FC Porto

Driver T. Gommendy

AGE: 29 (date of birth 4 January 1980)

CITY BORN: Le Chesnay (Paris), France

CITY LIVES: Paris, France

HEIGHT: 1.84 m

WEIGHT: 75 kg

INTERESTS: Cinema, playing the piano, tennis

WEBSITE: www.tristan-gommendy.com

SUPERLEAGUE FORMULA CLUB: Porto

FAVORITE FOOTBALL MOMENT: “For sure when the French national team won the World Cup [as host nation, in 1998] was for all the country a big, big moment and the most important one.”

WHICH FOOTBALL CLUB DID YOU SUPPORT GROWING UP: “I grew up in Paris but my favourite club is Lyon. The spirit of the club is really nice and they were champions this year. Also, when I was young, we lived in Bordeaux for three years. My father worked for Opel and they were sponsors of the football club so every weekend we were at the stadium with the players.”

FAVORITE ALL-TIME FOOTBALLER: “When I was young Michel Platini was somebody very famous – and now he’s President of UEFA. He’s a very important person in the world of football.”

CAN YOU PLAY FOOTBALL: “No! I don’t even want to try because I’m really bad...”

CAREER: Tristan Gommendy cut his teeth competing in his home nation, debuting in the French Formula Renault Championship and progressing to the country’s Formula 3 category, racing for the top ASM squad for three seasons.

Crowned champion of the French Formula 3 series in 2002, with an impressive tally of five wins, he also claimed the prestigious Macau Grand Prix the same year. A varied programme followed, with competition in Eurocup Formula Renault V6, World Series by Nissan and World Series by Renault – as well as a one-off in the classic Le Mans 24 Hours race.

A partial campaign in GP2, with iSport International, was followed by a move to North America and a campaign in the final year of the Champ Car World Series for PKV Racing.