Jean-Pierre
Jarier

Jean-Pierre Jarier was born on 10 July 1946 in Charenton-le-Pont, near Paris. After racing in Formula France he moved up to French Formula Three, finishing third overall in 1970. In 1971 he drove for the Shell Arnold team in the European Formula Two Championship, and he made his Formula One debut at Monza that year in a rented March 701. In 1973 he raced for March in Formula Two and was also given a Formula One seat. The uncompetitive March 721G made life hard in Formula One, but in Formula Two he won eight races on his way to the European title.

In 1974 he drove a full Formula One season for Shadow, became team leader after the death of Peter Revson, and finished 14th in the championship. In 1975 he put his Shadow DN5 on pole position in Argentina but could not start after a component failed in the warm-up. He took pole again in Brazil and led the race until a fuel metering unit failed. His only points that year came with fourth place in the shortened Spanish Grand Prix. In 1976 he set fastest lap in Brazil but spun out of second place on James Hunt's oil, and he went on to finish the season without points.

In 1977 he drove for Ligier, Penske and Shadow. He began 1978 with ATS, failed to qualify at Monaco and was sacked, then returned briefly for the German Grand Prix and failed to qualify again. At the end of the year he took the Lotus seat left vacant by the death of Ronnie Peterson. At Watkins Glen he set fastest lap, and in Montreal he took pole and dominated the race until an oil leak ended it. He drove for Tyrrell in 1979 and 1980. In 1979 he was 11th in the championship and finished third in both South Africa and Britain.

In 1981 he stood in for Jean-Pierre Jabouille at Ligier in Long Beach and Rio de Janeiro before joining Osella midway through the season. In 1982 he gave Osella the team's best result to that point, fourth at the San Marino Grand Prix, which most British teams boycotted. In 1983 he drove a full season for Ligier without scoring, his last in Formula One. Across 135 starts he won no races, but he took three podiums and three pole positions.

After Formula One he first retired from racing, then returned in 1994 in the Porsche Supercup. Sports car drives followed, and he won the French GT Championship in 1998 and 1999. He also played a large part in the stunt work for the film Ronin.

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