Louis
Rosier

Louis Rosier was born on 5 November 1905 in Chapdes-Beaufort, in the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. He was racing Talbots before the Formula One World Championship began. In 1948 he finished fourth in the RAC International Grand Prix at Silverstone, and in 1949 he won an International Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Between 1938 and 1956 he took part in nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

From 1950 to 1956 Rosier started 38 World Championship races. He never won a race or took pole position, but he reached the podium twice, in back-to-back races at the 1950 Swiss and Belgian Grands Prix in a Talbot-Lago. He finished that year fourth in the championship and was twelfth in 1951, again with Talbot-Lago. From 1952 to 1954 he drove Ferraris, adding a Maserati in 1954, and in 1955 and 1956 he raced Maseratis. He also entered cars under the banner of his own team, Écurie Rosier. He ended 1956 nineteenth in the standings.

In sports car racing, Rosier won the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Talbot-Lago, sharing the car with his son Jean-Louis, who drove only two laps. In 1953 he won the Grand Prix d'Albi in a Ferrari. During the 1950s his Écurie Rosier gave Formula One drives to men such as Louis Chiron, Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon. He was also one of the promoters of a circuit near Clermont-Ferrand, which opened in 1958 as the Circuit de Charade Louis Rosier. He died in October 1956 after a crash in a sports car race at Montlhéry.

Source: Wikipedia, “Louis Rosier”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.