Guy Ligier dies (Update)
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| Guy Ligier |
Press release from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
Guy Ligier (1930 – 2015)
It was with great sadness that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest learned this morning of the death of Guy Ligier on Sunday 23rd August 2015 at the age 85. He was an iconic figure in motor sport and was himself a racing driver before founding his own team.
Ligier began his career as a racing driver at the end of the 1950s. He started the Le Mans 24 Hours on eight occasions between 1964 and 1974 in a Porsche (1964), Fords (1965/66/67) and then Ligiers (1970/71/72/73). He scored his best result in the Sarthe in 1964 on his maiden outing finishing seventh overall and winning his category in a Porsche 904 GTS. He also took part in 12 grand prix between 1966 and 1967.
When Ligier hung up his helmet in 1974 he devoted himself to his role as a constructor, which he had already begun in endurance in 1970. Despite scoring a second place in the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hours he left long-distance racing to launch his own team in Formula 1. Between 1976 and 1996 Ligier was among the leading French constructors in Formula 1 and the team took part in 326 grand prix.
Success wasn’t long in coming and Ligier scored his first F1 victory in Sweden in 1977 with Jacques Laffite. Eight more wins followed, but a certain decline set in and Alain Prost took over the ailing team. The name Ligier then disappeared from motor sport for several years before being reborn in V de V, followed by Le Mans thanks to Jacques Nicolet and his company, Onroak Automotive.
In June Guy was in the Sarthe for the presentation of the Ligier JS P3. Seven Ligier JS P2s were entered for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours. The Ligier name continues to shine in endurance in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Series and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as the latter part of the season dawns.
To his family and his closest friends the Automobile Club de l’Ouest would like to express its sincerest condolences.
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest: “The Automobile Club de l’Ouest is deeply saddened to learn of Guy Ligier’s death. A great figure in the world of the motor car has left us. After a career as a driver Ligier did a lot of work to spread French know-how in Formula 1 and in endurance with his team. In the name of the ACO and all its collaborators I would like to present my sincerest condolences to his family and closest friends."
08/23/15 Former Formula 1 team owner Guy Ligier has died, aged 85.
The Frenchman, a former rugby player and racing driver, ran a grand prix team for 16 years between 1976 and 1992, winning nine races.
Ligier's heyday was the late 1970s and 1980s, with a competitive peak in 1980, when they were regular front-runners.
The last victory was with Olivier Panis in the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, four years after Ligier had sold out to another Frenchman, Cyril de Rouvre.
The following year Ligier was sold to four-time world champion Alain Prost, who changed the name to Prost and ran the team until it collapsed at the end of the 2001 season.