Bernard Consten

Bernard Consten (born April 5, 1932 in Courbevoie ; † July 22, 2017 in Cannet ) was a French rally and circuit racing driver and sports official.

Career

Bernard Consten started rallying in the 1950s and won the French rally championship three times (1958, 1961 and 1962). He was regarded as a specialist in asphalt slopes and in 1967 also secured the first French championship that was exclusively run on this surface. He won the touring car class five times in the Tour de France for automobiles , a stage race that was almost exclusively driven on asphalt. In 1958 he won in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta , in 1960 , 1961 , 1962 and 1963 in a Jaguar Mark II . With his five overall victories, he is the record winner at this racing event, which has not been held since 1987. He celebrated his greatest success in rallying in 1975 when he won a run in the World Rally Championship with his victory in the Ivory Coast Rally in a Peugeot 504 .

Consten was less successful on the circuit. In 1957 he made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he competed six times. His best placement was eleventh overall in 1959.

In 1968 he was elected President of the French Motorsport Federation for a period and from 1980 to 1986 he was responsible for organizing the Tour Auto . In 1969 he had the great honor of authorizing the start of the Le Mans 24-hour race.

He also took part in a number of races for the World Rally Championship and in the 1975 Rally Morocco in a Peugeot 504 came second behind Hannu Mikkola .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1957	Automobilies VP	VP 166R	Jean-Marie Dumazer	failure	accident
1958	Equipe Monopole Corse	Monopoles VM5	Jean Vinatier	failure	Engine failure
1959	Automobiles German & Bonnet	DB HBR4	Paul Armagnac	11th place and class win
1960	Squadra Vigilio Conrero	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Conrero 1150	Francesco de Leonibus	failure	malfunction
1961	Essex Racing Stable	Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	Jack Fairman	failure	Engine failure
1962	Societé Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Djet	José Rosinski	17th place and class win

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1965	Autodelta SpA	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	Jean Rolland	16th place and class win
1966	Autodelta SpA	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Lucien Bianchi	failure	Gearbox damage

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	21st	22nd
1956		Peugeot 203	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
					89
1957	Vernet et Pairard	VP 166R	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
							DNF
1958	Monopolies	Monopoles VM5	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
							DNF
1959	German & Bonnet	DB HBR4	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
						11
1960	Bernard Consten Squadra Vigilio Conrero	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
						40	DNF
1961	José Rosinski Bernard Consten Essex Racing Stable	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
				8th	DNF	DNF
1962	Automobiles René Bonnet Bernard Consten Lotus France	René Bonnet Djet Lotus 23	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
										17th	9						11
1963	jaguar	Jaguar Mark 2	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
																							3
1964	AGACI	Jaguar Mark 2	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
																			10
1965	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo TZ	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
				16
1966	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo TZ	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
				DNF

Web links

• On the death of Bernard Consten (French)
• Bernard Consten at Racing Sports Cars