André Pilette

André Pilette

Nation:	Belgium
Automobile world championship
First start:	1951 Belgian Grand Prix
Last start:	1964 Belgian Grand Prix
Constructors
1951, 1953 Ecurie Belgique 1954, 1956  Gordini  1964  Equipe Scirocco Belge
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-19. ( 1954 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 9 - - -
World Cup points :	2
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Théodore André Pilette (born October 6, 1918 in Paris , † December 27, 1993 in Etterbeek ) was a Belgian Formula 1 and sports car racing driver .

Career

André came from a motorsport-loving family, his father Théodore Pilette already competed in Grand Prix races in a Mercedes in the years before the First World War and achieved fifth place in the Indianapolis 500 in 1913 . Andrés son Teddy Pilette was also a successful racing driver in the 1970s.

André began his motorsport career in the years after the Second World War , initially in Belgian sports car races. For 15 years his career in Formula 1 and sports car races extended, in most cases he competed as a privateer and achieved respectable results in view of his inferior material.

After his early years at Talbot and Connaught , he joined the Gordini racing team, for whom he achieved his best Formula 1 result in fifth at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1954 . A serious accident while training for the 1956 German GP halted his career for more than two years. Pilette also had connections with Ferrari . He started for the Italians at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and was able to achieve fourth place in 1959 and even second place in 1960.

In contrast to his sports car career, Pilette's further Formula 1 career was debaculous. Obviously it was only his passion for racing that drove him to compete with completely inferior brands like Emeryson or Scirocco or a discarded Lotus ; Successes were no longer granted to him.

In 1964 he finally ended his career and became head of a racing driver school in Zolder .

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1951	Ecurie Belgique	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1953	Ecurie Belge	Connaught Type A	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1954	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 2.5 L6	3	-	-	-	-	-	2	19th
1956	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 2.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
		Gordini T32	Gordini 2.5 L8	1	-	-	-	-	-
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Equipe Scirocco Belge	Scirocco 02	Climax 1.5 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
total				9	-	-	-	-	-	2

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10
1951
			6th
1953
				NC
1954
			5		9	DNF
1956
		6th		6th	11		DNS
1961
							DNQ
1963
						DNQ	DNQ
1964
			DNF			DNQ

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1954	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T17S	Gilberte Thirion	failure	ignition
1959	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT California	George Arents	Rank 4
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250TR59	Ricardo Rodríguez	Rank 2
1961	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Bob Grossman	Rank 6

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1953		Borgward Hansa 1500 sports coupe	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
						8th
1954	Gordini	Gordini T17S	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF
1956	Maserati	Maserati 150S	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
						DNF
1959	Ecurie Francorchamps North American Racing Team	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
					32	4th
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250TR	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
							2
1961	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
						6th
1964	Ecurie Francorchamps	Porsche 904	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF

Web links

• André Pilette at Racing Sports Cars