Michel Trollé (born 23 June 1959) is a French former racing driver from

Lens, Pas-de-Calais Lens (; pcd, Linse) is a city in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of the main towns of Hauts-de-France along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras and Douai. The inhabitants are called ''Lensois'' ...

. He began his career in Championnat de France Formule Renault Turbo in 1984, finishing second in the championship. In 1985 he moved to the

French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for Formula Three cars held in France between 1964 and 2002. The series was merged with the German Formula Three Championship in 2003 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula ...

and finished third in points with two wins. In 1986 he participated in a handful of major Formula Three races including the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

and participated in one World Sports-Prototype Championship race in a

Porsche 962C The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Europe ...

for John Fitzpatrick Racing. In

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

he made his

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

debut and finished second in his first race and won the third race of the season at

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held ...

. Trollé finished sixth in the championship. He returned to the series in 1988 but his season was curtailed after a serious accident at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

. However, he still finished 11th in points on the strength of two podium finishes in the first six races. Trollé was regarded as one of the best of a promising crop of French drivers and had held discussions with both

Larrousse Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, in the southern suburbs of Paris. It was renamed La ...

and Tyrrell for an F1 seat in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. He was due to sign a provisional agreement with Tyrrell at the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French language, French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German language, German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula O ...

, to be held the weekend after the Brands Hatch Formula 3000 race. In 1990 he moved to sports cars part-time and participated in World Sports-Prototype Championship for

Courage Compétition Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the compa ...

and made his

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

debut with the team, finishing 7th overall. He returned to Courage in the Sportscar World Championship in 1991 for 3 races in what would be his last professional racing starts.Michel Trollé - Career Detail
''Driver Database'', Retrieved 2011-01-21

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

1959 births Living people People from Lens, Pas-de-Calais French racing drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers International Formula 3000 drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Pas-de-Calais {{France-autoracing-bio-stub Team LeMans drivers