Marie-Claude Charmasson
Marie-Claude Charmasson (born September 17, 1941 in Grenoble ) is a former French journalist and racing car driver who competed under the pseudonym Marie-Claude Beaumont .
Career
Marie-Claude Charmasson was born in Grenoble as the eighth child of French rally driver Marion Charmasson . Her father finished third in the overall ranking of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1953 and ran a Citroën workshop in Gap . In the 1960s, she began a career as a rally co-driver and contested national championship races alongside her husband René Trautmann , whom she married in 1965 and who won the French rally championship in 1964.
At the end of the year she got the chance to take part as a driver in a rally for the first time when Henri Greder entrusted her with a Ford Mustang . The first steps turned into a professional driving career. For three years - from 1966 to 1969 - she competed in rallies as a works driver for the French NSU team. She celebrated many class wins and secured the women's standings in almost every race in which she competed. Three times - from 1969 to 1971 - she also won the overall ranking of women in the French rally championship.
She made her debut on the circuit back in 1967 when she competed with Christine Beckers in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race . From 1971 she drove almost exclusively sports car races and took part in all major races. She competed six times in the Le Mans 24-hour race . She made her debut in 1970 as a partner of Henri Greder on a Chevrolet Corvette . The duo finished the race in 25th place overall. She achieved her best placement in 1973 - again as a partner of Greder - with an overall rank of twelve. Her last start on the Sarthe was in 1976 in a Porsche 934 from Kremer Racing. Together with Bob Wollek and Didier Pironi , she reached 16th place in the overall ranking. 1971 was the first female participant in Le Mans in almost two decades. The starting ban for women imposed by the ACO after Annie Bousquet's fatal accident at the Reims 12-hour race in 1956 was lifted that year as no longer appropriate.
Four times - in 1969 , 1971 , 1972 and 1973 - she won the Tour de France women's automobile championship .
After the end of her active career, Charmasson was press spokeswoman for the Renault Formula 1 team from 1977 to 1982 and then worked for many years as a motorsport journalist and photographer.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | Greder Racing | Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Henri Greder | failure | Engine failure | |
1972 | Greder Racing Team | Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Henri Greder | failure | accident | |
1973 | Greder Racing Team | Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Henri Greder | Rank 12 and class win | ||
1974 | Henri Greder | Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Henri Greder | 18th place and class win | ||
1975 | Equipe Elf Switzerland | Alpine A441 | Lella Lombardi | failure | Electrics | |
1976 | Porsche Kremer Racing | Porsche 934 | Bob Wollek | Didier Pironi | Rank 19 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | PIF | Lancia Flavia | DAY | SEB | TAR | MON | SPA | CON | ONLY | ROS | LEM | REI | FRE | CCE | RTT | SIM | ONLY | MON | TDF | BRI | BRI | PAR |
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1971 | Greder Racing | Chevrolet Corvette | BUA | DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | SPA | TAR | ONLY | LEM | ZEL | WAT | |||||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1972 | Conrero Greder Racing |
Opel GT Chevrolet Corvette |
BUA | DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | SPA | TAR | ONLY | LEM | ZEL | WAT | |||||||||
DNF | DNF | |||||||||||||||||||||
1973 | Greder Racing | Chevrolet Corvette | DAY | VAL | DIJ | MON | SPA | TAR | ONLY | LEM | ZEL | WAT | ||||||||||
12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1974 | Henri Greder | Chevrolet Corvette | MON | SPA | ONLY | IMO | LEM | ZEL | WAT | LEC | BRH | KYA | ||||||||||
18th | 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||
1975 | Equipe Switzerland | Alpine A441 | DAY | MUG | DIJ | MON | SPA | BY | ONLY | ZEL | WAT | |||||||||||
6th | 13 | 4th | DNF |
Web links
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Charmasson, Marie-Claude |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Beaumont, Marie-Claude (pseudonym) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1941 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Grenoble |