Nathanaël Berthon

Nathanael Berthon is a French racing driver, who competes in sports car and touring car competitions in recent time. Prior to that, Berthon raced in few competitions with open-wheel race cars, reaching the highest step in the single-seater ladder in the GP2 Series, but also participating in the Formula E Championship.

Nathanael Berthon

Six seasons with kartings

Nathanaël Berthon was born on July 1, 1989, in Romagnat, in central France. He started racing in 2002, entering French karting championship. Berthon's progress through karting competitions ended in 2007 when he participated in the KF1 World Cup.

In 2008, Nathanael debuted in the car racing, driving for Boutsen Energy Racing in the Formula Renault 2.0. He entered both FR2.0 West European Cup and Eurocup,  but without notable results. In 2009, after joining Epsilon Euskadi team, Berthon scored one victory (at Spa) and seven podiums in the FR2.0 West European Cup, finishing third in the points. In the Eurocup, he finished sixth in the final classification.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series debut in 2010

In 2010, Berthon joined International Draco Racing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. He scored one victory (at Magny-Cours)and finished seventh in the points and fourth among rookies. Berthon returned to FR3.5 Series in 2011, joining ISR Racing. With just one podium, Nathanael finished 13th in the points.

During the season, Berthon participated in four races of GP2 Asia Series, driving for the Racing Engineering team. In the GP2 Final at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit, Berthon was also driving  for the Racing Engineering team.

Berthon at Formula One young drivers' test in 2011

Berthon participated in Formula 1 test in 2011

After GP2 Final, on 16 November 2011, Berthon had his first experience with Formula One car. He participated in the young drivers' test, driving for the HRT F1 Team. He was 13th fastest in the F111 car on the first day of testing and 12th fastest on the second day.

Adventure at New Zealand with Toyota

Before 2012 season, Berthon traveled to New Zealand to compete in the Toyota Racing Series for the M2 Competition. After 14 races without wins and podiums, he finished seventh in the points.

GP2 Series debut in 2012

In 2012, Berthon entered the GP2 Series with Racing Engineering team. His best result was the second place in two races. After 24 races, Berthon finished 12th in the points. In October 2012, Berthon had a one-off appearance in the French GT Championship, joining Graff Racing to drive Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Only GP2 victory at Hungaroring

In 2013, Berton joined Trident Racing in the GP2 Series, finishing 20th at the end of the season. In July, at Hungaroring, he scored his first GP2 victory. The GP2 was Berthon's main competition in 2014, this time with Venezuela GP Lazarus team. In 22 races, he scored no wins and podiums, to finish 20th in the points.

Nathanael's only GP2 Series victory at Hungaroring in 2013

Disappointing Le Mans debut with Murphy Prototypes

During 2014, Berthon participated in four races of the Formula Acceleration Series, but also switched his interest to sports car racing, participating in the European Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship, including his debut at 24 hours of Le Mans.

At Le Mans, his co-drivers in the #48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03R were Rodolfo Gonzalez and Karun Chandhok. They retired after 73 laps. The team also retreated at 4th hour of Imola and finished third at 4th hour of Paul Ricard. In the seventh round of the World Endurance Championship, in Bahrain, Berthon partnered Pierre Kaffer and Simon Trummer in the #9 Lotus CLM P1/01, but they didn't reach the finish.

Double program in 2015 - GP2 Series and ELMS

In 2015, Berthon had a double program, driving full seasons for Daiko Team Lazarus in the GP2 Series and for Murphy Prototypes in the European Le Mans Series. In the GP2 Series, the highlight of the season was third place in the opening round at Bahrain International Circuit while in the European Le Mans Series he finished second at Imola. His co-drivers in Murphy's #48 Oreca 03R were Michael Lyons and Mark Patterson. At the end of the season, Berthon was 16th in the GP2 Series standings and 10th in the ELMS LMP2 classification.

At 24 hours of Le Mans, Murphy Prototype's crew finished 13th overall and 5th in the LMP2 class. Berthon's co-drivers were Mark Patterson and Karun Chandhok.

Three races in the Formula E

The completely new challenge for Nathanael was Formula E. He joined Team Aguri for the opening round of the championship in Beijing.  After qualifying 17th, he finished 8th and scored his first points. Berthon participated in two more Formula E races, at Putrajaya ePrix in Malaysia and Punta del Este ePrix in Uruguay. He finished 15th in Malaysia and 14th in Uruguay. After third round Berthon and Team Aguri parted their ways, so he had to find a new team for 2016 season.

G-Drive Racing crew finished third at Silverstone, in the opening round of the 2016 FIA WEC

Silverstone WEC podium with G-Drive Racing

Berthon joined G-Drive Racing to compete in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship. His co-drivers in the #26 Oreca 05-Nissan were Roman Rusinov and Rene Rast. In the opening round at Silverstone, they finished third. In the second round, at Spa-Francorchamps, the #26 car finished fifth in class. Before the third championship round, the team and Berthon parted ways.

At 24 hours of Le Mans, Berthon moved to another LMP2 prototype, the #41 Ligier JS P2 of Greaves Motorsport, alongside Memo Rojas and Julien Canal. In his third participation at Le Mans, Berthon reached his best result so far, finishing 10th overall and 6th in LMP2 class.

2017 ELMS season with Panis-Barthez Competition

In 2017, Berthon stayed in prototype racing but switched to European Le Mans Series, driving the #23 Ligier JS P217 for Panis-Barthez Competition. He was sharing a car with Fabien Barthez and Timothe Buret, not scoring wins or podiums during the season.

Their best result was the fourth place at Circuit Paul Ricard and Berthon finished 13th in LMP2 class standings. At Le Mans 24 Hours, the #23 crew didn't finish the race.

Nathanael Berthon in 2018

Double programme in 2018, FIA WEC only in 2019

In 2018, Nathanael has a double programme in the FIA World Endurance Championship and WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup. In the 2018 WTCR season, Berthon was driving the #23 Audi RS3 LMS for Comtoyou Racing, scoring one podium and finishing 15th in the points.

In the FIA WEC, he started the season in the #31 Oreca-Gibson LMP2 prototype of DragonSpeed, finishing fifth in LMP2 class at Le Mans. After two races with DragonSpeed, he joined Rebellion Racing for the last three rounds of the FIA WEC super season, including his second attempt at Le Mans in June 2019, where he finished fifth overall in the #3 Rebellion R13 LMP1 prototype.

Berthon is a regular competitor in the Trophee Andros ice racing championship

Regular competitor in the Trophee Andros ice racing

Except racing on asphalt race tracks, Berthon was also a regular competitor in the Trophee Andros, the famous competition of racing on the ice tracks. He debuted in 2011 and since then he recorded many victories in a class of electric cars since 2015.

Then, in the season 2016-2017, he switched to Elite class and immediately won the championship title. The next step was a progress to the Elite pro class.

Photos: fiawec.com, tropheeandros.com, f1fanatic.co.uk, automobilsport.com,