Mathias Beche

Mathias Beche is a racing driver from Switzerland who most recently spent a season with Rebellion Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. His greatest success is the overall podium at 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2018 when he finished third in a Rebellion R13, together with Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent.

Earlier in a career, Bache's best result at Le Mans was the fourth place in 2014, also with Rebellion Racing. In other competitions, his greatest success so far was the championship title in the 2012 European Le Mans Series.

Mathias Beche

Early career – from karting to Formula Renault

Mathias Beche was born in June 1986 in Geneva and as a boy raced karting. His best results were the 2nd place in 2000 French Junior Championship and the 3rd position on FFSA Kart Tour in 2002. In 2007, Beche switched to single-seaters and contested in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge. Mathias finished 5th overall with one win on his account.

In 2008 the Swiss racer was a runner-up to Felix Rosenqvist in the Formula Asia 2.0, having two wins and a total of eight podiums. At the end of the year Beche also had a test in Formula V6 Series and was the official driver for Michelin Asia-Pacific.

Switch to sports cars

Beche left single-seaters at the beginning of 2009 and switched to sports cars. He competed in the Formula Le Mans and scored two wins and a total of six podiums before finishing the season as a runner-up. The same year Mathias appeared in the Radical European Master and scored a podium finish.

The following year brought a new experience to the Swiss races who contested four rounds of the Le Mans Series – three in the FLM class and one in GT1 class, driving a Ford GT. Driving the same car, Beche also appeared in the last two rounds of the FIA GT3 Championship. Finally, Mathias began to prepare for the World Endurance Championship. He had the LMP1 test with Oreca at Circuit Paul Ricard and LMP2 test with Rebellion Racing at Estoril.

Mathias Beche, Ford GT, 2010 Spa 1000 km

In 2011 Beche made further progress after competing full-time in the Le Mans Series, driving the TDS Racing Oreca 03 alongside Jody Firth and Pierre Thiriet. They won the races at Spa and Estoril before finishing 4th in the overall standings. Mathias also was a reserve pilot for Rebellion Racing at 24 Hours of Le Mans.

ELMS champion and debut in the FIA WEC

In 2012 Beche competed in the re-branded European Le Mans Series and established himself as one of the best LMP2 racers. Driving alongside Pierre Thiriet, Beche scored two wins in Oreca 03 and won the Drivers’ Championship and helped TDS Racing to win the Teams’ Championship. He also finished 2nd in the LMP2 class at Le Mans 24h.

Mathias Beche with fans

At the end of the season he debuted in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the ADR-Delta. Driving alongside Tor Graves and John Martin in the season-closing race in Shanghai, Beche scored a class victory on his debut what opened him the doors of the top endurance championship in the following year.

2014 Le Mans 24h winner with Rebellion Racing

In 2013 Beche drove full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He was a member of Rebellion Racing LMP1 Lola-Toyota, and, interestingly, that was his best season in the series so far. Mathias’ best result was 3rd place in the races in Sao Paolo and Fuji Speedway when his co-drivers were Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld, and Andrea Belicchi. At the end of the season, Beche was 5th in the standings.

Beche, Heidfeld and Prost, Rebellion Racing, 2014 Le Mans 24 hours

The same year Mathias also appeared in four races of the European Le Mans Series and won the races at Red Bull Ring and at Imola circuit before finishing 6th in the final standings. Another notable result he has scored that year was the SuperPole for the 24 Hours of Spa.

He stayed with Rebellion Racing in 2014 and even after the results in the WEC were modest (1oth overall), Beche scored the best result in his career so far. Driving the Rebellion Racing Toyota alongside Prost and Heidfeld, Beche triumphed in the LMP2 class of Le Mans 24h and was 8th overall.

The LMP1 private entries champion

Rebellion Racing missed the opening two races of the 2015 WEC campaign but in the remaining rounds they did well. His co-drivers again were Heidfeld and Prost and they were the best among the private entries. The same year Beche also acted as a development driver for Ligier and Toyota factory LMP1 test pilot.

Mathias Beche, VDS racing by Thiriet, 2016 ELMS

Interestingly, the Swissman appeared in only one race of the WEC in 2016 but raced in the ELMS and was the series runner-up. He and Pierre Thiriet were behind the wheel of Oreca 05 prepared by TDS Racing and they won 3 out of 6 races that year before finishing the season as vice-champions.

In 2017 Mathias returned to the WEC to race in the LMP2 class with Rebellion Racing. Driving alongside Nelson Piquet Jr and David Heinemeier Hansson, Mathias finished 2nd in the class and 3rd overall at Le Mans 24 hours but later they were disqualified. He ended the season 8th in LMP2 classification.

Back to LMP1 class in 2018, podium at Le Mans

In 2018, Rebellion Racing returns to the LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, running two R13-Gibson prototypes. Beche was sharing the #3 car with Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent. They opened a season with the third place at Silverstone and then repeated that result at 24 Hours of Le Mans. Beche stayed with the team for six rounds.

In 2019, he raced in different GT competitions and joined Danish team High Class Racing at Le Mans, driving Oreca LMP2 prototype to the 11th place in class.

Photo: presseportal.ch, flickr.com, wikipedia.org, prostfan.com, fanswec.org