Denis Dayan

CD SP66C ; Denis Dayan competed in the 1967 Le Mans 24-hour race with the identical chassis with start number 52

Denis Dayan (born August 20, 1942 in Casablanca , † July 2, 1970 in Rouen ) was a French racing car driver .

Career

Denis Dayan came to northern France from Morocco in the early 1960s. He settled in Normandy and began a career as a motor sportsman. The first steps were motocross races in the 50 and 125 cm³ classes. In 1964 he drove one season in the Ford Jeunesse series, a French touring car series for youngsters, but returned to motocross after an unsuccessful year in 1965.

In 1966 he entered the Renault Gordini Cup and at the end of the year reached second place overall and secured the Premier Pas Dunlop , the award for the best young driver. In 1967 he drove a Renault Gordini in the Monte Carlo Rally and made his debut at the Le Mans 24-hour race alongside Claude Ballot-Léna for Charles Deutsch's team . However, the new CD SP66 failed due to engine failure. In the same year he also contested his first Formula 3 race in the French championship for Ecurie Normandie .

In 1968 he entered Formula France, a predecessor series of Formula Renault, and became one of the defining drivers, although the title went to Max Jean at the end of the year . In 1969 he signed a contract with Grac-Gotti , secured the championship title and, at the end of the year, was the most hopeful French young driver.

The first real season in Formula 3 was not very successful, however, as the Grac MT8 was a complete misconstruction. The successor car, the Grac MT11 was a far better racing car and things started to move in the right direction when Dayan had a serious accident on June 28, 1970 at the Rouen-les-Essarts race . His car went off the track due to a defect - although the exact cause could never be fully clarified - and overturned. Dayan suffered serious injuries from which he died on July 2nd in Rouen. The race was overshadowed by serious accidents. Just five laps later, Jean-Luc Salomon died in the same place after a collision with Bob Wollek , who sustained serious injuries but survived the accident.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1967	SEC Automobiles CD	CD SP66C	Claude Ballot-Léna	failure	Engine failure

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
1967	Charles German	CD SP66	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
									DNF

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Denis Dayan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Denis Dayan at Motorsport Memorial
• Denis Dayan at Racing Sports Cars