| Franck Fréon | |
|---|---|
 Franck Freon at Indianapolis Speedway in 1995 | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Born | (1962-03-16) 16 March 1962 (age 62) Paris (France) |
| Previous series | |
| 1986-87 1988 1989 1990 1991-93 1994-95 1995-97 1996 | French Formula Renault Turbo German Formula 3 French Formula 3 International Formula 3000 Indy Lights CART/Indycars IMSA GT Championship Japanese Formula 3 |
Franck Fréon (born 16 March 1962, in Paris) is a French race car driver.
He began his career in the French Renault 5 Turbo Championship in 1986 and 1987 then competed in French Formula Three from 1988 to 1989. In 1990 he competed in International Formula 3000 and failed to qualify for four of his first five race attempts, but was credited with 5th place in his first successful start although he did not finish the race. He subsequently left his team and joined another for the final two races of the year where he qualified but failed to point. His fifth place was good enough for 19th in the championship.
He moved to the United States and participated in Indy Lights from 1991 to 1993 capturing 4 wins and finishing runner up in both the 1992 and 1993 standings, behind Robbie Buhl and Bryan Herta respectively. However, he had trouble finding a good team in CART, making 4 starts (and 1 DNF) for 3 different teams in the 1994 season with a best finish of 12th in his CART debut at the Long Beach Grand Prix. 1995 wasn't much better as Fréon finished 15th in the Long Beach season opener, then failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in a 3 year old Lola chassis and returned 5 months later only to fail to make the show at Laguna Seca Raceway.
Franck Fréon then ventured into endurance car racing, driving marginally competitive LMP vehicles in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1995 to 1999. He then signed onto the Chevrolet factory team to drive the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R. He teamed with Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell to win the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2001. He continued with the team until 2004.
Nearing his retirement, Franck Fréon leveraged his knowledge, experience and passion for cars to establish his business Pumpkin Fine Cars & Exotics in 1998.
-
Franck Freon with teammates Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins in Le Mans 2000
-
Franck Freon at Indianapolis Speedway in 1995
Career Results
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Galaxy Racing | DON DNQ |
SIL DNQ |
PAU 5 |
JER DNQ |
MNZ DNQ |
PER |
HOC |
BRH |
BIR |
19th | 2 | ||
| Apomatox | BUG 14 |
NOG 16 |
Indy Lights
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Fréon Racing Services | LBH 4 |
PHX 7 |
MIL 3 |
DET 2 |
POR 2 |
CLE 6 |
MEA 6 |
TOR 4 |
DEN 6 |
MDO 3 |
NAZ 9 |
LS 8 |
4th | 121 |
| 1992 | Landford Racing | PHX 11 |
LBH 1 |
DET 5 |
POR 1 |
MIL 4 |
LOU 2 |
TOR 12 |
CLE 1 |
VAN 4 |
MDO 6 |
NAZ 2 |
LS 3 |
2nd | 159 |
| 1993 | John Martin Racing | PHX 9 |
LBH 2 |
DET 18 |
POR 4 |
MIL 1 |
NHA 3 |
TOR 2 |
CLE 7 |
VAN 5 |
MDO 6 |
NAZ 3 |
LS 17 |
2nd | 122 |
CART
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Project Indy | SRF |
PHX |
LBH 12 |
INDY |
MIL |
DET |
POR 15 |
CLE |
TOR |
MIS |
MDO |
NHM |
32nd | 1 | ||||||
| Euromotorsport | VAN DNQ |
ROA 29 |
NZR |
||||||||||||||||||
| Indy Regency Racing | LS 18 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Project Indy | MIA |
SRF |
PHX |
LBH 15 |
NZR |
36th | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Indy Regency Racing | INDY DNQ |
MIL |
DET |
POR |
ROA |
TOR |
CLE |
MIS |
MDO |
NHM |
VAN |
||||||||||
| Payton/Coyne Racing | LS DNQ |
24 Hours of Le Mans
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 |  Team Artnature
|
Yojiro Terada Pierre de Thoisy
|
Mazda RX-7 GTO | IMSA GTS |
250 | 15th | 2nd |
| 1995 |  D.T.R. Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.
|
Yojiro Terada Jim Downing
|
Kudzu DG-3-Mazda | WSC | 282 | 7th | 3rd |
| 1996 | Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.
|
Yojiro Terada Jim Downing
|
Kudzu DLM-Mazda | LMP2 | 251 | 25th | 1st |
| 1997 | Team T.D.R. Mazdaspeed
|
Yojiro Terada Jim Downing
|
Kudzu DLM-4-Mazda | LMP | 263 | 17th | 6th |
| 1998 | Courage Compétition
|
Yojiro Terada Olivier Thévenin
|
Courage C41-Porsche | LMP1 | 300 | 16th | 4th |
| 1999 | Autoexe Motorsport
|
Yojiro Terada Robin Donovan
|
Autoexe LMP99-Ford | LMP | 74 | DNF | DNF |
| 2000 | Corvette Racing
|
Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins
|
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GTS | 327 | 10th | 3rd |
| 2001 | Corvette Racing
|
Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins
|
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GTS | 271 | 14th | 2nd |
| 2002 | Corvette Racing
|
Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins
|
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GTS | 331 | 13th | 2nd |
| 2003 | Corvette Racing
|
 Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell
|
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GTS | 326 | 12th | 3rd |
References
- "Meet Franck Freon: Retired Race Car Driver & owner of Pumpkin Fine Cars & Exotics".
- "Franck Fréon – 1994 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- "Franck Fréon – 1995 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- Franck Fréon career summary at DriverDB.com
- Franck Fréon driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Champcar Stats
- 1962 births
- French racing drivers
- Champ Car drivers
- French Formula Three Championship drivers
- Indy Lights drivers
- Living people
- International Formula 3000 drivers
- British Formula 3000 Championship drivers
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
- American Le Mans Series drivers
- Corvette Racing drivers
- Dale Coyne Racing drivers
- EuroInternational drivers
- Racing drivers from Paris