Philippe Gurdjian

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Philippe Gurdjian (born January 18, 1945 in Boulogne-Billancourt , † August 30, 2014 in Paris ) was a French automobile racing driver and motorsport official.

Racing career

Philippe Gurdjian competed in sports car races as an amateur racing driver in the 1970s and 1980s. Gurdjian worked in the advertising and media world and became wealthy through his activity. The racing, although talented, he only pursued as a pastime.

In 1975 he competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time . As a partner of Marcel Mignot and the American Harry Jones, he drove a Ferrari 365 GTB / 4 in 13th place in the overall standings. He achieved his best placement at Le Mans a year later . At Kremer Racing , alongside Bob Wollek and the Belgian Jean-Pierre Wielemans , who competed under the pseudonym Steve , he was the third driver of the Porsche 934 with starting number 58. The trio finished the race in seventh place overall and won the Racing class of GT cars.

In 1978 he finished eighth in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race and in 1981 drove for the last time at Le Mans. Together with Alain Cudini and John Morton , he drove a Ferrari 512BB / LM for the North American Racing Team . After driving 247 laps, the trip ended prematurely due to an accident by Cudini.

Motorsport official

After the end of his racing career in 1981 and alongside his job in the advertising world, Gurdjian became a motorsport official. He took over the organization of motorsport events. Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone handed over management of the Paul Ricard racetrack to him . From 1985, he was Chief of the French Grand Prix and acted as organizers of the French Grand Prix of 1991 1998.

For many years, Gurdjian was regarded as an organization and safety expert when building new racetracks and was called in as a consultant by many new track operators.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1975 FranceFrance Marcel Mignot Ferrari 365 GTB / 4 FranceFrance Marcel Mignot United StatesUnited States Harry Jones Rank 13
1976 FranceFrance Philippe Dagoreau Porsche 911 Carrera RSR FranceFrance Christian Bussi FranceFrance Christian Gouttepifre failure Engine failure
1977 GermanyGermany Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche 934 BelgiumBelgium Jean-Pierre Wielemans FranceFrance Bob Wollek Rank 7 and class win
1978 GermanyGermany Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche 935 / 77A GermanyGermany Louis Krages GermanyGermany Dieter Chimney not classified
1979 GermanyGermany Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche 935K3 GermanyGermany Louis Krages GermanyGermany Axel Plankenhorn Rank 13
1981 United StatesUnited States North American Racing Team Ferrari 512BB LM FranceFrance Alain Cudini United StatesUnited States John Morton failure accident

literature

  • Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissedre: 24 hours of mans . 1923-1992. 2 volumes. Édition d'Art JB Barthelemy, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ F1 - Philippe Gurdjian est décédé (news.sportauto.fr, August 30, 2014, French)
  2. ^ Former F1 grand prix promoter Philippe Gurdjian dies
  3. ↑ 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps 1978 ( Memento of July 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Gurdjian, Philippe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Boulogne-Billancourt
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 2014
Place of death Paris