René Léonard (23 June 1889 - 15 August 1965) was a French

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who, along with

André Lagache André Lagache (21 January 1885 – 2 October 1938) was a French racing driver who, along with René Léonard, won the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans in . Career Lagache and Léonard were engineers at automobile manufacturer Chenard et Walcker, ...

, won the inaugural running of the

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 ...

in .

Career

Léonard and Lagache were both engineers for the

Chenard et Walcker Chenard-Walcker, also known as Chenard & Walcker, was a French automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer from 1898 to 1946. Chenard-Walcker then designed and manufactured trucks marketed via Peugeot sales channels until the 1970s. The facto ...

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

company, and were chosen to drive one of the three entries in the endurance event. Their "Sport" model finished by a four lap margin over another Chenard et Walcker. They drove together the next two years, but failed to finish either time. Driving for Chenard et Walcker, Léonard won the in 1924. He drove with Lagache to win the second edition of the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was ...

in 1925, and the pair also finished third in 1926. Léonard won the ''1926 Gran Premio de Turismo'', a 12-hour race for touring cars held at

Circuito Lasarte The Circuito Lasarte was an Grand Prix motor racing road course at Lasarte-Oria, Guipúzcoa, Spain in the Basque Country near the city of San Sebastián on the Bay of Biscay. The counterclockwise layout was used between 1923 and 1935 but ...

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, Spain. Following the 1926 season, Chenard et Walcker withdrew from competition. However, in 1932, he was seen driving one of their cars in the

Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the l ...

hillclimb and a one-kilometre race in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. The same year, he moved to Saint-Gratien to be near to the company's factory. For the

1937 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 14th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1937. This race was marred by a massive 6-car accident at Maison Blanche which claimed the lives of 2 drivers. On the eighth lap of the race, the ...

, he managed a private team of Chenard-Walckers owned by and fielded by

Yves Giraud-Cabantous Marius Aristide Yves Giraud-Cabantous (8 October 1904 – 30 March 1973) was a racing driver from France. He drove in Formula One from to , participating in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, plus numerous non-Championship Formula One and Formu ...

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

External links

René Léonard
at ''racingsportscars.com''.

References

1889 births 1965 deaths French racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers {{france-autoracing-bio-stub