Richard Spénard

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Richard Spénard (born April 2, 1952 in Montreal ) is a former Canadian racing driver .

Career

Richard Spénard was active as a racing driver for 25 years and during this long career achieved success in monopostor races as well as in sports car racing . He competed in his first races in small single posto classes in Canada and entered the Atlantic Championship in 1977 . He finished his first year in this racing series in ninth place overall. It was the year that Gilles Villeneuve won the overall series standings ahead of Bobby Rahal , Bill Brack , Price Cobb and Keke Rosberg .

In the early 1980s he switched to sports car racing and drove in the IMSA GT series , where he was unable to achieve any success. Back in the monoposto, he won the overall ranking of the Canadian Formula Ford 2000 championship in 1985 and 1986.

From 1987 he became the dominant driver in the Canadian Porsche Cup. where he duels with his compatriots Scott Goodyear , Kees Nierop and Jacques Bienvenue . He won the final ranking of this championship three times. 1987 before Bill Adam and Scott Goodyear, 1989 before Bill Adams and Richard Laporte and 1990 before David Tennyson and Adams.

During his active career and especially after his retirement as a professional driver at the end of the 2011 season, Spénard worked as a driving instructor and racing instructor at the Jim Russell Racing School. His students included Jacques Villeneuve , Greg Moore , Patrick Carpentier and Ron Fellows .

In 2001 he was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1987 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C CanadaCanada Scott Goodyear CanadaCanada Bill Adam failure Engine failure

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. ^ Formula Atlantic Championship 1977
  2. ^ Formula Ford 2000 Championship 1985
  3. ^ Formula Ford 2000 Championship 1986
  4. ↑ Porsche Challenge Series 1987
  5. ↑ Porsche Challenge Series 1989
  6. ^ Porsche Turbo Cup 1990
personal data
SURNAME Spénard, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Montreal