Jean-Pierre Jabouille

JeanPierreJabouille1975.jpg
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Born	1 1942 (1942-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) {{{birth_place}}}
Died	{{{death_date}}} {{{death_place}}}
Formula One career
Nationality	French
Years	1974 - 1975, 1977 - 1981

Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille (born October 1, 1942, Paris, France) is a former French racing driver. He raced in 55 Formula One Grands Prix, collecting two wins during the first years of Renault's turbocharged programme in the 1970s. Jabouille also raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, driving for Alpine, Matra, Sauber and Peugeot and collecting four 3rd overall finishes in 1973, 1974, 1992 and 1993. Jabouille was one of the last of a breed of Formula One drivers who were also engineers.

Biography

Jabouille first made his mark in French Formula Three in 1967, and continued in 1968, maintaining the car himself on his way to the runner's up spot behind François Cevert. For 1969 he was contracted as a development driver by Alpine, having several disjointed runs in Formula Two and sports cars. In 1973 he co-drove a Matra to 3rd at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and repeated this feat in 1974, when he also won the Formula Two race at Hockenheim, and finished as runner-up in the European 2-litre series for Alpine. He also made his first appearances in Formula One, failing to qualify a Williams at the French Grand Prix, and a Surtees at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Jabouille's Renault RS01 and helmet on display at the Deutsches Museum.

1975 saw Jabouille sever his ties with Alpine, and gain Elf backing to make his own Formula Two chassis. He finished runner-up to Jacques Laffite, but finally made his full Grand Prix debut, finishing 12th in a works Tyrrell at the French Grand Prix. For 1976 he concentrated on Formula Two, finally winning the title.

Jabouille was signed up by Formula One team Renault to develop their new 1.5l turbocharged engine for 1977. The RS01 car debuted at the 1977 British Grand Prix, but initially the turbo engine (a first for Formula One) was fragile and suffered from severe turbo lag, making it difficult to drive on tight circuits. However, Jabouille persevered, recording several notable qualifying positions in 1978, and landed the marque's first points with 4th place at the United States Grand Prix East.

1979 saw Renault expand to run a second car for René Arnoux. Jabouille would secure Renault's first Formula One pole at the South African Grand Prix, and then won their first victory, fittingly at the French Grand Prix, and from pole to boot. This was the first victory for a turbocharged car in Formula One. He took a third pole at the Italian Grand Prix, but poor reliability meant the win was his only score.

In 1980 Jabouille took two more poles, and another win at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, a suspension failure in the Canadian Grand Prix left him with a broken leg, just after he had signed with Ligier for 1981.

His injuries saw him sit out the first two races of the 1981 season, but it soon became clear he wasn't fully fit, failing to qualify for two of his four attempts, at which point he decided to retire from Formula One.

Jabouille would return in the mid-1980s to drive in the French Supertouring Championship, before joining Peugeot to help develop their sports car programme at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, culminating in a third place in 1992 and 1993. In 1994 he succeeded Jean Todt as director of Peugeot Sport, but unsuccessful seasons for the marque in association with McLaren and Jordan saw him sacked in 1995. Since then he has run his own sports car team in the ISRS.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Pts
1970	Constructions Mechaniques Pygmée	Pygmée MDB15	Cosworth	THR DNQ	HOC	BAR 11	PAL	PER 8†	TUL	IMO DNQ	HOC DNS										16th	2
1971	Equipe Tecno Elf	Tecno TF71	Ford	HOC Ret	THR	NÜR	JAR DNQ	PAL DNQ	ROU DNS	MAN	TUL	ALB DNQ	VAL	VAL							—	0
1972	Elf Coombs Racing	March 722	Ford	MAL Ret	THR	HOC						IMO Ret	MAN 2	PER Ret							14th	7
		Elf 2					PAU DNQ	PAL	HOC	ROU DNS	ZEL Ret				SAL 9	ALB Ret	HOC 10†
1973	Elf Coombs Racing	Elf 2	Ford	MAL	HOC	THR Ret	NÜR Ret	PAU	KIN	NIV	HOC	ROU DNS	MNZ	MAN Ret	KAR	PER Ret	SAL	NOR	ALB 5†	VAL	24th	3
1974	Ecurie Elf	Elf 2	BMW	BAR 3	HOC	PAU 4	SAL Ret	HOC 1	MUG 7	KAR	PER	HOC 3	VAL Ret								4th	20
1975	Equipe Elf Switzerland	Elf 2J	BMW	EST 8	THR 5	HOC Ret	NÜR 4	PAU 2	HOC Ret	SAL 1	ROU Ret	MUG Ret	PER Ret	SIL Ret	ZOL Ret	NOG 3	VAL				5th	24
1976	Equipe Elf Switzerland	Elf 2J	Renault	HOC Ret	THR 14	VAL 1	SAL 6	PAU 3†	HOC 4†	ROU 2	MUG 1	PER 4	EST 2	NOG Ret	HOC 1						1st	53

^† Drivers who finished ahead of Jabouille but were ineligible for points so Jabouille scored more points than the position he finished.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1974	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Iso Marlboro FW	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA DNQ	GBR	GER							NC	0
	Team Surtees	Surtees TS16	Ford Cosworth DFV V8												AUT DNQ	ITA	CAN	USA
1975	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 007	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA 12	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA				NC	0
1977	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RS01	Renault V6t	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	AUT	NED Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret	CAN DNQ	JPN	NC	0
1978	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RS01	Renault V6t	ARG	BRA	RSA Ret	USW Ret	MON 10	BEL NC	ESP 13	SWE Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	USA 4	CAN 12		17th	3
1979	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RS01	Renault V6t	ARG Ret	BRA 10	RSA Ret	USW DNS														13th	9
		Renault RS10	Renault V6t					ESP Ret	BEL Ret	MON NC	FRA 1	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 14	CAN Ret	USA Ret
1980	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE20	Renault V6t	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 10	BEL Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 1	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA				8th	9
1981	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra V12	USW	BRA	ARG DNQ	SMR NC	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	ESP Ret	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	CPL			NC	0

References

Preceded by: Jacques Laffite

European Formula Two Champion 1976

Succeeded by: René Arnoux

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.