Sébastien Olivier Enjolras (4 April 1976 – 3 May 1997) 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 ...

. Considered to be one of the most promising French drivers of his generation, he was killed in a crash during practice for the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans race, aged 21.

Career

Enjolras was born in

Seclin Seclin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Notable residents * Andre Ayew, Ghana national football team footballer *Victor Mollet, architect *Jonathan Rouss ...

. He was the son of Michel Enjolras, a preparer of

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

cars, and the brother of

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

, a rally driver. He began racing

karts Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

in 1989. In 1994, he moved up to

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single- ...

, finishing third in the Formula Renault Campus championship. He moved to the senior domestic championship in 1995, finishing seventh in the championship. He stayed on for another year and won the title in 1996 for the

La Filière The FFSA Academy (formerly known as La Filière, Volant Elf and Auto Sport Academy) was created in 1993 by Elf Aquitaine to promote French drivers at the highest level, in line with its marketing approach and its commitment to Renault in F1. It is ...

team, ahead of future

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

drivers

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

and

Franck Montagny Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a retired French professional racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006. Early career Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cade ...

. This performance was partially overshadowed when he failed a

drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug ...

at the end of the year, testing positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

. Although banned for six months, he was not stripped of his championship and returned to racing when it expired. For 1997, he moved up 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 ...

with La Filière, and finished a posthumous thirteenth in the final standings. Enjolras also tried

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

in 1996, when he drove one of the

Welter Racing Welter Racing is a French sports car maker that mainly enters in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since 1990 under the name of Rachel and Gérard Welter, Peugeot's late head of design or Rachel Welter (his wife). History was well versed in endurance ci ...

team's cars in the LMP2 class of the Le Mans 24 Hours alongside compatriots

William David William David (born 26 June 1983 in Sakleshpur) is an Indian cinematographer, who is best known for his work in Rangitaranga with director Anup Bhandari. Career William started his career working as a co-DOP for commercials. He has experience ...

and Arnaud Trévisiol, the

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

-powered entry failing to finish. He returned with the team for 1997.

Death

On a pre-qualifying run for the Le Mans 24 Hours a month before the race, the rear bodywork detached from Enjolras' car, causing it to become airborne and fly over the safety barriers after the ''Arnage'' corner. The car overturned and exploded at high speed, killing Enjolras instantly. Welter withdrew Enjolras' and its other entries, and single-piece bodywork was subsequently banned. He was the first driver fatality at the event since Jo Gartner in , and remained the most recent driver to die until

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barc ...

's fatal crash in . The scene of Enjolras' crash is currently denoted by a memorial stone behind the Armco barriers.

Racing record

Career summary

References

Sources