Gérard Gilles Marie Armand Larrousse (born 23 May 1940) is a former

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

and

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. His greatest success as a driver was winning the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, driving a Matra-Simca MS670. After the end of his career as racing car driver, he continued to be involved in Formula One as a team manager for

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

. He later founded and ran his own Formula One team, Larrousse, from 1987 to 1994.

Racing career

Born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, Larousse began his motorsport career in rallying before focusing on circuit racing. He won the French Rally Championship with an Alpine A110. His biggest successes in international rallies came in a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

. He won the

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

in 1969, and placed second at the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

in 1969, 1970 and 1972. On gravel, he achieved a sixth place at the 1970 RAC Rally. In a team with

Vic Elford Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship poin ...

in 1971, Larrousse won the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

with a

Porsche 917 The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4. ...

K and the 1000km Nürburgring in a Porsche 908/03. He would follow this with victory at the

in 1973 and 1974 alongside Henri Pescarolo for

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...

- Simca. He participated in two Grands Prix, debuting on 12 May 1974, but failed to any score championship points. He drove

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

BT42s for Scuderia Finotto.

Team management

Following his sports car career, he moved into racing management, running the Elf Switzerland operation in the European Formula Two Championship. From there, Larrousse went on to run the original factory

team during its final days as a full-fledged factory team in 1984 and 1985. Larrousse also shared ownership of an eponymous Formula One team with various partners, from 1987 to 1994. His team achieved limited success in F1, with a best finish of 6th in the Constructor's Championship in . However the team struggled in following seasons and by , Larrousse was forced to run several pay-drivers to help make ends meet. Although plans were in place to participate in the season, a lack of funds meant that the team was forced to withdraw from Formula One.

Racing record

Formula One World Championship results

( key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMC results

References

External links

Gerard Larrousse official website
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Larrousse, Gerard 1940 births Living people Racing drivers from Lyon French racing drivers French Formula One drivers French rally drivers Formula One team owners Formula One team principals European Formula Two Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers 12 Hours of Reims drivers Silvio Moser Racing Team Formula One drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Renault people 12 Hours of Sebring drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers