Drivers
- Team: Corvette Racing
- Car: Corvette C6.R
- Class: GT1
- Birth Date: November 23, 1969
- Hometown: Monte Carlo, Monaco
BIOGRAPHY
Corvette Racing driver Olivier Beretta is one of the most successful drivers in international endurance racing, winning championships and scoring victories at many of the world’s most renowned circuits. He is a three-time ALMS champion in the top GT class and a four-time class winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
A resident of Monaco, Beretta began racing karts before moving to the French Formula 3 series in 1989. He was third in the championship in 1990 and took third place at the Monaco Grand Prix support race that year. In 1992 Beretta mixed a season of International Formula 3000 with Formula 1 testing duties for Lotus.
In 1994, he finished sixth in the F3000 championship for Forti while testing for the Larrousse Grand Prix team. He competed in 10 grands prix for the team, finishing in the top 10 on three occasions, with a career-best seventh in the German Grand Prix.
Beretta's first taste of Le Mans was in 1995 with the Chevrolet-powered Courage team. He became involved in the development of the Chrysler Viper in 1996 and finished third in the FIA GT drivers championship in 1997 with four wins and eight pole positions. In 1998, Beretta won the FIA GT drivers championship, sharing the honors with Pedro Lamy, winning eight out of 10 races, and finished second at Le Mans.
In 1999 Beretta won the FIA GT Championship, the American Le Mans Series GTS class championship and the Le Mans 24 hours GTS class, scoring 13 of his team’s 16 race wins. The following season he scored an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona, a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, another Le Mans class title and the ALMS championship.
Beretta switched to a prototype in 2001, driving a Dallara to fourth overall at Le Mans and to fifth overall in 2002. In 2003 he joined Panoz for the ALMS and Le Mans, where he finished fifth overall.
In 2004, GM Racing tapped Beretta to join Oliver Gavin for a full season in the factory No. 4 Corvette C5-R in the American Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The pair scored five victories, including class wins in 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans with co-driver Jan Magnussen in the endurance events.
2005 saw Beretta win his third ALMS championship as he and Gavin teamed up to score six victories in the ALMS series. Again teamed with Magnussen in endurance events, the trio won the GT1 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second straight year and repeated as winners in the Petit Le Mans.
At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Beretta held the ALMS records for most career victories (24, tied with Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell), the most career poles (17), the most single-season wins in the GT1 class (9, tied with Karl Wendlinger), and the most top-10 finishes in a season (12 in 2000).
TRACK STATS
- 2005 Season
- ALMS GT1 co-champion, 6 wins; GT1 winner, 24 Hours of Le Mans (Corvette).
- 2004 Season
- Four GTS wins in ALMS, GTS winner, 24 Hours of Le Mans (Corvette).
