Guy Fréquelin (born 2 April 1945 at

Langres Langres () is a commune in northeastern France. It is a subprefecture of the department of Haute-Marne, in the region of Grand Est. History As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe known as the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, th ...

) is a French former

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 Sports ...

and sports car driver.

Biography

Perhaps Fréquelin's finest hour as a driver came when he finished runner-up only to Ari Vatanen, alongside then-navigator Jean Todt, at the wheel of a briefly competitive Sunbeam Lotus Talbot in the driver's classification of the 1981

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. It was during that year that he collected his only individual rally victory in the series, in

Rally Argentina The Rally Argentina ( es, Rally de Argentina) is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championshi ...

Fréquelin was also part of a four-car Renault assault on 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 race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

in 1977 with their highly successful Alpine Renault A442B. As part of a team which included the French racing drivers, Jean-Pierre Jabouille,

Jacques Laffite Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1. ...

, Patrick Depailler,

Patrick Tambay Patrick Daniel Tambay (25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a French racing driver, commentator, and politician, who competed in 123 Formula One races between 1977 and 1986, securing five pole positions and winning twice. Between 1977 and 1981, ...

, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud,

René Arnoux René Alexandre Arnoux (; born 4 July 1948) is a French former racing driver who competed in 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). He participated in 165 World Championship Grands Prix (149 starts) winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium fin ...

and

Didier Pironi Didier Joseph Louis Pironi (26 March 1952 – 23 August 1987) was a French racing driver. During his career, he competed in 72 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, driving for Tyrrell (1978–1979), Ligier (1980) and Ferrari (198 ...

, as well as the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

long distance expert Derek Bell, Fréquelin was named as the third driver for both the #7 Tambay/Jaussaud and the #16 Arnoux/Pironi machines. Neither cars were to finish the race. Tambay and Jaussaud eventually retired after just 158 laps with engine troubles to blame, while the sister #16 Arnoux/Pironi car was immediately out, with no laps registered to its name, after a turbo oil seal caused a fire. Fréquelin, though, was to return to the Sarthe circuit for the 1981 race, paired with countryman Roger Dorchy in the #5 WM P79/80

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 then ...

. Again, though, he scored only a DNF after an engine fire forced the pair's exit after 46 laps. In more recent years, Fréquelin has held a position as Team Principal at the

Citroën Total World Rally Team Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

. He retired at the end of 2007. In this position he oversaw the four consecutive world championship titles of

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

and an impressive number of victories in the Paris Dakar and in WRC, with cars such as the ZX, the Xsara and the C4. In rallying circles he is nicknamed the ''Grizzly''.

WRC victories

Racing record

Complete WRC results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frequelin, Guy 1945 births French rally drivers Living people People from Langres 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Rally Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Haute-Marne