Jean Blaton

Catherine Blaton, the niece of Jean Blaton and later wife of Jacky Ickx

The Ferrari 250 GTO with Jean Blaton together with Leon Dernier third overall at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans reached

Jean Blaton (born November 19, 1929 ) is a former Belgian racing driver , entrepreneur and jazz musician who competed in his car races under the pseudonym Beurlys .

family

Jean Blaton comes from a wealthy Belgian entrepreneurial family. His niece Catherine married racing driver Jacky Ickx in the early 1970s . Their daughter Vanina is his great niece.

Career in motorsport

Jean Blaton began his career in the late 1950s and only competed in sports car races. The financially independent Belgian never had a factory engagement - apart from his engagements for the Ecurie Francorchamps and the Equipe Nationale Belge. These two Belgian racing teams, however, were not factory teams in the classic sense and were also given generous financial support by Blaton in the 1950s and 1960s. His fortune made him independent of many of the constraints of professional motorsport. He only drove the races that were fun without worrying about contracts and championship points.

He celebrated his first international success in 1957 by winning a sports car race in Roskilde, Denmark . In 1958 he competed for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans - a racing event that was of particular importance in the Belgian’s career - and finished sixth in the overall standings with partner Alain de Changy . He finished on the top three podium for the first time three weeks later at the Reims 12-hour race in 1958 . With the then still very young Willy Mairesse as a team-mate - who was on friendly terms with Blaton until his death in 1968 - he achieved second place in the overall ranking. Beat only by the factory - Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa by Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère . Ferraris were also the preferred racing cars of the Belgian who was behind the wheel of a Ferrari 250 GT in Reims .

1959 saw the first podium finish at Le Mans. After a driving time of 24 hours, Blaton and Léon Dernier's racing ended with third place overall. The victorious Aston Martin DBR1 / 300 of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori missed out on 26 laps at the finish . In 1960 he won the Coupe de Paris in Montlhéry and was again third overall in Le Mans two years later . As in 1959, the second pilot in the team was his compatriot Leon Dernier. In 1963 he came closest to an overall victory in the French endurance race . He and Gérard Langlois van Ophem finished second overall, ahead of the works Ferrari 250P of Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli , who came third. Only the second Scuderia works car, driven by Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti , remained unmatched.

After finishing fifth overall in 1964 , he finished third again on the podium at Le Mans in 1965 . He also finished third in the 12-hour race in Reims that year. At this point in time the support of Willy Mairesse, his long-time friend, with whom he had achieved the two third places, also began. Mairesse had lost his contract with Ferrari after many serious accidents and was also supported financially by Blaton. Other racing drivers were also lucky enough to be supported by Blaton. He enabled Bertrand Gachot to enter the Formula 1 World Championship in 1989 with 5,000,000 Belgian francs .

Mairesse became a regular team partner with whom he drove a Ferrari 330P4 to the winners' podium at Le Mans for the fifth time in his career in 1967 . This makes him the most successful Le Mans starter without an overall victory, after Bob Wollek - who also has five more podium places. In 1967 he also achieved second place overall in the 1000 km race in Paris with Lucien Bianchi in a Ferrari 412P .

After the sports car season in 1968, the Belgian withdrew from active motorsport and devoted himself to his business activities. In 1975 he returned to Le Mans as team principal and driver, where he had a second career until 1979 . In 1979 - twenty years after his first appearance - he was honored by the ACO and finally resigned.

Career as a musician

In addition to his interest in motorsport, Blaton had a second passion - jazz . He played guitar, performed at concerts and took part in six recording sessions between 1943 and 1980, including a. 1972 with the Belgian Big Band of drummer and vibraphonist Johnny Peret .

Vehicle collection

Blaton had a large vehicle collection that included more than 30 cars, including his Le Mans racing cars, as well as some Formula 1 , Champ Car and NASCAR cars. The collection was dissolved in 2005 and gradually sold.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1958	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250TR	Alain de Changy			Rank 6
1959	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GT LWB Coupe	Léon Dernier			Rank 3
1960	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Lucien Bianchi			failure	accident
1962	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GTO	Léon Dernier			Rank 3
1963	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GTO	Gérard Langlois van Ophem			Rank 2 and class win
1964	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GTO	Lucien Bianchi			5th place and class win
1965	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 275 GTB	Willy Mairesse			3rd place and class win
1966	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 365P2	Pierre Dumay			failure	Engine failure
1967	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 330P4	Willy Mairesse			Rank 3
1968	Claude Dubois	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Willy Mairesse			failure	accident
1975	Jean Blaton	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Nick Faure	John Cooper		Rank 6
1976	Jean Blaton	Porsche 934	Nick Faure	John Goss		not classified
1978	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 512 BB	Teddy Pilette	Raymond Touroul		failure	Gearbox damage
1979	Jean Blaton	Ferrari 512 BB LM	Nick Faure	Steve O'Rourke	Bernard de Dryver	Rank 12

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
1958	Ecurie Francorchamps Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GT Ferrari 250TR	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
						24	6th
1959	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
					9	3
1960	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 250 GT	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
						15th	DNF
1961	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
					16
1962	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
										3							DNF
1963	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
												2
1964	Ecurie Francorchamps Ecurie Nationale Belge	Ferrari 250LM Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF		5	DNF										DNF
1965	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 250LM Ferrari 275 GTB	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
											DNF			3	3
1966	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 365P2	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			DNF		DNF		DNF		DNF
1967	Ecurie Francorchamps Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 412P Ferrari 330P4	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			DNF			DNF			3
1968	Claude Dubois	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
						7th			DNF			DNF
1974	Ecurie Francorchamps	Porsche Carrera RSR	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
											DNF
1978	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 512 BB	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
										DNF
1979	Jean Blaton	Ferrari 512 BB	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
											12

literature

• Christophe A. Gaascht: Willy Mairesse. Le Chevalier Meurtri. Nostalgia, Verviers 2003, ISBN 2-930277-09-2 .

Web links

Commons : Jean Blaton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Jean Blaton at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see the references
2. ↑ 1958 Reims 12-hour race
3. ^ 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1959
4. ^ 24 Hours of Le Mans 1963
5. ^ Paris 1000 km race in 1967
6. ↑ Tom Lord Discography
7. ↑ Jean Blaton as guitarist in the Belgian Big Band