Stephane Sarrazin

France (F)

2003: Nissan World Series

2004: Drives Subaru, Finished 9th in his WRC debut in Germany, 4th in Catalunya, 6th in Corsica, French Rally Champion

 2005: Contract with Subaru,  4th in Corsica

2006: Drives Subaru

Entries of WRC Events

It was time to move up the ladder, and for 1995 Stéphane joined the Winfield team to compete in the cut and thrust of French F3. His first two seasons in French F3 was slightly disappointing, but in 1997 in a Dallara Opel he took two poles and three wins en route to 2nd position overall. 

1998 was Sarrazin's first season in F3000 competing in the Lola for the Apomatox team, Stéphane took the series by storm by winning on his debut at Oschersleben. But then a spate of accidents, retirements and low finishes saw him drop to 6th in the final points behind champion Juan-Pablo Montoya. 

For the season 1999 he was snaffled up by Prost F1 team to become their test driver and he also remained in F3000 series with the Prost junior team. But early in the year, prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix, regular Minardi driver Luca Badoer broke a bone in his hand and it happened that ex-Ferrari team manager Cesare Fiorio had just gone moved from Prost to Minardi, and knew Sarrazin's potential. With Prost's permission, Stéphane was drafted in as Badoer's replacement as team-mate to Marc Gené. 

In 2000 Stéphane had to be content with a second season as Prost F1 test driver. Perhaps missing out on the race drive was a blessing in disguise, because 2000 turned out to be Prost's nightmare season, with no points on the board, horrific reliability, internal political warfare and a loveless partnership with Peugeot. With his career fortunes slipping, Sarrazin drowned his sorrows at the end of 2000 by going off-road, and participating in the Rallye du Var, part of the French Rally Championship, in a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI with navigator Jean-Julien Renucci. He proved what inherent talent he had by taking out the Group N class, a remarkable achievement in his first rally event. 

In 2001 he competed in the Rallye du Var again, this time in a 1999-spec Subaru Impreza WRC, and stunned everyone by taking outright victory in the event. After that Sarrazin really made up his mind to move from the racetrack to the special stage, but for the season 2002 Toyota F1 team threw him a lifeline by making him their second test driver beside young Australian Ryan Briscoe.

Until late 2003, Sarrazin's motorsport career had been predominantly circuit-based, including a five-year stint as a Formula 1 test driver. His final break came in 2004 when he secured an annual rally scholarship supported by Subaru France and the French motorsport association, the FFSA. The goal of the Challenge was to promote a promising young rally driver to compete at the highest level of the sport. He was able to beat Junior World Rally Champion Brice Tirabassi in the test, in which works team Prodrive and First Motorsport were involved. Incredibly, on his first attempt, he won the French national rally championship and finished inside the top-10 on three WRC rallies, with a career-best fourth in Spain.