In Quebec, the name of Bertrand Godin is automatically associated with car racing for having distinguished himself in the formulas Ford, Indy Lights, Atlantic, F3000 and F1600, circuits which allowed him to reveal himself in Quebec, but also in the United States and Europe. With a lot of perseverance, this young man from Saint-Hyacinthe, who had dreamt since his childhood of following his idol Gilles Villeneuve’s footsteps, succeeded in doing so and embarked on what has become an amazing journey so far.
It is on karting tracks that Bertrand Godin began his career in 1986. The athlete was only 18 years old at the time and his success quickly led him to try out his luck overseas. In 1992, he travelled to Europe to live off his passion with just $200 in his pocket, but his perseverance allowed him to win many races in several categories.
In 1992, he became a pilot in the Mygale team for the Formula Ford in France. In 1993, he obtained the title as the second runner-up at the France Formula Ford and won two big races including the first of the brand new Circuit Paul Armagnac Nogaro. In 1994, he was once again given that same title in France with eight podiums out of 10 races.
He returned to North America in 1995 to replace Claude Bourbonnais in the Indy Lights series for four races. In 1996, he also took part in four races in the same series. He got his best result at the Trois-Rivières Grand Prix finishing fifth place in 1996.
In 1997, he raced in the Atlantic Formula Championship. He undoubtedly won the most important race of his career at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal as part of the Grand Prix du Canada. He also triumphed in Cleveland a month later.
In 1998, he participated in the very high profile Formula 3000 Championship in Europe, the ante-chamber of Formula 1 for the Durango Formula team. He scored his best result in the first race at Oschersleben, finishing eighth. In the following years, he sporadically took part in different events in different categories of cars including Toyota Cup of stock-car, amongst others in the series ADL Super Tobacco, CASCAR Super Series and Procam.