Jean-Louis Ricci
Jean -Louis Ricci ( born February 22, 1944 † 27 February 2001) was a French racing driver.
Career in motorsports
The wealthy Jean -Louis Ricci played from 1987 until his serious illness in 2000, touring and sports car racing. He could through his financial independence to choose teams and cockpits often; not infrequently he was also Teamvernatwortlichen with support to the side. But Ricci was not a classic pay- driver; Experts noted next to his professional attitude and a racing driving skills. His first big race was the 24 - hour race at Le Mans in 1987, where he shared the cockpit of a Royale RP40 with the Italians Olindo Iaccobelli and the Frenchman George Tessier. The British group -C2 race car, which had a 3.3 -liter DFL V8 engine from Cosworth, fell after 13 rounds by an engine failure.
Ricci was twelve times in the 24- hour race at Le Mans at the start, among other things, for Joest Racing and the team of Yves Courage. Partners were driver Henri Pescarolo, Claude Ballot -Lena and Jean -Claude Andruet, with whom he was on friendly terms. His best results in Le Mans he scored in 1989 and 1992 when he finished sixth in the overall standings, respectively.
He drove his last race in 2000 ( with son Romano in the team) at Le Mans and then fell seriously ill. Five days after his 57th birthday, he died in February 2001 from the effects of cancer.