Born on October 01, 1963, the 31 year old started his racing career in 1983 when he finished second in the Volant Avia at La Chatre, this racing-school start leading to the French Formula Ford Championship in 1984 and 1985. Scoring two race wins and five podiums, Jean-Denis then decided to move into the prestigious French Formula 3 series in 1986 and 1987, after which he competed in the FIA Formula 3000 Championship for four seasons.
His performances in Formula 3000 were impressive, particularly with the GDBA Lola team with which he scored third places at Le Mans and Zolder in 1988. At the same time he also competed in some sports car races, notably finishing 7th in the World Sports Car event at Brands Hatch - also in 1988.
Between 1992 and 1994 Jean-Denis continued his career in Touring Cars, becoming a works driver for SEAT, but never giving up his ambition of one day racing in Formula One.
That opportunity finally came in 1994 when he negotiated a drive with the Larrousse team in the Adelaide Grand Prix. Despite never having driven at Adelaide before, and with a lack of testing, he qualified a solid 25th and rose to 15th place in the race before being forced to retire after 56 laps with gearbox problems.
This year Jean-Denis has driven a McLaren F1 sports car in three events, and is delighted to be joining Pacific for the last five rounds of the Formula One Championship.
"I am very happy to be returning to Formula One and we will work hard together to make this a competitive end to the season. Although the Pacific team is quite small, they have a lot of motivation and I think everyone knows that Keith Wiggins is determined to make strong progress in Formula One. For me it is a good opportunity to gain more Formula One experience, and to develop a programme which hopefully will lead to my participation in the 1996 Formula One World Championship."
Jean-Denis is the third driver of the Pacific-Ford PR02 number 16 this season, the drive being previously held by Bertrand Gachot and Giovanni Lavaggi.