Alain Menu was born on 9 August 1963 and is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach.
56 Facts About Alain Menu
2.
Alain Menu was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice.
3.
Alain Menu drove for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2012 with a best finish of second in 2012.
4.
In 1993, Alain Menu began a six-year association with Renault in the BTCC, who had just entered the series with the GB Motorsport run Renault 19.
5.
Alain Menu finished second in a very wet round two at Donington Park behind teammate Tim Harvey.
6.
Alain Menu collided with Nissan Primera of Tiff Needell on the final lap of round eight at Silverstone, dropping Alain Menu for seventh to eighth and forcing Needell into the pits.
7.
The car had been revised and Alain Menu was sixth after the first few corners having started eighth; he went on to finish fourth behind John Cleland.
8.
The first year of their partnership was not particularly successful, with the 19 little better than a midfield runner in the hands of Alain Menu and reigning champion Tim Harvey.
9.
However, Alain Menu did manage to win one race at a rain-soaked Donington Park late in the season.
10.
Alfa Romeo had dominated the first four races and Alain Menu did not finish on the podium until Silverstone.
11.
Alain Menu collided with Julian Bailey at the first corner of the British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone, triggering a pileup that red flagged the race.
12.
Alain Menu took pole position for round fifteen at Oulton Park by nearly a second over BMW driver Joachim Winkelhock but made a poor start and finished third.
13.
Alain Menu scored four further podiums in the last four races to finish second in the championship behind Gabriele Tarquini.
14.
The running of the Renault team was taken over by WilliamsF1 for the 1995 season and Alain Menu was joined by former Toyota driver Will Hoy.
15.
Alain Menu took pole position for the first race at Thruxton and held on to take a narrow victory over Cleland.
16.
Alain Menu was running third in round seven at Silverstone when he was forced to retire with mechanical issues but he was able to take part in the second race of the day and he finished fourth.
17.
Alain Menu was third in the championship after round 21 at Snetterton but three consecutive wins finished the year and elevated him back up to second in the standings.
18.
Alain Menu had to start the second race of the day from the back of the grid having failed the ride height check after race one.
19.
Alain Menu recovered to seventh before having to retire with mechanical problems.
20.
Alain Menu took pole position for the next event at Brands Hatch, but was demoted to second at the start by Biela and those positions stuck until the finish line.
21.
Alain Menu worked his way up into the lead of race one at Snetterton but almost immediately slowed down with car problems and retired.
22.
Alain Menu took the first win of the year for Renault in the next meeting at Brands Hatch, winning both races.
23.
Alain Menu continued with Renault in 1997 and was joined by Renault Spider champion Jason Plato.
24.
The car was much more competitive for that year and Alain Menu won the first four races of the season.
25.
Alain Menu was nudged into a spin in round eight at Brands Hatch by Anthony Reid's Nissan, but was able to rejoin the race and finish fourth while Reid finished fourteenth.
26.
Alain Menu started on pole for a wet round eleven at Donington Park, although the two Audis got a better start and led into the first corner.
27.
Alain Menu was able to cleanly retake second from John Bintcliffe, despite a misted up windscreen.
28.
Contact with James Thompson at Knockhill meant Alain Menu retired for the first and only time that season.
29.
Alain Menu had taken twelve wins in a dominant car in 1997.
30.
The Renault Laguna was not as dominant as the previous season and Alain Menu won only three races, the first which came at Thruxton in the second race of the year.
31.
Alain Menu switched to Ford in 1999 with 1998 championship runner-up Anthony Reid leaving Nissan.
32.
The Ford Mondeo was not successful in 1999 and Alain Menu finished 11th in the championship with 1 win at Knockhill.
33.
On 4 October 2007, it was announced that Alain Menu would make a one-off return to the BTCC with which he is most closely associated.
34.
Alain Menu drove a Vauxhall Vectra for VX Racing at the final round of the 2007 BTCC season at Thruxton to assist Fabrizio Giovanardi in his successful title bid.
35.
Alain Menu struggled to find the ideal set up in the new breed NGTC Touring Car.
36.
Alain Menu finished 10th in the standings with a pair of podium finishes, 2nd at Rockingham and 3rd at Silverstone.
37.
From 2001 to 2003, Alain Menu raced for Opel in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a high-tech touring car series based in Germany.
38.
In 2004, Alain Menu announced his return to production-based touring car racing, with the fledgling Chevrolet team, RML in the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season.
39.
Alain Menu crashed out of the first race of the season at the Race of Brazil after the collision with BMW pair Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller.
40.
Alain Menu was caught up in a race one incident with Jorg Muller and Rickard Rydell which put Rydell out of the race with damage.
41.
The Race of France saw Alain Menu take his first win in the Chevrolet Cruze having started on the reversed grid pole for race two and winning the race from there.
42.
Alain Menu took pole position at the following event, the Race of UK at Brands Hatch.
43.
Alain Menu finished the season tenth in the drivers' championship behind fifth placed Huff.
44.
Alain Menu stayed with Chevrolet for the 2010 season, joined by Huff and new teammate Yvan Muller.
45.
Alain Menu brought out the red flags during qualifying for the Race of Morocco when he crashed into the wall during Q1.
46.
Alain Menu started on the front row but damaged his steering trying to pass Farfus which put an end to his race.
47.
Alain Menu won only one race in 2010, the first race of the Race of Germany and he finished the year sixth in the standings, three places and 103 points down on teammate Huff while Muller was champion.
48.
Muller had won the first three races of the season but Alain Menu broke this streak by winning the second race of the Race of Spain, despite going through a gravel trap after encountering oil on the circuit.
49.
Alain Menu took his first pole position of the season at the Race of Morocco and won the first race of the day.
50.
Alain Menu was running third in the second race of the Race of Slovakia until he dropped down the order and retired with a broken rim.
51.
The second race of the Race of Hungary saw Alain Menu pull away from his teammates to chase down race leader and eventual winner Norbert Michelisz to close in on his teammates in the championship.
52.
Alain Menu took up the role of comic book character Michel Vaillant for the Race of Portugal.
53.
Alain Menu began a run of three successive pole positions at the Race of United States, but he retired from the first race with power steering issues.
54.
Alain Menu was pushed into a half spin by teammate Muller in the second race while leading, allowing Huff to go through and win.
55.
Muller finished second and Alain Menu finished third but a post race thirty-second penalty saw Muller drop to thirteenth in the classification and Alain Menu was elevated to second in the championship.
56.
Alain Menu won the final race of the year at Macau and secured his best overall result in the WTCC with second in the drivers' championship, twelve points shy of Huff.