Jean Rondeau

This article provides information about the racing driver and sports car designer; on the harpsichordist cf. Jean Rondeau (musician)

The Rondeau M379B that won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1980

The Rondeau M382 according to the regulations of group C

Rondeau's first racing car, the M378

Jean Rondeau (born May 13, 1946 in Le Mans , † December 27, 1985 in Champagné ) was a French racing driver and designer of sports cars .

First races at Le Mans

Rondeau began his career like many of his compatriots in Formula Renault , but recognized early on that touring and sports cars were his true passion. In 1972 he took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time . In 1976 he joined the Inaltera team as a driver and became a team-mate of Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo .

The designer

Rondeau began building sports cars in 1978 with the aim of winning the Le Mans 24 Hours. He set up the factory near the racetrack and with the Rondeau M378 , he came to the Sarthe for the first time in 1978 with its own team. The car was powered by a Ford - Cosworth V8 engine and achieved ninth place overall in the line-up of Jean Rondeau / Bernard Darniche / Jacky Haran . Rondeau worked as a driver, designer and team boss in personal union. Confirmed by this success, Rondeau came to Le Mans in 1979 with a 2-car team. This time Rondeau decided not to take part as a driver and concentrated entirely on his work as a team boss. The vehicles with the type designation M379 were driven by Beltoise / Pescarolo and Darniche / Ragnotti and both came in the top ten of the overall standings (the Ragnotti car came in fifth, while the one driven by Pescarolo in the final turn was tenth).

The victory

In 1980 Rondeau took control of the steering wheel again. Together with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud , who won Le Mans with Didier Pironi in 1978 , he drove one of the three M379Bs. The race should be a triumph for the small private team. Rondeau and Jaussaud delivered over the entire race distance a tough duel with the Porsche 908 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest and won with a lead of two laps of the Porsche. This makes Rondeau the only driver in the long history of this race who was able to celebrate victory with a vehicle that bears his name. The success was rounded off by the third overall place of another M379B, driven by Gordon Spice and the Belgian Martin brothers.

Further successes and setbacks

In 1981 Rondeau came to Le Mans with the M379CL configuration and five vehicles. The race was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Jean-Louis Lafosse , who had an accident in the early hours of Sunday at the end of the Hunaudières with the Rondeau and died at the scene of the accident. The fact that two works cars behind the Porsche 936 of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell finished second and third overall could not diminish the tragic loss of Lafosse. In addition, the cause of the accident could never be completely clarified. Once again in 1982, this time unsuccessfully, Rondeau came to Le Mans with a works team . From 1983 the fast vehicles were brought to the start by various private teams (1983 also by Ford France with Jaussaud and Philippe Streiff in the car). Rondeau continued to work as a designer, and the vehicles were given the type designation M382 from 1982. The last time you saw a Rondeau was in Le Mans in 1988. The factory team was dissolved at the end of 1982. Jean Rondeau thought he was the winner of the one-make cup of the World Sports Car Championship when the FIA denied him this success. It allowed Porsche to add points from a private Porsche 930 , which it achieved in the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring , to those of the works team. Porsche was declared the overall winner and Otis, the main sponsor, withdrew.

Rondeau himself came to Le Mans twice as a driver in 1984 and 1985 and was completely unexpected in 1984 with a Porsche 956 , entered by the American Preston Henn , second overall.

Jean Rondeau died in a traffic accident in Champagné in December 1985 . He came to a halt in his private vehicle (allegedly following a police vehicle trying to control him) on the rails of a level crossing when the gates closed. The car was hit by a train and Rondeau was killed.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1972	Brian Robinson	Chevron B21	Brian Robinson		failure	Cylinder overheated
1974	Christian Poirot	Porsche 908/02	Christian Poirot		Rank 19
1975	Mazda Claude Buchet car	Mazda RX-3	Claude Buchet		failure	Engine failure
1976	Inaltera	Inaltera LM	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Christine Beckers	Rank 21
1977	Inaltera	Inaltera LM	Jean Ragnotti		4th place and class win
1978	Jean Rondeau	Rondeau M378	Jacky Haran	Bernard Darniche	9th place and class win
1979	Merlin Plage Rondeau	Rondeau M379	Jacky Haran		failure	accident
1980	Jean Rondeau ITT Le Point	Rondeau M379B	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud		Overall victory
1981	Otis Jean Rondeau	Rondeau M379C	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud		failure	Chassis broken
1982	Otis Automobiles Jean Rondeau	Rondeau M382	Jean Ragnotti	Henri Pescarolo	failure	Engine failure
1983	Ford France	Rondeau M482	Alain Ferté	Michel Ferté	failure	Engine failure
1984	Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 956	John Paul Junior		Rank 2
1985	Welter Racing	WM P83B	Jean-Daniel Raulet	Michel Pignard	Rank 17

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1984	Silver Lake Plantation	Rondeau M382	Gary Belcher	John Gunn	failure	Electrics

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissedre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Edition D'Art JP Barthelemy et al., Besançon et al. 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

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

• Publications about Jean Rondeau at Endurance-Info.com
• Jean Rondeau at Driver Database