became the first driver to complete an unassisted backflip in a car.[6]
In March 2014 Chicherit tried to break the world record for the longest car jump in Tignes, France. He crashed spectacularly on landing (which became a viral video on YouTube), but only suffered relatively minor injuries.
In August 2015 Chicherit joined JRM Racing for two events in the FIA World Rallycross Championship driving the MINI RX in the Supercar class in Loheac, France, and Franciacorta, Italy.
In 2016, Chicherit again tackled the Dakar Rally, driving an X-Raid Buggy but retiring on medical grounds following a steering related issue during SS5. 2016 also saw Chicherit rejoin the FIA World Rallycross Championship, teaming up with Monster Energy athlete Liam Doran at JRM Racing for selected events in France, Barcelona and Germany. However, a non-start for Chicherit in Loheac meant he also entered the first ever event in Riga, Latvia.
Chicherit announced plans to form his own team, GC Kompetition, driving a pair of Renault Mégane RS RXs in the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship.[7] The team got a podium in its first season through Jérôme Grosset-Janin in Holjes.
2019 saw Guerlain and GC Kompetition continue its involvement in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, growing to a 5 car team by the end of the season - with 3 Renault Mégane RS RXs, and a pair of Renault Clio RS RXs making up the new GCK Academy team. Guerlain had his strongest season yet, threatening the top of the timesheets on a regular basis and sealing his best ever finish with 4th in Canada despite suffering mechanical issues in the final.
Away from sports, Chicherit is involved in property development. He has his own company, GC Kollection, which designs and builds glamourous chalets in the Alps - with the appearance of traditional log cabin styles, but inside they are upscale modern wooden condominiums.[8] Guerlain has many other business ventures including GCK Energy, the innovative mobile energy storage solution, which won the FIA tender to power the upcoming electrification of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. [9]
Racing record
Dakar Rally results[10]
(key)
Year | Vehicle | Position | Stages won |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | Nissan | 49th | 0 |
2006 | BMW X3 | 9th | 1 |
2007 | X-Raid BMW | Ret. | 0 |
2009 | X-Raid BMW | 9th | 0 |
2010 | X-Raid BMW | 5th | 1 |
2011 | X-Raid Mini | Ret. | 0 |
2013 | SMG buggy | 8th | 1 |
2014 | SMG buggy | Ret. | 0 |
2015 | X-Raid buggy | 45th | 0 |
2016 | X-Raid buggy | Ret. | 0 |
Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results
(key)
Supercar
Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | WRX | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | JRM Racing | MINI RX Countryman | POR |
HOC |
BEL |
GBR |
GER |
SWE |
CAN |
NOR |
FRA 28 |
BAR |
TUR |
ITA 16 |
ARG |
34th | 1 |
2016 | JRM Racing | MINI RX Countryman | POR |
HOC |
BEL |
GBR |
NOR |
SWE |
CAN |
FRA 31 |
BAR 20 |
LAT 21 |
GER 21 |
ARG |
26th | 0 | |
2017 | Fors Performance | Renault Clio IV | BAR 21 |
POR |
HOC 21 |
BEL 20 |
GBR |
NOR 19 |
SWE |
CAN |
FRA |
LAT |
GER |
RSA |
32nd | 0 | |
2018 | GC Kompetition | Renault Mégane RS RX | BAR 12 |
POR 5 |
BEL 12 |
GBR 15 |
NOR 15 |
SWE 14 |
CAN 15 |
FRA 12 |
LAT 10 |
USA 9 |
GER 13 |
RSA 12 |
11th | 68 | |
2019 | GC Kompetition | Renault Mégane RS RX | UAE 8 |
BAR 9 |
BEL 13 |
GBR 7 |
NOR 10 |
SWE 14 |
CAN 4 |
FRA 13 |
LAT 15 |
RSA 7 |
12th | 73 | |||
References
- "Vom Schnee zum Sand" (in German). 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- "The film of the stage, Coma, alone in the Pampa, BMWs all over the place". Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- "2009 Dakar Rally final standings". Archived from the original on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- "Motorsport: Guerlain Chicherit fired up for Dakar Rally". 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- "Chicherit Wins First Stage in 2010 Dakar". 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- "Guerlain Chicherit's Car Backflip". 2013-03-04. Retrieved 2014-06-27.
- Evans, David (8 February 2017). "Prodrive building Renault Megane for 2018 World Rallycross". Autosport. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
- http://www.gc-kollection.com/
- "GCK Energy awarded tender to power FIA World RX".
- "The Dakar's history (Historic Book)" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-01-23.