Redon, Laurent

Like many racers of that time, Laurent began his racing career with karting competitions: at the age of seventeen he first participated in any serious tournament on similar equipment, and at twenty the Frenchman already participated in the world championship in Formula A class. In the same 1993, Redon first tried himself in a serious competition in bodywork, taking part in the French monocup Renault Clio .

A year later, Laurent began a career in formula-type races : he managed to get a place in the national championship of Formula 3 . The first year passed in studying the tracks and working with engineers, and after a season Redon was already fighting for the title and having won four of the thirteen races of the season he was able to win it, being eight points ahead of his teammate Nicolas Minasyan . The young fast Frenchman, who so quickly made himself known in the not-so-weakest European series, attracted the attention of many potential sponsors and team leaders of more prestigious series, and already in 1996 the Redon started in the team of Jean-Paul Driot in the International Formula 3000 .

And in the new championship, the Frenchman quickly began to fight for places in the top ten, but in the races he constantly got into some incidents that deprived him of the chance to finish with glasses: in Estoril , for example, he was completely removed from the race for a mistake in taking his places on the starting grid. As a result, Redon scored only seven points over the season, never finishing above fourth place. In 1997, Laurent tried to change the team, but in Super Nova Racing the year was a little better, despite the fact that his then-partner - Brazilian Ricardo Umbrella - won the title. There was no funding for the third season in the series and the next two years the Frenchman worked on a test job in Formula 1 teams: first at Benetton , and then at Minardi . The work of the tester did not grow into a combat pilot's place, and in the course of 1999 the Frenchman began to look for options for continuing performances in other series.

Negotiating with teams of other series was extremely bad: Redon tried his hand at racing sport prototypes, taking part in the FIA Sportscar Championship and ALMS , as well as going to the start of 24 hours of Le Mans . The Frenchman took part in eleven races and even won one of them ( 500 km race at Spa ). The demonstrated good speed, however, did not allow the Frenchman to gain a foothold in any of these championships.

In 2001, Redon traveled to North America by signing a contract with the Conquest Racing Indy Racing League team . The relatively equal level of all teams allowed Laurent to quickly begin to fight in the middle of the peloton both during training and in races. In March 2002, the Frenchman spent his best race in the series, arriving third in the competition at the Fontana stage, repelling the attacks of Penske Racing pilots. A few more finishes in Top10 during the course of that year did not allow themselves to find a place in any North American formula series, and Redon did not want to return to body racing.

After several years outside of racing, Laurent returned to motorsport, organizing his own racing team. Laurent Rédon Motorsport team without particular success took part in the championship of the Super League Formula in the colors of the Olympic Club Lyon , and later focused on the project of the racing school, giving everyone the opportunity, after obligatory instruction, to ride a few laps on outdated formula technology in a number of European autodromes.

PivotTable

Sport Prototype Racing

24 hours of Le Mans

• Website of the Redon Racing School (English) (Italian) (Fr.)

• Profile (English) on Driver Database
• Profile (English) on the Racing Reference website
• Profile (German) on Speedsport magazine website