André Guelfi
André Guelfi ( born May 6, 1919 in Mazagan (Morocco ) ) is a former Moroccan race car driver.
Motorsport
André Guelfi, who came from a Corsican family, had a long career as a racing driver, starting 1950. His first race car was a Delahaye, which he exchanged for a Jaguar soon. In 1953 he became known in his home to a wide audience, when he won the sports car race of Agadir on a Gordini. That earned him a factory car for the 12 - hour race in Casablanca in 1953. The Volant he shared with Jean Behra, the duo but had to retire with a technical defect.
Guelfi 1954 was fixed at pilot plant Gordini and had his first single-seater use the Grand Prix of Pescara. The race ended for him after only one lap when his racing car burst into flames after an engine failure. The right job for robust North Africans were the harsh sports car race in the 1950s. In 1954 he was, together with Jacques Pollet sixth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and it won the class up to 3000 cc.
Guelfi played most of his races in Morocco and in 1955 a national sports car champion. As the mid-engine racing cars of Cooper showed the way to the future, he earned a and thus drove Formula 1 race in France. In 1957 he finished seventh in the Grand Prix of Pau and 1958 surprising second in the Grand Prix of Paris in Montlhery, just three seconds behind the winner Henry Taylor.
1958 Guelfi was the Grand Prix of Morocco at the start and was thus the first Africans, who drove in the highest class of motorsports. With the slow Formula 2 Cooper T45 although he was inferior to the top riders clear, but after a brave journey, he was cheering of thousands of spectators - he was 15 and had four laps down - received as the winner at the finish.
Guelfi driving in races until the late 1960s. One last time in 1968 found his name in a start list, when he took part in a race in Rabat with a Porsche 911R.
Entrepreneurial activity
After completing his motorsport career André Guelfi began in the 1970s in France with the construction of a real estate company. He earned over a hundred properties in Paris. He used relationships with influential circles and married a niece of Georges Pompidou. 1975 to 2000 he lived in Geneva, Switzerland.