Jean-Pierre Wimille

Jean -Pierre Wimille ( born February 26, 1908 in Paris, † January 28, 1949 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a French racing driver.

Life

The son of motorsport journalists came back in 1930 after a military operation in Morocco to France and began the automobile sport. His first race car was a Bugatti, which he in 1932 at the Grand Prix of Oran in Algeria celebrated his first success. Other successes were denied him, so that he privately acquired an Alfa Romeo in 1933 due to the unreliability of the car. Success in mountain races and podium finishes at Grand Prix ' made ​​sure that he found shelter from 1934 to 1937 for the Bugatti factory team.

The great age of the Bugatti but was over in the 1930s, and the German Silver Arrows dominated activity, so that einstellten no great success in Grand Prix racing. He was more successful in the sports car segment, where he won the 1937 and 1939 24 - hour race at Le Mans. A brief interlude in 1938 when Alfa Romeo followed in 1939 the return to Bugatti.

In war, the patriotic Frenchman in the Resistance was active. With his racing colleagues William Crover -Williams and Robert Benoist, he formed a resistance group, but was luckier than his friends, who both died in the concentration camps.

In 1945 he returned to the race track, winning the first race after the war, the Coupe des Prisonniers 1945.

In 1946 he went to Alfa Romeo and was in the seasons 1947 and 1948 probably the best driver.

In 1949, he traveled to Argentina to start with smaller races that took place there, traditionally the beginning. When training for the Palermo Grand Prix in Buenos Aires (named after a park there) with a Simca - Gordini he got on his first flying lap, skidded and crashed into a tree. A few children had come too close to the track. A mounted policeman wanted to drift back. In this case, the horse shied and threw sand on the slopes. This lost his tire adhesion. Shortly thereafter, he died of head injuries suffered.

Le Mans results

Automobile production

See main article Wimille.

  • Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
  • GP rider before 1950
  • Racers (France)
  • Frenchman
  • Born in 1908
  • Died in 1949
  • Man
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