Marc Gene

Marc Gene i Guerrero is a Spanish racing driver who recorded 36 starts in the Formula One World Championship between 1999 and 2004, driving for Minardi and Williams.

Later in a career, Gene was successful in endurance racing, participating eight times at 24 Hours of Le Mans and scoring four overall podiums, including a victory in 2009 with Team Peugeot Total.

Most recently, he worked as a test driver for Scuderia Ferrari and as a race analyst for different TV stations.

Marc Gene

Successful start of a career in karting

Born in March 1974 in Sabadell, Cataloni, Marc Gene started his racing career in karting. His first success in racing was in 1987 when he finished as a runner-up in the Catalan kart Championship. That was a springboard for the title he won in 1988. The same year, he also won the title in the Spanish kart Championship.

Excellent results and quick progress in open wheel racing

In the following year, his progress continued at the international stage as he competed in European and World kart championship. In 1990, he became the youngest Spanish kart Championship Senior class title winner, confirming that he was ready for a further progress.

When he was 18, Gene debuted in the Spanish Formula Ford Championship. He clinched one race victory and finished fifth overall. His progress through the ranks was fast, so in 1993, Marc became the vice-champion in European Formula Ford Championship while in 1994, he was named Rookie of the Year in the British Formula 3 Championship.

Before moving to Formula 1, he was successful in the lower ranks of open wheel racing. In 1996, the Spaniard took the title in the FISA Superformula championship while two years later, he became the champion of Opel Fortuna by Nissan series after he won six races.

Marc on his F1 debut with Minardi in 1999

1999 - Formula 1 debut with Minardi

In 1999, Marc finally got a chance in Formula One World Championship as a driver of Minardi team. He managed to score points in the difficult season with an underperforming car. Gene finished 6th in the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring, scoring the first points for Minardi in four years.

The following year was even worse for both Minardi and driver as he failed to win a single point, with 8th place in Australia and Austria as his best results.

Marc sitting on Ferrari F2005

Test driver in Williams and Ferrari

He left Minardi in 2001 and decided to sign a contract with Williams, but only as a test driver. After two years with the team, he got a chance to compete in the 2003 Italian Grand Prix as a replacement for Ralf Schumacher, and he did well. Gene was fifth but that wasn’t enough to secure him a regular driving. He had to wait until 2004 when he replaced Ralf Schumacher again at the French and British Grand Prix races.

For the season of 2005, Spanish signed a contract with Scuderia Ferrari, again  only as a test driver. The Spaniard spent five years with Scuderia without getting a chance to compete. After being released from his testing duties, Gene stayed connected with Ferrari as a development driver and an ambassador.

Celebrating victory at Le Mans

The first Spaniard to win 24 Hours of Le Mans

In the meantime, Gene enjoyed proper racing in the sportscar category. Peugeot hired him in 2007 for the Le Mans Series. In his first season with the team, Spaniard did pretty well, winning three races and finishing fourth overall.

He went a step further in the following year, finishing third overall. In 2008, he was second at 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP together with Nicolas Minassian and Jacques Villeneuve.

Driving the same car in 2009 and sharing the seat with David Brabham and Alexander Wurz, Gene won the world's greatest endurance race. He was the first driver from Spain who won 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Marc Gene as Audi Sport Team Joest's driver

Two Le Mans podiums in three seasons with Audi

Before the start of the 2012 season, Marc moved to the famous Audi Sport Team Joest to compete in the selected races of the FIA World Endurance Championship. He was the winner of the 6 Hours of Spa and fourth at Le Mans.

In 2013, he was third both at Spa 6 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours. In 2014, he raced with Audi at Le Mans only, finishing second in the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro which he was sharing with Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi.

Marc Gene was a part of Nissan LMP1 project in 2015

Economist, linguist, intellectual

Marc's racing career ended in 2014. In 2015, he joined Nissan's project of the LMP1 prototype but he never raced in a Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. Parralel to that, he continued to work for Ferrari.

Since 2010, Marc also works as TV pundit, commenting Formula 1 races, first for Spanish television and then for the Italian Sky Sports television.

Marc is a father of two kids, Siena and Patrick. Apart from racing and other sports, he loves to read books and he is also very interested in languages. He speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, German, French and Italian. Gene also has a degree in Economics and was once an auditor at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

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