Lucien
Bianchi

Lucien Bianchi, whose given name was Luciano, was born in Milan on 10 November 1934. In 1946 he moved to Belgium with his father, who had worked as a mechanic in Alfa Romeo's competition department before the Second World War. His first event was the Alpine Rally in 1951, and he won the Tour de France Automobile in 1957, 1958 and 1959. His brother Mauro also became a racing driver, and the two won the 1965 Nürburgring 500 km together. His grandnephew Jules Bianchi later raced in Formula One as well.

In the Formula One World Championship, Bianchi was entered for Cooper in 1959 but did not start a race. He made his first start in 1960, again in a Cooper, and then appeared only occasionally: with Emeryson and Lotus in 1961, ENB and Lotus in 1962, Lola in 1963 and BRM in 1965. In total he had 19 entries and 17 starts. A regular place came only in 1968, when he returned to Cooper. That year he finished third at the Monaco Grand Prix, his only podium. After seven starts he ended the season 17th in the championship.

Away from Formula One, Bianchi raced sports cars, touring cars and rally cars. He took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 13 years in a row between 1956 and 1968. In 1968 he won the race outright with Pedro Rodríguez in a Ford GT40. In 1962 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Jo Bonnier. He was leading the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon when his Citroën DS collided with a non-competing car near Nowra.

Bianchi died on 30 March 1969 in a crash in an Alfa Romeo T33 while testing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At Zolder, the fourth corner of the circuit, leading onto the back straight, is named Lucien Bianchibocht in his memory.

Source: Wikipedia, “Lucien Bianchi”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.