Jean-Pierre Beltoise - the versatile man we will never forget
There are only a few racing drivers who have enjoyed success in a wide variety of fields. One of them was Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who died yesterday, January 5, 2015, in Dakar (Senegal).
Baptized Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise, the sportsman born in 1937, who was also François Cevert's brother-in-law, raced motorcycles and won eleven national titles in three years.
From the early 1960s, he became increasingly interested in four-wheeled vehicles and competed in Le Mans in 1963, where he won the Performance Index at the wheel of a René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6. Beltoise competed a total of 14 times at Le Mans in cars from René Bonnet, Matra, Ligier, Inaltera and Rondeau, but he was never able to achieve an overall victory, his best finish being 4th place in 1969 together with Piers Courage in the Matra MS 650.
In 1965 Beltoise drove Formula 3 racing cars and won the Reims race, the following year he was already competing in Formula 2, two years later in Formula 1. From 1966 to 1971 he drove for Matra, achieving second and third places.
After Matra withdrew, he switched to BRM and won the famous Monaco rain race in 1972. This was his only victory in an official Formula 1 championship race and also BRM's last Grand Prix victory. There were also two further victories in non-championship Formula 1 races.
Beltoise retired as a Formula 1 racing driver in 1974 and worked behind the scenes as a test driver for Ligier. At the same time, however, he drove touring car races and became French champion twice in a BMW. He was also successful in rallycross and won the French title at the wheel of an Alpine-Renault A310 in 1979. He remained loyal to touring car racing until the 1980s, but also drove ice races until he finally retired.
As always, you can find the photos in high resolution in our online archive.
