Philippe
Étancelin

Philippe Étancelin was born in Rouen on 28 December 1896. He began racing in 1926 in a privately entered Bugatti, taking part in local events and hillclimbs. He won at Reims in 1927 and repeated the success there in 1929. In 1930 he won the Algerian Grand Prix and the Formula Libre French Grand Prix, where he beat Henry Birkin's Bentley.

During 1931 he moved from Bugatti to Alfa Romeo and won the Dieppe Grand Prix among other races. At the 1933 French Grand Prix he held the lead until the final lap, when Giuseppe Campari's Maserati passed him. The new 750 kg formula brought the Silver Arrows of Mercedes and Auto Union, and Étancelin switched to a Maserati. In 1934, sharing an Alfa Romeo with Luigi Chinetti, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He won the Pau Grand Prix in 1936 but retired from many other races. He did not race in 1937 and returned in 1938 only for Le Mans, again with Chinetti, this time in a Talbot.

After the war he bought a Talbot in 1948 and won the Paris Grand Prix at Montlhéry in 1949. He made his debut in the new Formula One World Championship on 13 May 1950. He started twelve races, six in 1950 and five in 1951 for Talbot-Lago and one in 1952 for Maserati, and scored three points. His fifth place at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix made him the oldest driver ever to score points in a championship race. He finished 18th in the 1950 standings and had no wins or podiums in the championship.

In 1953 he was third at Rouen and in the 12 Hours of Casablanca, and then retired from racing. France awarded him the Legion of Honour for his contribution to motor racing over four decades. He appeared occasionally in historic racing until 1974. Étancelin died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1981.

Source: Wikipedia, “Philippe Étancelin”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.