Christophe Tinseau
| Christophe Tinseau | |||||||||||
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 Tinseau in 2011 | |||||||||||
| Nationality |  French | ||||||||||
| Born | 18 December 1969 (age 56) Orléans, France | ||||||||||
| Racing licence |  FIA Platinum (until 2013)[1] FIA Gold (2014–)[2] | ||||||||||
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Christophe Raymond Jean Tinseau (born 18 December 1969) is a French racing driver from Orléans.
Tinseau began racing professionally in French Formula Renault in 1991. In 1992, he moved to French Formula Three, and in 1993, he placed fourth in that championship with two wins and finished tenth in the Macau Grand Prix. In 1994, he was the championship runner-up in French F3, and in 1995, he moved up to Formula 3000 where he finished 16th with seven race starts. In 1996, he improved to sixth in F3000, winning the season-ending race at Hockenheim.
In 1997, Tinseau raced in Indy Lights, but only managed an 11th place championship finish, ending up on the podium once at Circuit Trois-Rivières.
After the seeming decline in his open-wheel fortunes, Tinseau moved to sports cars for 1998, driving a Panoz Esperante GTR-1 for DAMS, making his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut. In 1999, still with DAMS, he piloted a Judd powered Lola B98/10 for and won two races in the Sports Racing World Cup. From 2000 to 2002, he drove the historic Cadillac Northstar LMP at Le Mans, finishing 5th in class in 2001.
Tinseau competed part-time in various series from 2003 to 2005, but returned to full-time racing in 2006, when he finished sixth in Porsche Carrera Cup France. He made six Le Mans Series starts and finished sixth at Le Mans for Pescarolo Sport in 2007. He continued with the team in 2008 and finished seventh at Le Mans and 8th in LMS points and continued with the team in 2009, finishing second in Le Mans Series.
In 2010, Tinseau competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, finishing eighth with one win.
In 2011, Tinseau returned to Le Mans Series with Pescarolo and finished fourth in the championship. In 2012 he competed in a handful of major endurance races, and since then has been largely retired.[3] He has founded a racing school for ice racing.[4]
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Mythos Racing | Reynard 95D | Zytek-Judd | SIL 9 |
CAT 6 |
PAU Ret |
PER Ret |
HOC 7 |
SPA 7 |
EST 10 |
MAG 14 |
16th | 1 | ||
| 1996 | Apomatox | Lola T96/50 | Zytek-Judd | NÜR 8 |
PAU Ret |
PER 3 |
HOC 4 |
SIL 6 |
SPA 6 |
MAG 9 |
EST 11 |
MUG 11 |
HOC 1 |
6th | 18 |
Complete American Open Wheel racing results
(key)
Indy Lights
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Conquest Racing | MIA 25 |
LBH 26 |
NAZ 14 |
SAV 12 |
STL 12 |
MIL 21 |
DET 11 |
POR 4 |
TOR 5 |
TRO 3 |
VAN 18 |
LAG 6 |
FON 12 |
11th | 49 | [7] |
Complete FIA GT Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | DAMS | Panoz GTR-1 | GT1 | OSC | SIL | HOC | DIJ | HUN | SUZ 5 |
DON | A1R 7 |
HOM | LAG | 24th | 2 | |
| 2001 | Freisinger Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | N-GT | MNZ | BRN | MAG | SIL | ZOL | HUN | SPA Ret |
A1R | NÜR | JAR | EST | NC | 0 |
24 Hours of Le Mans results
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References
- ^ "2013 FIA WEC - Liste des catégorisations des pilotes" (PDF). nextgen-auto.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
- ^ "Liste des autorisés à participer à la course" (PDF). 24 Hours of Le Mans. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
- ^ Christophe Tineseu, Driver Database, Retrieved 2015-02-07
- ^ Ice Driving by Tinseau Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine (in French), Retrieved 2015-02-07
- ^ a b "Christophe Tinseau". Motor Sport. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "Christophe Tinseau Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
- ^ "Christophe Tinseau – 1997 Firestone / Dayton Indy Lights Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
- ^ "Christophe Tinseau". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
External links
- Christophe Tinseau career summary at DriverDB.com
- Official Website(in French)