Marie Laurent

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Marie Laurent won the overall ranking of the Simca Challenge in 1971 with a Simca CG
Chrysler Hemicuda

Marie Laurent (* 1944 ; † March 28, 2015 ) was a French racing driver .

Career in motorsport

Marie Laurent gained her first experience in motorsport at hill climbs . In 1970 she switched to the circuit and in 1971 secured the overall ranking of the Simca Challenge . The series was driven by GT vehicles from the Simca and Chrysler brands , the Simca CG and the Chrysler Hemicuda .

The heavy Hemicuda with its 7-liter V8 engine became Laurent's preferred racing car in the French GT championship over the next few years. Although the petite French woman was able to move the heavy car professionally, she usually had no chance in the championship against the 2-liter sports car. In 1972 she was only able to win one race, the championship run in Montlhéry . In another race she finished second behind Franco Alesi. The amateur racing driver who drove a Chevrolet Camaro was the father of Jean Alesi . In 1974 the technology of the Hemicuda, which was a few years old, was no longer entirely up to date in the French GT Championship. Racing models from Alfa Romeo and the Opel Commodore GS now dominated the scene. Her best placement of the season was a second place in Montlhéry, where she fought a tough battle with Marie-Claude Charmasson and Henri Greder in their Commodores. She finished the championship in tenth place overall.

In 1974 she competed in two important races in her career. At one of them she was part of Bob Neyret's aseptogyl racing team . At this time, the former rally and circuit racing driver Neyret repeatedly used teams exclusively made up of women. Together with Marianne Hoepfner , she drove an Alpine A310 in the 1974 Tour de France for automobiles , making it 13th overall. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year , she was again involved in a women's team. This time the two Belgians Christine Beckers and Yvette Fontaine were her partners. The three women achieved 17th place in the overall standings on a Chevron B23 and victory in the class for sports cars up to 2-liter displacement.

Marie Laurent, who continued to race sporadically until 1979, was married to the racing driver Jean-Pierre Gabreau , had a daughter and died in 2015 after a long illness.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1974 BelgiumBelgium Ecurie Seiko Chevron B23 BelgiumBelgium Christine Beckers BelgiumBelgium Yvette Fontaine 17th place and class win

literature

  • Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tour de France for automobiles 1974