Guy
Ligier

Guy Ligier was born in Vichy on 12 July 1930. He was active in several sports: he became French rowing champion in 1947, played rugby during national service and earned a place in the French B team. He then turned to motorcycles and, riding a Norton Manx, won the French 500cc championship in both 1959 and 1960. In 1960 he took part in his first single-seater races, in a Formula Junior Elva-DKW.

In 1964 he raced Porsche sports cars and finished seventh at Le Mans with Robert Buchet. That year he also drove a Formula 2 Brabham for Ford France and took fifth place on his debut at Enna-Pergusa, aged 34. In 1965 he won at Albi in a Ford GT40. He reached Formula One as a privateer, entering his own Cooper-Maserati T81 in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. He was entered in six races that year and started five. In 1967 he started seven races and entered a Brabham-Repco BT20 of his own at the British Grand Prix. He finished 19th in the 1967 championship. In total he made twelve starts. Also in 1967, he won the 12 Hours of Reims in a GT40 shared with Jo Schlesser.

His friend Jo Schlesser was killed at the 1968 French Grand Prix, and Ligier stepped back from racing for a time. In the same year he founded Ligier Cars, and the JS in its model names stands for Schlesser. In 1970 he returned to Le Mans with the Ligier JS1 and took part in endurance races in his own cars until 1974. In 1976 he formed the Ligier Formula One team after taking over the assets of Matra Sports. Jacques Laffite, Patrick Depailler and Didier Pironi were among the team's drivers. It finished second in the 1980 championship. The team won nine Grands Prix, the last with Olivier Panis at Monaco in 1996. Ligier died in Nevers on 23 August 2015.

Source: Wikipedia, “Guy Ligier”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.