Career

De Cortanze graduated in 1967 with an engineering degree and joined Alpine

Alpine (car)

Alpine was a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars that used rear-mounted Renault engines.Jean Rédélé , the founder of Alpine, was originally a Dieppe garage proprietor, who began to achieve considerable competition success in one of the few French cars produced just after World War...

, a car manufacturer, where he drove and designed racing cars.

He also experienced success in Formula Three

Formula Three

Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...

 and Formula Two

Formula Two

Formula Two, abbreviated to F2, is a type of open wheel formula racing. It was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, but the FIA announced in 2008 that Formula Two would return for 2009 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship...

, and designed a test chassis for Renault's

Renault F1

Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...

 initial foray into Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

.

In the 1980s, he moved to Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

 Talbot

Talbot

Talbot was an automobile marque that existed from 1903 to 1986, with a hiatus from 1960 to 1978, under a number of different owners, latterly under Peugeot...

 Sport as Technical Director, enjoying victories in rallying

Rallying

Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...

 and Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

.

In , he moved to the new Sauber

Sauber

Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....

 F1 team, and helped design the Sauber C13

Sauber C13

The Sauber C13 was a Formula One car designed by André de Cortanze and Leo Ress for use by the Sauber Team in the 1994 Formula One season. The car was powered by a Mercedes-Benz 3.5L V10 engine. Drivers for the team throughout the season were Karl Wendlinger, Andrea de Cesaris, JJ Lehto and...

 and was an engineer at the team during the 1994 Formula One season

1994 Formula One season

The 1994 Formula One season was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on March 27, 1994, and ended on November 13 after sixteen races. The season is remembered as one of the most tragic and controversial seasons in...

.

At the start of the season, he was joined by Tim Wright

Tim Wright (engineer)

Tim Wright is a former Formula One engineer.Wright has a remarkable racing pedigree, dating back to the late 1970s when he worked at Bruce McLaren Motor Racing. His career then took him to Fittipaldi Automotive as a senior design draughtsman and then to the Spirit F1 team...

. Wright was only there for a year.
At the end of 1995, he moved to Ligier, but then moved to Toyota Europe when the team was sold to Alain Prost

Alain Prost

Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, Prost has won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio , and Michael Schumacher . From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix...

.

In , he became the initial Technical Director of the Toyota F1

Toyota F1

Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002...

 team, working with aerodynamicist Robert Choulet

Robert Choulet

Robert Choulet is a French aerodynamics engineer influential in race car dynamics.-Career:A disciple of aerodynamics pioneer Charles Deutsch, Choulet worked for Deutsch's Societe d'Etudes et de Realisations Automobiles ....

.

He currently is the Technical Director of the Pescarolo Sport

Pescarolo Sport

Pescarolo Sport is a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo. They race in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In October 2007, Henri Pescarolo purchased Jacques Nicolet's Saulnier Racing and created Pescarolo Automobiles,...

team.

Footnotes

• Grandprix.com article, retrieved May 17, 2007.