Natacha Gachnang (born 27 October 1987 in Vevey, Switzerland) is a Swiss race driver and the cousin of former Formula One driver Sébastien Buemi. In 2010 she was a member of the first all-female crew to race at Le Mans 24 hours since 1991, and she competed at Le Mans again in 2013.

Natacha Gachnang
Gachnang in 2008
NationalitySwitzerland Swiss
Born (1987-10-27) 27 October 1987 (age 37)
Vevey, Switzerland
Related toSébastien Buemi (cousin)
FIA Formula Two Championship career
Debut season2009
Current teamMotorSport Vision
Car number18
Starts16
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish23rd in 2009

Career

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  • 2001 Swiss junior karting champion.
  • 2002 Formula BMW ADAC Meisterschaft test – fourth of 64 drivers.
  • 2003 Formula BMW ADAC Meisterschaft – one fourth-place finish.
  • 2004 Formula BMW ADAC Meisterschaft – two fourth-place finishes.
  • 2005 Formula BMW ADAC Meisterschaft – sixth, three podiums.
  • 2006 Formula 3 Cup – one podium, nine top-10 finishes.
  • 2007 Star Mazda 3- two podiums.
  • 2007/2008 A1 Grand Prix - Rookie driver for Switzerland (Brno)[1]

On 17 December 2008, it was announced she would be the first female to drive in the new Formula One feeder series FIA Formula Two Championship.[2] She finished 23rd in the campaign, scoring two points.

  • 2008 Spanish Formula 3 - four podiums.
  • 2009 Formula 2 - one top-10 finish.

For the 2010 season she teamed up with Cyndie Allemann and raced for the Swiss Matech team in a GT1 class Ford GT in the FIA GT1 World Championship.[3] During qualifying for the first round of the championship in Abu Dhabi, she crashed heavily, breaking her right tibia.[4]

She returned to racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Gachnang and Allemann being joined by fellow Swiss Rahel Frey. This marked the first time since 1991, with Lyn St. James, Desire Wilson and Cathy Muller, that an all-female team competed at Le Mans.[5]

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2003 Formula BMW ADAC Privateer 20 0 0 0 0 13 19th
2004 Formula BMW ADAC AM-Holzer Rennsport GmbH 19 0 0 0 0 37 12th
2005 Formula BMW ADAC Josef Kaufmann Racing 20 0 0 0 3 90 6th
2006 German Formula 3 Championship - Cup Bordoli Motorsport 14 0 0 0 1 11 13th
German Formula 3 Championship - Trophy 4 0 0 0 2 17 11th
Österreichische Rennwagen Meisterschaft 2 1 0 0 2 35 4th[6]
Formula 3 Euro Series 3 0 0 0 0 0 24th
Jo Zeller Racing 4 0 0 0 0
2007 Star Mazda Championship AIM Autosport 7 0 0 ? 2 217 15th
Atlantic Championship Paladin Motorsports 0 0 0 0 0 0 34th
2008 Spanish Formula Three Campos F3 Racing (Class A) 17 0 1 2 4 76 3rd
Campos F3 Racing (Copa F300) 17 5 3 6 12 110 1st
2009 FIA Formula Two Championship MotorSport Vision 16 0 0 0 0 2 23rd
Formula Le Mans Cup Hope Pole Vision Racing 7 0 1 0 2 52 10th
Radical European Masters 8 1 1 4 8 133 5th
2010 Auto GP Charouz-Gravity Racing 6 0 0 0 0 1 21st
FIA GT1 World Championship Matech Competition 2 0 0 0 0 0 60th
Le Mans 24 Hours Matech Competition (LMGT1) 1 0 0 0 0 N/A NC

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2006 Bordoli Motorsport Dallara F305/026 Opel HOC1
1
HOC1
2
LAU
1
LAU
2
OSC
1
OSC
2
BRH
1
BRH
2
NOR
1

15
NOR
2

DNS
NÜR
1

23
NÜR
2

15
ZAN
1
ZAN
2
CAT
1
CAT
2
24th 0
Jo Zeller Racing Dallara F306/014 Opel LMS
1

12
LMS
2

Ret
HOC2
1

13
HOC2
2

10

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results

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

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points
2009 VAL
1

11
VAL
2

Ret
BRN
1

14
BRN
2

Ret
SPA
1

11
SPA
2

13
BRH
1

14
BRH
2

15
DON
1

13
DON
2

Ret
OSC
1

11
OSC
2

12
IMO
1

15
IMO
2

Ret
CAT
1

7
CAT
2

13
23rd 2

Complete Auto GP Results

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(key)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Points
2010 Charouz-Gravity Racing BRN
1
BRN
2
IMO
1
IMO
2
SPA
1

12
SPA
2

11
MAG
1
MAG
2
NAV
1

8
NAV
2

7
MNZ
1

15
MNZ
2

10
21st 1

Complete GT1 World Championship results

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Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2010 Matech Competition Ford ABU
QR

DNS
ABU
CR

DNS
SIL
QR
SIL
CR
BRN
QR
BRN
CR
PRI
QR

18
PRI
CR

Ret
SPA
QR
SPA
CR
NÜR
QR
NÜR
CR
ALG
QR
ALG
CR
NAV
QR
NAV
CR
INT
QR
INT
CR
SAN
QR
SAN
CR
60th 0

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2010   Matech Competition   Cyndie Allemann
  Rahel Frey
Ford GT1 GT1 59 DNF DNF
2013   Morand Racing   Franck Mailleux
  Olivier Lombard
Morgan LMP2-Judd LMP2 320 11th 5th

References

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  1. ^ http://www.motorsport.com/#!/a1gp/news/brno-practice-1-times-2007-10-13/?v=2&s=1&q=Natacha+Gachnang&i=5 Brno Practice 1 times - Motorsport.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012
  2. ^ "Formula 1 News, Live Grand Prix Updates, Videos, Drivers and Results - ESPN".
  3. ^ "Bernoldi eyes GT1 title with Ford". Autosport. 2010-03-04.
  4. ^ Watkins, Gary (2010-04-16). "No surgery required for Gachnang". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-04-16.
  5. ^ "All Female Team Hoped to Make History at Le Mans". Vintage Motorsport. 2010-06-12. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  6. ^ https://formel3guide.com/images/punkte/2006-punkte-orm.pdf [bare URL PDF]
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Spanish Formula Three
Copa de España

Champion

2008
Succeeded by