Jean-Pierre Jabouille

This Paris-born Frenchman's racing roots were in touring cars, or more precisely: in the 1966 R8 Gordini series. After gaining his first experience of hillclimb racing, he switched to Formula 3 and became French runner-up in 1968, 1969 and 1971 respectively. This was followed by employment as a test driver at Alpine.

For the 1975 Formula 2 season, the trained engineer built his own chassis, with which he won the European championship title the following year. From 1977, Jabouille competed in Formula 1 in the brand new Renault, which heralded a new era with its 1.5-litre turbo V6.

As an experienced and level-headed driver with excellent technical knowledge, the Frenchman was an ideal choice for Sauber-Mercedes' appearance at the 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours. There, in a team with his compatriots Jean-Louis Schlesser and Alain Cudini, he completed the triumph of the C 9 with a fifth place in the final classification.

In the following years, he was responsible for Peugeot's motorsport activities and, from 1996, managed the sports prototype team he had founded, JB-Racing.