Thierry Boutsen

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Thierry Boutsen
Nationality  Belgian
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1983-1993
Teams	Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan
Races	164 (163 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	3
Podium finishes	15
Career points	132
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	1
First race	1983 Belgian Grand Prix
First win	1989 Canadian Grand Prix
Last win	1990 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last race	1993 Belgian Grand Prix

Thierry Marc Boutsen (born July 13, 1957 in Brussels, Belgium) is a former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One.

In 1977 entered the Formula Ford 1600 championship and won it in 1978 with 15 victories in 18 races. For 1979 he moved to Formula 3, winning three races in 1980 and second place in the title race, behind Michele Alboreto. In 1981 he moved to Formula 2 and was again second in the championship, this time behind Geoff Lees. The 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans started at 15h00 - one hour earlier than usual due to the general elections.

At 16h06 Thierry Boutsen suffered a massive accident just after the Hunaudières kink, some 400 meters before the Mulsanne bosse (the "hump") when his WM P81-Peugeot was traveling at some 350 km/h. A suspension piece had failed and the car hit the guard-rail losing the entire rear end. Boutsen was untouched, but the debris field of hurled parts and bodywork was spread over 150 meters. Three marshals were struck by the debris. One of them, Thierry Mabillat was killed, struck in the chest by a detached piece of the guard rail. Two of his colleagues were seriously injured, Claude Hertault and Serge David, who lost an arm.

In 1983 Boutsen drove in the European Touring Car Championship and in World Sportscar races, where he won at Monza with Bob Wollek.

In 1983 he paid $500,000 for a drive in Formula One, and made his debut with Arrows at the 1983 Belgian Grand Prix, but a greater opportunity came when he moved to Benetton in 1987. In 1989 Frank Williams signed him on a two-year contract, and he won the rain-soaked Canadian Grand Prix and Australian Grand Prix. In 1990 he scored a victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix over his friend Ayrton Senna's McLaren-Honda. In 1991 he moved to Ligier and from there to replace Ivan Capelli at Jordan in 1993, after which he retired from Formula One. Boutsen briefly drove sports cars in the US, driving for Champion Racing in a Porsche, alongside Bill Adam and Hans Stuck. The trio finished 2nd in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1997. After a crash at Le Mans in 1999 he retired from racing altogether.

Today Thierry Boutsen runs his own company, Boutsen Aviation, in Monaco. He also owns a Mégane Trophy racing team.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1983	Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A6	Cosworth V8	BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL Ret	USE 7	CAN 7	GBR 15	GER 9	AUT 13	NED 14	ITA Ret	EUR 11	RSA 9		-	0
1984	Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW	Arrows A6	Cosworth V8	BRA 6	RSA 12		SMR 5													15th	5
		Arrows A7	BMW Str-4 (t/c)			BEL Ret		FRA 11	MON DNQ	CAN Ret	USE Ret	USA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 5	NED Ret	ITA 10	EUR 9	POR Ret
1985	Barclay Arrows BMW	Arrows A8	BMW Straight-4 (t/c)	BRA 11	POR Ret	SMR 2	MON 9	CAN 9	USA 7	FRA 9	GBR Ret	GER 4	AUT 8	NED Ret	ITA 9	BEL 10	EUR 6	RSA 6	AUS Ret	11th	11
1986	Barclay Arrows BMW	Arrows A8	BMW Straight-4 (t/c)	BRA Ret	ESP 7	SMR 7	MON 8	BEL Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret		HUN Ret		ITA 7	POR 10	MEX 7	AUS Ret	-	0
		Arrows A9											GER Ret		AUT Ret
1987	Benetton Formula Ltd.	Benetton B187	Cosworth V6 (t/c)	BRA 5	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 7	GER Ret	HUN 4	AUT 4	ITA 5	POR 14	ESP 16	MEX Ret	JPN 5	AUS 3	8th	16
1988	Benetton Formula Ltd.	Benetton B188	Cosworth V8	BRA 7	SMR 4	MON 8	MEX 8	CAN 3	USA 3	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 6	HUN 3	BEL DSQ	ITA 6	POR 3	ESP 9	JPN 3	AUS 5	4th	27
1989	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW12C	Renault V10	BRA Ret	SMR 4	MON 10	MEX Ret	USA 6	CAN 1	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN 3	BEL 4	ITA 3					5th	37
		Williams FW13														POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN 3	AUS 1
1990	Canon Williams Renault	Williams FW13B	Renault V10	USA 3	BRA 5	SMR Ret	MON 4	CAN Ret	MEX 5	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER 6	HUN 1	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP 4	JPN 5	AUS 5	6th	34
1991	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS35	Lamborghini V10	USA Ret	BRA 10	SMR 7	MON 7	CAN Ret	MEX 8											-	0
		Ligier JS35B								FRA 12	GBR Ret	GER 9	HUN 17	BEL 11	ITA Ret	POR 16	ESP Ret	JPN 9	AUS Ret
1992	Ligier Gitanes Blondes	Ligier JS37	Renault V10	RSA Ret	MEX 10	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 12	CAN 10	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER 7	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 8	JPN Ret	AUS 5	14th	2
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hart V10	RSA	BRA	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 11	MON Ret	CAN 12	FRA 11	GBR Ret	GER 13	HUN 9	BEL Ret	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	-	0

[edit] External links

• Boutsen Aviation official website

Awards
Preceded by Eric Geboers	Belgian Sportsman of the Year 1989	Succeeded by Rudy Dhaenens