Jean-Pierre
Beltoise

Jean-Pierre Beltoise was born in Paris on 26 April 1937. He began on two wheels, winning eleven French national road racing titles in motorcycles within three years and contesting the Grand Prix motorcycle world championship from 1962 to 1964 in the 50, 125, 250 and 500 cc classes. His best result was sixth place in the 50 cc class in 1964. That year he had a serious crash in the Reims 12 Hours, but he returned in 1965, won a Formula 3 race at Reims and moved up to Formula 2 for 1966.

Beltoise made his Formula One debut at the 1966 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, driving a Formula 2 Matra. He finished a lap down and won the Formula 2 class. In 1967 he started two races for Matra, again in a Formula 2 car, and finished seventh at both Watkins Glen and Mexico City. That year he also won the Buenos Aires Grand Prix, a race outside the World Championship. In 1968 he had Formula One machinery from the second race onwards and finished second in the Dutch Grand Prix, ending the season ninth in the standings.

In 1969 Beltoise raced in Ken Tyrrell's Matra squad as team-mate to Jackie Stewart, with the factory V12 engine still in development. He finished second in the French Grand Prix and fifth in the championship, his best placing. He drove for the works Matra team again in 1970 and 1971. In 1971 he was involved in an accident during a sports car race in Buenos Aires in which Ignazio Giunti died.

For 1972 Beltoise joined BRM and won the Monaco Grand Prix in heavy rain. It was his only World Championship victory and the last for BRM in the series. At the end of that season he also won a non-championship race at Brands Hatch. He left Formula One after three seasons with BRM, at the end of 1974, with 86 starts, one win and eight podium finishes.

Afterwards Beltoise handled the bulk of the Formula One testing for Ligier, but the race seat planned for 1976 went to Jacques Laffite. He then concentrated on touring car racing in France, taking the national title twice with BMW, before winning the French rallycross championship in an Alpine-Renault. In 1976 he won his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Inaltéra. From 1981 he was back in touring cars and competed for Peugeot during the 1980s. His sons Anthony and Julien are also racing drivers. Beltoise died on 5 January 2015.

Source: Wikipedia, “Jean-Pierre Beltoise”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.