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Christian Boudon (born December 2, 1957 in Toulouse, France) is an international racing coach and founder and principal of the CCB-GROUP in the United States.
Personal life
editBorn in Toulouse, Boudon was offered his first go-kart named Gemini handcrafted by Rene Arnoux's father in his Pontcharra backyard garage for his eighth birthday by his father, a computer teacher who was a passionate driver rallying in the late 60's.
Boudon spent the first part of his life in Grenoble, where he received his racing license # 21413 from the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile via ASK Grenoble. He started his first company BDN Motors in 1979 in Grenoble, before moving in 1985 to the south of France in Brignoles, where he created New Racing Concept with his associate Jean Montagny, the father of future F1 driver Franck Montagny ,bringing back to life the famous go-kart race track of the first international 24 Hours race [1].
The race track was sold in 2000 and Boudon moved to Florida in 2001, where he established the extension of the initial company as CCB-GROUP.
Professional career
edit1969 to 1978 the kart racing foundation
editDuring an intense go-kart career, Boudon won 2 national titles, a pole position in Junior World Championship and multiple international go-kart endurance racing, and became the first professional Kart racing driver ever at the age of 16 years old before deciding that his talents will benefit younger drivers.
1979 to 1984 Revealing champions through his BDN Moteur company
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BDN Moteur was the initial company started in August 1979 and was dedicated to coaching and management of racing drivers of any age, for any kind of motorsport racing and Auto racing .
Motorcycle racing was added to the activities. Boudon was involved in engine tuning and elaboration and framework engineering , chassis engineering and collected three national titles with his Motorcycle racing teams.
1985 and 1986 heading to French Riviera creating a Formula Renault team
editJerome Mounier was a young go-kart driver at BDN Moteur since the early days, and when his father Andre Mounier asked Boudon to follow-up Jerome racing career in Open wheel car, it was a logical path sticking to the Boudon philosophy and ethic.
Andre Mounier provided the workshop in Solliès-Pont, a group of supportive partners funding a two years season in the Formula Renault championship and Christian Boudon launched an independant Formula Renault racing team created in three months to best fit Jerome Mounier needs. Boudon's position was director team manager, his implication in the structure was at every level as chassis work, body work, engine plus gear-box and set-up or transportation and on track gathering was processed internally.
That racing creation was for Jerome Mounier a positive experience and Boudon had his first attempt of running an Open wheel car racing team.
1988 to 2001 New Racing Concept or raising the bar to help future champions
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When Boudon opened New Racing Concept, BOUDON-Competition [2] and Tony Kart Shop Center [3] in 1988 there were numerous demands and an increase response to the activities.
The racing school operated by Boudon was immediately a success until New Racing Concept was sold in 2000 and it became Brignoles Karting Loisirs.
BOUDON-Competition was then created and Boudon joined the Tony-Kart racing team until he left Europe at the end of 2001.
During those two long decades, Boudon assisted, coached, managed drivers and collected National, European and World titles. Here are a few examples of drivers who shared an important moment in their career with Boudon:
Yannick Dalmas, Franck Perera, Jean-Christophe Ravier, Franck Montagny, Didier Andre, Steve Hiesse, Stephane Ortelli, Richard Combes, Olivier Panis, Christophe Bouchut, Ronnie Quintarelli, Davide Fore, Jérôme Policand ,Loic Duval, Damien Pasini ,Marko Asmer,Julien Canal,Nelson Van Der Pol…etc…
Nelson Philippe and Richard Philippe signed an exclusive contract with Boudon to coach and assist them in their USA new racing career as they were previously signed with BOUDON-Competition since 1998.
Nelson Philippe won the “King of the Streets” in Rock Island and the pole position at the SKUSA World Final in 2002. After winning the 2003 Winter Tour opening race, the decision was made to switch to open wheel Barber Pro Series.
In November 2003, Emerson Fittipaldi agreed to Boudon’s demand to test Nelson Philippe in his Fittipaldi/Dingman Champ-Car racing Team at the age of 17 years and 3 months under specific conditions.
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing organized a test for Nelson in January 2004 and offered to sign him for the 2004 Champ-Car season. Nelson Philippe became the youngest ever Champ Car driver starting a race at 17 years, 8 months, 25 days. In 2005, Philippe was voted Bosch Most Improved Driver by his Champ car peers with 4 top ten results and 34 laps led.
Boudon was proud to achieve this goal as an acknowledgement to bring very young go kart drivers to the highest level of open wheel formula through his specific method of teaching and training.
Boudon signed with Formula BMW USA for the 2004 racing season as a Mentor Coach for the series.
In 2002, Richard Philippe had a highly concentrated training Go-Kart season prepared by Boudon. In 2003 Philippe completed one season in 80 cc Shifter SKUSA Go-Kart, always working on his maximum performance.
In 2004, at the age of 14 (January 10th), he was the youngest ever to compete in 125cc Shifter Pro and he won the overall Winter Tour.
Simultaneously, Philippe followed Boudon’s specific preparation for a Formula BMW USA open-wheel 2005 season, and he qualified for the Formula BMW USA Scholarship in Valencia (Spain) in October.
At the young age of 15, Philippe joined the 2005 Formula BMW USA Championship and won the overall Championship plus the Rookie title with 6 pole-positions and 6 victories during his first year of racing.
Boudon’s coaching and management was without a doubt recognized by the entire racing world for its exceptional abilities to teach young talents through his unique methods of training.
In October of 2005, Christian Boudon’s CCB Management decided to organize a full preparation program to compete in the 2005 Formula BMW World Final in Bahrain with two drivers, Robert Wickens and Matt Lee joining the Autotecnicagroup.com racing team. Wickens achieved pole position, fastest lap and finished sixth.
Robert Wickens was also signed by Red Bull Racing Formula 1 recruiter Dr. Helmut Marko on the event as Red Bull Official driver for multiple years.
2006 deeper involvement with Autotecnica Team and their drivers
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Boudon continued to support Matt Lee after his promising results from Bahrain, and personalized an accelerated training and secure program associated with Autotecnica.
Robert Thorne joined the team under Boudon’s coaching and management.
Lee finished second at the Formula BMW USA championship while Thorne ranked fifth as a rookie.
2007-2008 from USA series to UK Formula Three championship
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In 2007, Boudon organized a program for Philip Major in Formula BMW USA for coaching, management and fitness enhancement.
Starting almost from scratch, the goal was to enter the British Formula Three Championship the following year. Major and Boudon completed a Formula BMW season showing an increase in the performing curve of Major, with a pole position and a podium at the opening race at the Montreal F1 Grand Prix.
Boudon continued with Major in the British Formula Three Championship after a contract was signed in December 2007 with Fortec Motorsport Formula 3 team for the 2008 season.
Boudon also mentored and assisted Gerardo Bonilla in the IMSA Prototype Lites L1 Class championship for the overall win.
2009 Racing in America the last year of the Formula Atlantic series
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During the 2009 racing season, Boudon signed with Jensen MotorSport as Racing Operation Director plus Coach/Engineer and he was in charge of engineering and coaching Jensen MotorSport drivers Freddy Zebede and Barrett Mertins for Formula BMW America Series and Matt Lee , Michael Nacol, James Winslow, Markus Niemelä in the Formula Atlantic Series.
Boudon also supervised the team operation when Eric Jensen was not available at an event. Barrett Mertins was a true beginner in the Formula BMW America Championship and finished the season with some strong results.
Barrett Mertins noticeable progress lead the Formula Atlantic board to allow him the upgraded licencing to take part in the final race of the Formula Atlantic Series in Laguna Seca. Finnish driver Markus Niemelä, classified between 4th and 6th during the season and finished sixth in the championship.
2010 Moving his American drivers to Europe
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Matt Lee and Barrett Mertins were signed under a full program with Boudon and CCB-GROUP including management, coaching, fitness, nutrition and physical enhancement for the 2010 Italian Formula Three Championship racing season.
Mygale racing factory, Alan Racing Team, BVM-Target Racing, RC Motorsport, Power-Plate were Boudon’s partners as his drivers for this campaign. A best result of fourth in Hockenheim for Lee and a strong finish with 12th for Mertins in Monza was achieved.
2011 Moving ahead with Le Mans Prototype series
editBoudon signed an American Le Mans Series Program with Signature Team Signatech Nissan and is in charge of the communication and the on track racing strategy in USA. On 02/10/2011 in Road Atlanta Petit Le Mans race he became with Signatech Nissan ILMC LMP2 2011 Class Champion.
Boudon assisted Rasmus Lindh for the last four races of the Winter Tour. They won four races and the 2011 Winter Tour Championship. On 08/28/2011 he brought Rasmus on the podium of the Rotax Grand Festival in Portugal.
References
edit- ^ 24 Hours Prize list
- ^ 1998 Newspaper BOUDON-Competition advertizing
File:2000-B C advertising 10.jpg - ^ 2001 Newspaper Tony Kart Shop Center advertizing
File:2001 TKSC-advertizing 10.jpg
