René Arnoux

René Arnoux

Nation:	France
Automobile / Formula 1 world championship
First start:	Belgian Grand Prix 1978
Last start:	1989 Australian Grand Prix
Constructors
1978  Martini  1978  Team Surtees  1979–1982  Renault  1983–1985  Ferrari  1986–1989  Ligier
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup third ( 1983 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 149 7th 18th 12
World Cup points :	181
Podiums :	22nd
Leadership laps :	505 over 2556 km

René Arnoux (born July 4, 1948 in Pontcharra ) is a French racing car driver and former Formula 1 driver .

Career

At the age of ten he was already driving a kart that his father had built for him. He did an apprenticeship as a car mechanic. After his military service, he went to Turin to tune engines. After meeting Jean-Pierre Beltoise in 1972, he decided to train as a racing driver. He proved to be talented and finally won the French Formula Renault championship in 1973. In 1975 he won the Formula Renault European Championship for the team of eleven . He then moved to the Martini Formula 2 team in 1976 , with whom he won the European Championship in 1977.

Renault RS 10 from Arnoux 1979

Arnoux in the Ferrari 126C4 at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix

From 1978 to 1989 Arnoux drove in Formula 1. He contested his first season with the newly founded Martini team, whose cars he had previously used in Formula 2. This first attempt was unsuccessful; the car was not competitive and the team had no experience in Formula 1. In his other eleven seasons he drove for Renault , Ferrari and Ligier , taking seven Grand Prix victories. In 1983 he finished third in the world championship as the best result.

His duel with Gilles Villeneuve at the 1979 French Grand Prix in Dijon-Prenois for second place will be remembered . The two drivers overtook each other in spectacular ways several times in the final laps and even touched one another. In the end, Arnoux was narrowly defeated. Arnoux's team-mate Jean-Pierre Jabouille started from pole position in the Renault RS11 and finally won after a brief battle with Villeneuve. It was not only the first victory for Renault in Formula 1, but also the first triumph of a car with a turbo engine.

Arnoux competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1977, 1994 and 1995 . In 1994 he finished twelfth on a Dodge Viper .

Arnoux now lives in Garches ; he has remained connected to racing, e.g. B. he took part in the races for the Grand Prix Masters series and drove a racing kart until 2002 .

Arnoux has been married twice and has one daughter. A kart simulation was also sold under his name, the René Arnoux Karting . Four indoor karting halls are operated under his name in Paris (2), in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence under the logo KART'IN .

Trivia

At the beginning of 1987, Arnoux was also fast off the race track. In a small town in central France, where 60 km / h were allowed, he raced through a radar control at 150 km / h and had to surrender his driver's license.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile / Formula 1 world championship

Grand Prix victories

1980:  Brazil  ( Interlagos ) 1980:  South Africa  ( Kyalami ) 1982:  France  ( Le Castellet ) 1982:  Italy  ( Monza )

1983:  Canada  ( Montréal ) 1983:  Germany  ( Hockenheim ) 1983:  Netherlands  ( Zandvoort )

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16
1978
			DNQ		DNPQ	9			14th		DNPQ	9	DNF		9	DNF
1979
	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNS	9	DNF	DNF	3	2	DNF	6th	DNF	DNF	DNF	2
1980
	DNF	1	1	9	4th	DNF	5	NC	DNF	9	2	10	DNF	7th
1981
	8th	DNF	5	8th	DNQ	DNF	9	4th	9 *	13	2	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
1982
	3	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	DNF	DNF	DNF	1	2	DNF	16 *	1	DNF
1983
	10	3	7th	3	DNF	DNF	DNF	1	5	1	2	1	2	9	DNF
1984
	DNF	DNF	3	2	4th	3	5	DNF	2	6th	6th	7th	11 *	DNF	5	9
1985
	4th
1986
	4th	DNF	DNF	5	DNF	6th	DNF	5	4th	4th	DNF	10	DNF	7th	15th	7th
1987
		DNS	6th	11	10	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	10	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
1988
	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	18th	17th	DNF	DNF	13	10	DNF	17th	DNF
1989
	DNQ	DNQ	12	14th	DNQ	5	DNF	DNQ	11	DNQ	DNF	9	13	DNQ	DNQ	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1977	Haran et de Chaunac team	Alpine A442	Didier Pironi	Guy Fréquelin	failure	Turbo damage
1994	Rent a Car Racing Team	Dodge Viper R / T10	Justin Bell	Bertrand Balas	Rank 12
1995	Euromotorsport Racing	Ferrari 333SP	Massimo Sigala	Jay Cochran	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10
1974	Dupont Scato	Chevron B26	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
										DNF

Web links

Commons : René Arnoux  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• René Arnoux at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ note in the journal iMS (Berlin), No. 2 (1987), p 38