Gérard Larrousse

Gérard Larrousse

Nation:	France
Automobile world championship
First start:	Belgian Grand Prix 1974
Last start:	Belgian Grand Prix 1974
Constructors
1974  Scuderia Finotto
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 1 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Gérard Larrousse (born May 23, 1940 in Lyon ) is a former French sports car and Formula 1 racing driver and team boss.

Career

Racing driver

Gérard Larrousse in a Porsche 908.02 at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1970

After studying business administration at the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris, Larrousse gave in to his passion for motorsport and drove a Renault Dauphine rallies at national level in France in the early 1960s . In 1966 Larrousse decided to turn motorsport into a profession. In 1969 he became a works driver for the Porsche sports car team . His greatest success with this team was in 1971 winning the Sebring 12-hour race in a Porsche 917 alongside Vic Elford . He also won the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1971 in 5: 51: 49.300 hours together with Vic Elford in a Porsche 908-3 .

After a trip to the touring cars as Ford -Werksfahrer Larrousse was able to Matra 1973 and 1974 with Henri Pescarolo , the 24 Hours of Le Mans win. Also in 1974 Larrousse entered a Brabham BT42 Scuderia Finotto at the Belgian Grand Prix for his only Formula 1 race, which he ended prematurely. A second attempt at the French GP in the same year already ended in qualification. In 1969 and 1974 he won the Tour de France overall ranking for automobiles .

Team boss and owner

In 1975 Larrousse founded the Elf Switzerland Formula 2 team and won the European championship with his driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille . At the Hockenheimring , Larrousse won a Formula 2 race in one of his own cars. In 1976 Larrousse became head of sport in the newly formed motorsport department at Renault . Under his leadership, the team entered Formula 1 , winning Le Mans in 1978 and the Monte Carlo Rally in 1981 . In the course of nine Formula 1 seasons, the Renault team scored 15 victories, but never won the world championship. At the end of 1985 the racing team was dissolved.

From 1987 to 1994 in Formula 1: The Larrousse team

Larrousse moved to Ligier for a year and then founded his own Formula 1 team with partner Didier Calmels , Larrousse-Calmels , based in Antony near Paris. With a Lola car and Ford engines , Team Larrousse competed in the top motorsport class for the first time in the 1987 season with Philippe Alliot as driver . The most successful year was the 1990 season , in which the team competed with Lamborghini engines and drivers Éric Bernard and Aguri Suzuki . Eleven championship points, one place on the podium and sixth place in the constructors' championship were achieved. Suzuki achieved the only podium for Larrousse with his 3rd place at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka . In 1995 the team was dissolved for financial reasons. Gérard Larrousse returned to the sports car scene, but was largely unsuccessful.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1967	Ecurie Calberson	Alpine A210	Patrick Depailler		failure	Gearbox damage
1968	Société Automobiles Alpine	Alpine A220	Henri Grandsire		failure	Brake defect
1969	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 908L	Hans Herrmann		Rank 2 and class win
1970	Martini International Racing	Porsche 917L	Willi Kauhsen		Rank 2
1971	Martini International Racing	Porsche 917L	Vic Elford		failure	Engine failure
1972	Ecurie Bonnier Switzerland	Lola T280	Joakim Bonnier	Gijs van Lennep	failure	Fatal accident by Bonnier
1973	Equipe Matra Simca Shell	Matra Simca MS670B	Henri Pescarolo		Overall victory
1974	Equipe Gitanes	Matra Simca MS670C	Henri Pescarolo		Overall victory

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1969	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 911T	André Wicky	Jean Sage	Rank 12 and class win
1970	International Martini Racing Team	Porsche 908/02	Richard Attwood	Gerhard Koch	Rank 7
1971	Martini & Rossi Racing	Porsche 917K	Vic Elford		Overall victory
1972	Ecurie Bonnier	Lola T280	Joakim Bonnier	Pure Wisell	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
1967	Alpine Ecurie Calberson	Alpine A110 Alpine A210	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
						DNF	DNF		DNF
1968	Alpine	Alpine A211 Alpine A220	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
								9				DNF
1969	Wicky Racing Gérard Larrousse Porsche	Porsche 911 Porsche 908	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
				12		11	21st	13		2		5
1970	Martini Racing	Porsche 908 Porsche 917	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
				7th	6th	14th	13	9	5	2	9	3
1971	Martini Racing	Porsche 917 Porsche 908	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			DNF		1	9	DNF	DNF	39	DNF	DNF
1972	Ecurie Bonnier Belgian Racing Team	Lola T280 Lola T290	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			7th	DNF	6th	DNF	DNF	5		6th	DNF		DNF
1973	Matra	Matra MS670	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
				1	1	3	3		DNF	1	1	1
1974	Matra	Matra MS670	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
			DNF	DNF	5	1	1	1	DNF	2	2	1
1975	Alpine	Alpina A441 Alpine A442	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
				1	DNF	3			4th	DNF	3

Web links

Commons : Gérard Larrousse  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (French)