5/26/2000 -
OLIVIER BERETTA
Born: 23 November 1969
Nationality: Monegasque
Family: Married Paola, son Riccardo
Residence: Monaco
Career highlights - Chrysler Viper Team ORECA's reigning double world champion driver Olivier Beretta is one of motor racing's characters. The Monegasque driver ended his single-seat racing career at the end of the 1994 Formula One Grand Prix season and has spent the last five years in endurance racing, culminating in outright victory at Daytona this year. Beretta raced go-karts for the six years between 1982 and 1988 before moving straight into the French Formula Three series in 1989. Beretta was third in the championship in 1990, and took the final podium step at the Monaco Grand Prix support race that year.
In 1992 Beretta mixed a season of International Formula 3000 with Formula One testing duties for Lotus. The following year, 1994, he finished sixth in the F3000 championship for Forti while testing for the Larrousse team before competing in ten Grand Prix for the French outfit, finishing in the top ten on three occasions, the best of which was seventh position in the German Grand Prix.
Beretta's involvement with sportscar endurance racing began in 1995 when he raced at Le Mans for the French Courage team. He became involved in the development of the Chrysler Viper in 1996 with Viper Team ORECA and stayed with the team in 1997, finishing third in the drivers' championship with four wins and eight pole positions. In 1998, still with Viper Team ORECA, Beretta won the FIA GT2 Drivers' Championship, sharing with Pedro Lamy, winning eight out of ten races, and finished second at Le Mans.
Last season the Monegasque became the most successful endurance racing driver of the year, winning the FIA GT Championship with Karl Wendlinger, the American Le Mans Series GTS class and the Le Mans 24 hours GTS class with Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy. Beretta scored 13 of Viper Team ORECA's 16 race wins last season.
This year, Beretta was one of the trio of drivers to win the Daytona 24 hours outright in the Viper along with Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy, and scored a class win at the Sebring 12-hours.
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