Henri Pescarolo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
25 September 1942
Henri Pescarolo | |
|---|---|
 Pescarolo in 1973 | |
| Born | Henri Jacques William Pescarolo 25 September 1942 Montfermeil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Active years | 1968–1974, 1976 |
| Teams | Matra, Frank Williams, March, BRM, privateer Surtees |
| Entries | 64 (57 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Career points | 12 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| First entry | 1968 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1976 United States Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1966–1968, 1970–1999 |
| Teams | Matra, Filipinetti, Ligier, Inaltéra, Martini, Rondeau, Ford, Joest, Lancia, Sauber, Jaguar, Porsche, Courage, Pescarolo |
| Best finish | 1st (1972, 1973, 1974, 1984) |
| Class wins | 6 (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1992) |
Henri Jacques William Pescarolo (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi pɛskaʁɔlo]; born 25 September 1942) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1968 to 1976. In endurance racing, Pescarolo is a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1991 with Joest.
Born and raised in Paris, Pescarolo began his career in a Lotus Seven aged 22. Pescarolo participated in 64 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one fastest lap, one podium finish, and 12 championship points. He also entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record 33 times between 1966 and 1999, with four overall and six class wins; he won several other major sportscar racing events, including the: 24 Hours of Daytona, 1000 km of Monza, 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps, 6 Hours of Nürburgring and 1000 km Buenos Aires. Pescarolo also drove in the Dakar Rally in the 1990s, before retiring from racing aged 57.
Upon his retirement from motor racing in 1999, Pescarolo founded the eponymous racing team, Pescarolo Sport, which competed at Le Mans until 2013. He was widely known for his distinctive green helmet, and full-face beard that partially covers burns suffered in a crash.
Born in Montfermeil near Paris,[1] Pescarolo began his career in 1965 with a Lotus Seven.[2] He was successful enough to be offered a third car in the Matra Formula 3 team for 1966, but the car was not ready until mid-season.[2] However, in 1967 he won the European Championship with Matra and was promoted to Formula 2 for 1968.[2] That season he was team-mate to Jean-Pierre Beltoise and achieved several second places and a win at Albi, which led to him being given a drive in Matra's Formula One team for the last three races of 1968.[2]
Pescarolo's career suffered a setback, in April 1969 at the Le Mans additional test session for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, when his Matra sports car got airborne on the Mulsanne Straight.[2] Pescarolo was badly burned and did not compete again until mid-season.[2] He returned in August for the 1969 German Grand Prix where he drove a Formula 2 Matra into fifth place winning the small capacity class,[2] in his only Grand Prix race that season.
For 1970, Pescarolo was signed full-time by Matra for their Formula One team and once again as team-mate to Beltoise, put in a solid season with a third place at the Monaco Grand Prix being the high point. He also won the Paris 1000 km and Buenos Aires 1000 km sports car races partnered with Beltoise.[2] Pescarolo was not retained by Matra, and in 1971, 1972, and 1973 with Motul sponsorship, he drove for the fledgling Formula One team run by the young Frank Williams, but with little success.[2] In 1974, Pescarolo drove for BRM, again with Motul backing, but the team's best days were gone and a ninth place in Argentina was his best result in a season with many retirements.[3]
Pescarolo did not compete in Formula One in 1975 but returned to the championship in 1976 with a Surtees privately entered by BS Fabrications. Although neither car nor driver was considered to be competitive, failing to qualify for two of nine Grands Prix entered, Pescarolo did begin to show speed in the final five races, scoring a season's best finish of ninth at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix.[3]
Career after Formula One – sportscars
After Pescarolo's retirement from Formula One, he went on to start his own team, which competed until 2012 in the Le Mans Endurance Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won as a driver four times (1972, 1973, 1974 and 1984). His team, Pescarolo Sport, was notably sponsored by Sony's PlayStation 2 and by Gran Turismo 4. During the five years that Pescarolo has campaigned Courage C60 prototypes, so many modifications have been made to the model that Courage allowed the team to name the car after themselves, such was the differences between their model and the standard C60. In 2005, it was developed further still to meet the "hybrid" regulations, before the change to LMP1/2 format.[citation needed]
In 1977,[4] 1978[5] and 1979 Pescarolo drove in Australia's most famous motor race, the Bathurst 1000 for touring cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, driving on all three occasions with 1974 race winner John Goss. Unfortunately all races resulted in a DNF for the Goss built Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtops, completing only 113 laps (of 163) in 1977, 68 in 1978 and 118 in 1979. The 1977 race saw Pescarolo's Le Mans rival Jacky Ickx win the race in a semi-works Falcon driving with Allan Moffat.[citation needed]
Pescarolo holds the record for Le Mans starts with 33 and has won the race on four occasions as a driver.[6] He has yet to win the race as a team owner, coming very close in 2005 with the Pescarolo C60H. His team did manage to win the LMES championship in the same year. His team was also second at Le Mans in 2006, followed by a third in 2007 behind a pair of diesel-powered prototypes.[citation needed]
Pescarolo drove the Dakar Rally in the 1990s, and is also a keen helicopter pilot.[6]
