Guy Mairesse (10 August 1910 – 24 April 1954) was a French racing driver. He participated in three

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, ...

World Championship ''Grands Prix'', debuting on 3 September 1950. He scored no championship points. Mairesse built a

haulage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk - from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to cloth ...

business during the interwar period, and became interested in motor sport in 1946 through his friendship with Le Mans driver, Paul Vallée. He won the Lyon-Charbonnières Rally in 1947 and then purchased a

Delahaye Delahaye was a family-owned automobile manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894 in Tours, France. Manufacturing was moved to Paris following incorporation with two unrelated brothers-in-law as equal partners in 1898. The compa ...

from Vallée for 1948, with which he was victorious at Chimay. In 1949 Mairesse joined Vallée's team, Ecurie France, to race the Lago-Talbot and took fourth place at Pau and fifth at

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albig ...

. In 1950 he finished second at Le Mans with

Pierre Meyrat Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

using a single seat Talbot. Towards the end of that season the Vallée team closed and Mairesse purchased the Le Mans car and a Lago-Talbot T26C, which he used to enter the

1950 Italian Grand Prix The 1950 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 September 1950 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was race 7 of 7 in the 1950 World Championship of Drivers. In this race, Nino Farina became the first World Drivers' Champion ...

, from which he retired, and the Swiss and French Grands Prix in 1951, finishing 11 laps down and "not classified" on both occasions. Thereafter his business commitments curtailed his involvement in racing and he sold his cars in 1952 appearing infrequently in other owners' machinery. Mairesse was killed in practice for the Coupe de Paris at

Montlhéry Montlhéry () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located from Paris. History Montlhéry lay on the strategically important road from Paris to Orléans. Under the Merovingians, it was owned by the ...

in 1954, when he swerved to avoid another car and crashed into a concrete wall.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

French racing drivers French Formula One drivers Grand Prix drivers 1910 births 1954 deaths Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers {{F1-bio-stub