An Unknown Future for Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut

The realm of motorsports is competitive competition-flying all-around a track with many additional motor vehicles and one miscalculation can send a car into the pit, or worse yet, in a destructive, competition-ending and fiery fail. While on the track it’s every single driver for himself, wonderful things can happen when talents collide not in a race condition, but in collaborative relationships that include the foundation for racing teams to take off.

One particular collaboration is the pair of Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut. Their relationship 1st was that of coach and student, as Bouchut was essentially the most thriving endurance racers on this planet by the time Tucker, at the age of Forty four, took the competition wheel for the first time in 2006. In the past, Tucker had been chairman and CEO of Westfund, a private equity firm, but had always harbored a love for auto racing. When the opportunity came about for him to drive competitively, Tucker was an improbable success story, but he performed in ways that can only provoke the label “he’s a natural.” He began in the Ferrari Challenge prior to testing the area with Porsche Super Cup, IMSA Lites and Rolex Series GT competitions. Gradually, he generated Level 5 Motorsports and in 2008 moved into Grand-Am prototype contests, where Bouchut joined forces with him.

The mixture of Bouchut and Tucker, with the addition of Luis Diaz this year, has provided spectacular results in the ALMS and ILMC up to now. A lot of podium finishes and many victories are proof that not only is Tucker adding strong, reliable expertise to his team, but he himself is also progressing. But as competition heats up for the end of the 2011 season with just ILMC and ALMS championships left go, it’s not insane to ask yourself if competitors could heat up within the Level 5 team as Tucker’s skill level carries on improvement.

Before he joined Tucker, Bouchut won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1993 and has also won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Aside from that, he’s won three Porsche Carrera Cup France championships, 3 FIA GT titles and a FFSA GT championship. He is the sole triple FIA GT champion in history. His sustainable career made him the most perfect trainer for Tucker, who needed to stuff dozens of years of experience into as few years as possible to get him on top of things, so to say, with other drivers in his class.

The two made four starts with Level 5 Motorsports in the 2008 Rolex series, such as Rolex 24 at Daytona. Very quickly, Level 5 became a frequent attendee of Rolex races, driving a Daytona model. Tucker maintained his Ferrari Challenge entries and won 10 races in 2009. That year, he also won the SCCA Touring 1 Class National Championship, his 1st national title.

From that point, Level 5 Motorsports attained momentum, taking third place in the Rolex 24 in 2010 with Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Lucas Luhr and Richard Westrbrook driving. Finally, they made the turn to the American Le Mans Series, something Tucker had always aspired to participate in. In the new Le Mans Prototype Challenge class, gentleman drivers were allowed to drive two cars while in the same race, with the scoring driver in the best place vehicle. Tucker and Bouchut saw a way for success within the completely new class.

Tucker was capable, but Bouchut had the speed and command that only 1 with his knowledge could bring to the track. Using the same plan of winning as many races as they could enter, Bouchut and Tucker fell into a wonderful agreement for Level 5, with Bouchut becoming head driver and Tucker holding his own while he also finished practice rounds. Level 5 won five class competitions and took the class title in the LMP Challenge category and was bumped up to LMP2.

At the start of 2011, Level 5 was joined by Luis Diaz, who had an abundance of LMP2 experience and made an amazing addition to the Tucker-Bouchut formula. The team has had an especially productive year so far, with the Petit Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in China being basically the only things left on the calendar of a year that included a lot of podium finishes and wins at Imola and other major ALMS races.

But as Level 5 Motorsports gets better, so does Scott Tucker, and before long, the strong couple of Tucker-Bouchut could part ways. Tucker told Speed TV in 2010 that he and Bouchut would consult each other on which races they would enter together. He said they prefer championships that don’t pit two qualified drivers against the other; they get too competitive in that setting, he said. Although any parting would undoubtedly be with good standing on both sides, the continued success of Tucker begs the question of where he’ll go next, who he’ll take with him, and how the Level 5 Motorsports team will grow from its burgeoning success.

Level 5 Motorsports, owned by 5-time National Champion Scott Tucker is a team comprised of Champions. Our presence is well-known atop podiums at racing circuits the world over, including 6 wins in the prestigious American Le Mans Series Scott Tucker