Larrousse

Larrousse File:Larrousse logo.gif Full name Larrousse-Calmels Base Antony, Paris, France Founder(s) Gérard Larrousse Didier Calmels Noted staff Eric Broadley Ralph Bellamy Robin Herd Noted drivers Michele Alboreto Philippe Alliot Aguri Suzuki Formula One World Championship career First entry 1987 San Marino Grand Prix Races entered 127 Constructors Lola Venturi Larrousse Drivers' Championships 0 Race victories 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 Final entry 1994 Australian Grand Prix

Larrousse as a Formula One chassis constructor Formula One World Championship career Entrants Larrousse First entry 1993 South African Grand Prix Last entry 1994 Australian Grand Prix Races entered 32 Race victories 0 Constructors' Championships 0 Drivers' Championships 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0

Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, in the southern suburbs of Paris. It was renamed Larrousse when Calmels was arrested for shooting his wife in a domestic argument in the spring of 1989.

Formula One

Lola chassis

Larrousse & Calmels commissioned a car from Lola and the result was the LC87, a car designed by Eric Broadley and Ralph Bellamy. The chassis was powered by a Cosworth DFZ V8 engine, and was entered in the undersubscribed normally-aspirated class.

The team started out with just one car for Philippe Alliot, with Yannick Dalmas joining the team in a second car the end of the year. By that time they had agreed to a three-year deal with Lola and Chris Murphy was recruited from Zakspeed to help Bellamy. The team then did a deal to run Lamborghini V12 engines in 1989.

In September 1988 the team hired top French engineer Gérard Ducarouge but in the spring of 1989 there was disaster when Calmels was arrested for shooting his wife. He was later jailed for seven years. As a result the team became known as Larrousse.

For the 1989 season Alliot stayed on but Dalmas, who had been ill with Legionnaires' disease, was dropped after the Canadian GP and replaced by rookie Éric Bernard and later by Michele Alboreto, who had recently left Tyrrell. At the end of the year, Larrousse sold 50% of his shares to the Japanese Espo Corporation, and Aguri Suzuki was hired to partner Bernard for the 1990 season. At the same time the team moved from Antony to new premises at Signes, near Paul Ricard.

1990 was Larrousse's best season, with Suzuki scoring the team's first podium at the Japanese GP and the team finishing sixth in the Constructors' Championship. Then things began to unravel when Lamborghini announced it was switching to Ligier. Of greater concern was the FIA considering taking away Larrousse's points because of an alleged "false declaration" about the design of the chassis. It transpired the team had made an honest mistake by registering the car as manufactured by themselves, when in fact it was designed and built by Lola in England. Although the team officially lost their points from 1990, the team kept the travel benefits and prize money associated with their championship finish.

Larrousse signed an engine deal with Brian Hart for 1991 but early in the year Espo withdrew and the team struggled financially. Although difficult to set up, the car proved relatively quick and was usually a solid midfield runner before succumbing to the inevitable breakdown or driver error. Suzuki finished sixth in the first race of the season at Phoenix, and thereafter never made the chequered flag again. Bernard's season was similarly fraught, with the Frenchman earning a single point for 6th at the Mexican GP. A nightmare season was capped off for him when he crashed heavily in qualifying for the Japanese GP at Suzuka's daunting 130R corner, badly breaking his leg, and putting him out of the F1 limelight until he returned with Ligier in 1994. Belgian Bertrand Gachot returned for the final race in Australia (after being released from jail for assault on a London taxi driver), but failed to make an impression either.

Thing were equally worse behind the scenes. As the funds began to run dry, the team sought protection from creditors with a French court in July. Japanese company Central Park bought into the team but soon afterwards Ducarouge left. Merger talks with AGS failed and the relationships with Lola and Hart were both ended without payment being made by Larrousse.

Venturi chassis

In the autumn of 1991 Gerard Larrousse signed up Robin Herd from Fondmetal for the construction of an F1 chassis and 65% of the team was sold to the Venturi car company. A new Lamborghini engine deal was agreed and Bertrand Gachot was kept on alongside Ukyo Katayama. In a season where all cars were anonymous against the might Williams-Renault FW14Bs, probably the only highlight for Larrousse occurred when Gachot scored the team's only point with sixth place at Monaco. Gachot and Katayama collided twice in the season, in Canada and then Japan.

In September 1992 Venturi sold its shareholding to a group called Comstock, headed by German Rainer Walldorf. He turned out to be on the run from the law and was later killed in a gun battle with German police.

Larrousse chassis

The team made a big loss in 1993 when Gerard Larrousse funded drivers Alliot and Érik Comas, and the drivers could only manage a brace of sixth placings.

In 1994 Larrousse reorganized the team again. Having failed to get Peugeot engines he reverted to customer Ford HB engines, which were a substantially lesser predecessor to the Ford Zetec-R used by the works Benetton team. New partners were brought in, in the form Swiss-based Fast Group SA, an organization headed by Ferrari dealer Michel Golay and former F1 racer Patrick Tambay. Sponsorship was found from the vast Danone group and the cars ran in Tourtel colors with Comas and Olivier Beretta driving. Reliability was generally very poor throughout the season. Comas scored two 6th placings in the Pacific and German GPs - the latter race had only 8 finishers after a huge start-line accident. Beretta's best result was 7th at the German GP as well.

Despite these occasional flash of speed, Comas and Beretta were very much consigned to the lower-midfield in what proved to be a tricky car powered by an ageing engine.

As the money ran short, however, pay-drivers replaced them, including former Larrousse veterans Alliot and Dalmas, as well as rookies Hideki Noda and Jean-Denis Délétraz, widely acknowledged as among one of the worst pay-drivers of all time.

Collapse

At the end of the year Gerard Larrousse fell out with Robin Herd and cars for 1995 were not built. There were attempts to merge Larrousse with DAMS and with the Formula 3000 operation Junior Team - headed by Laurent Barlesi and Jean Messaoudi with backing from Petronas - but in April 1995 the team finally folded amidst legal wrangling.

Complete Formula One Results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1987	Lola LC87	Ford V8	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	USE	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS	3	9th
				Yannick Dalmas														9	14	5*
				Philippe Alliot		10	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	6	6	Ret	Ret
1988	Lola LC88	Ford V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USE	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Yannick Dalmas	Ret	12	7	9	DNQ	7	13	13	19	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	Inj	Inj
				Aguri Suzuki															16
				Pierre-Henri Raphanel																DNQ
				Philippe Alliot	Ret	17	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	12	9	Ret	Ret	14	9	10
1989	Lola LC88B Lola LC89	Lamborghini V12	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	1	15th
				Yannick Dalmas	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Éric Bernard							11	Ret
				Michele Alboreto									Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	DNPQ	DNQ	DNPQ
				Philippe Alliot	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNPQ	16	Ret	9	6	Ret	Ret
1990	Lola LC89B Lola LC90	Lamborghini V12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	11	6th
				Éric Bernard	8	Ret	13	6	9	Ret	8	4	Ret	6	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Aguri Suzuki	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	7	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	6	3	Ret
1991	Lola LC91	Ford V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	2	11th
				Éric Bernard	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Inj
				Bertrand Gachot																DNQ
				Aguri Suzuki	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNQ
1992	Venturi LC92	Lamborghini V12	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	1	11th
				Bertrand Gachot	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	DSQ	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	18	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Ukyo Katayama	12	12	9	DNQ	Ret	DNPQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	17	9	Ret	11	Ret
1993	Larrousse LH93	Lamborghini V12	G		RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	3	10th
				Philippe Alliot	Ret	7	Ret	5	Ret	12	Ret	9	11	12	8	12	9	10
				Toshio Suzuki															12	14
				Érik Comas	Ret	10	9	Ret	9	Ret	8	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	11	Ret	12
1994	Larrousse LH94	Ford V8	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS	2	11th
				Olivier Beretta	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	7	9
				Philippe Alliot											Ret
				Yannick Dalmas												Ret	14
				Hideki Noda														Ret	Ret	Ret
				Érik Comas	9	6	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	6	8	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	9
				Jean-Denis Délétraz																Ret

*Ineligible for Constructors' Points.

Sportscars

Larrousse went on to reinvent the company to run sportscars but without success.