Pierre Monneret

Pierre Monneret (born January 12, 1931 - March 1, 2010 ) was a French motorcycle racer .

Pierre Monneret was a multiple French motorcycle road champion and a son of Georges Monneret , one of the most successful French motorcycle pilots in history. His half-brother Philippe Monneret was also a motorcycle racer.

Career

motorcycle

Pierre Monneret debuted in 350 cc - Grand Prix of France in 1953 , in Rouen-les-Essarts took place on AJS in the motorcycle world championship . He reached in this race second place behind the Moto-Guzzi - works drivers and eventual champions Fergus Anderson and was the first Frenchman to which, in a solo race of the Motorcycle World Championship managed a podium finish.

In the following season Monneret competed in his home Grand Prix, this time on the Circuit de Reims-Gueux , in the 350 cc class on a works AJS and in the half - liter class on a four-cylinder works racer from the Italian manufacturer Gilera . Monneret won the 350 cc class, making it the first French Grand Prix winner in the history of the motorcycle world championship. A few hours later he also won the 500cc race of his brand colleague Alfredo Milani after Geoff Duke , who had been in the lead for a long time , had left.

In 1955 Monneret finished second in his only World Cup Grand Prix of the year in the 500 cc race in Belgium . In 1956 , the French competed in four grands prix. He finished third in both the 350 and 500 races in Spa-Francorchamps and was also third in the half- liter races in West Germany and the Nations Grand Prix in Monza . These placements brought him fourth place in the final ranking of the half-liter class, the best World Cup result of his career.

At the end of the 1956 season, Pierre Monneret ended his racing career at the age of only 25 and from then on devoted himself to his family's company, a company that manufactured cardboard boxes . The Frenchman died on March 1, 2010 at the age of 79.

In his career, Monneret contested a total of eight world championship races, all of which he finished in the top three, two of them as the winner.

Sports car

After the end of his time as a motorcycle racer, Monneret competed in sports car races. In 1961 he finished second behind Henri Oreiller in the Coupe de Paris , a sports car race at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry . He competed four times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , but never saw the checkered flag.

Records

• On March 8, 1951, Pierre Monneret, together with his father Georges and his brother Jean, set a world record on a Puch 125 TS . The three completed the distance of 40,000 km, which equates to a circumnavigation of the earth, in 24 days, 21 hours and 43 minutes.
• On August 15 of the same year, Pierre and Georges Monneret, together with Robert Moury and Johann Weingartmann, improved the world record on a Puch 125 TFS for the distance covered in 24 hours on a motorcycle of 2991 km.

Trivia

• During his playing days, Pierre Monneret faced his father Georges a few times . In one race, the two crossed the finish line at such a close distance that the timing could not determine any difference and father and son were scored ex aequo.
• When Pierre Monneret became the French 350 cm³ champion in 1953, his father Georges won the title in the 250 cm³ class at the age of 45.

statistics

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	Result	machine	run	Victories	Podiums
1953	350 cc	8th.	AJS	1	0	1
1954	350 cc	10.	AJS	1	1	1
	500 cc	6th	Gilera	1	1	1
1955	500 cc	7th	Gilera	1	0	1
1956	125 cc	9.	Gilera	1	0	1
	500 cc	4th	Gilera	3	0	3

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1961	Auguste Veuillet	Porsche 356B Abarth GTL	Robert Buchet	failure	Engine failure
1963	Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	Roger Masson	failure	accident
1964	Société Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Aérodjet	Jean-Claude Rudaz	failure	Engine failure
1965	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Alpine M63B	Robert Bouharde	failure	Ignition damage

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
1961	Auguste Veuillet	Porsche 356	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
						DNF
1963	René Bonnet Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Djet René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
									DNF			DNF
1964	Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Djet René Bonnet Aérodjet	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF		DNF
1965	Alpine	Alpine M63	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
														DNF	13

Web links

• Pierre Monneret on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
• Pierre Monneret. www.24h-en-piste.com, accessed on March 30, 2020 (French). 
• Pierre Monneret, France. www.racingsportscars.com, accessed March 30, 2020 . 
• Pierre Monneret. www.driverdb.com, accessed March 30, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Décès de Pierre Monneret, premier pilote français vainqueur d'un Grand Prix. www.leparisien.fr, March 2, 2010, accessed March 6, 2010 (French). 
2. ↑ Vincent Glon: Les Championnats du Monde de Courses sur Route - L'année 1954. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on March 6, 2010 (French). 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Stéphane Vrignaud: Disparition de Pierre Monneret. www.eurosport.fr, March 1, 2010, accessed March 6, 2010 (French). 
4. ^ Coupe de Paris 1961
5. ↑ ^{a b} Décès d'une legend: Pierre Monneret n'est plus. (No longer available online.) Www.moto-station.com, March 4, 2010, archived from the original on March 11, 2010 ; Retrieved March 6, 2010 (French).