Ducarouge and his Matras
Gérard Larrousse has just crossed the finish line of the 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of his Matra MS670C. The French driver, winner of the race with Henri Pescarolo, is being cheered by his team, and on the far left of the photo above, we can see the engineer Gérard Ducarouge, designer of the MS670.
The race was fairly straightforward, with Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse leading virtually from start to finish, and winning the event for the second year in a row. For Pescarolo, it was even his third consecutive victory at Le Mans, a remarkable feat, as he had already won the event in 1972 with Graham Hill, also driving a Matra.
Another fine performance was that of the Martini Porsche 911 Carrera RSR turbo of Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Müller, which finished second six laps behind, ahead of another Matra MS670C, that of Jean-Pierre Jabouille and François Migault.
Of note is the impressive eighth-place finish of the Ligier JS2 driven by Jacques Laffite and Alain Serpaggi (photo below), entered by Automobiles Ligier. Laffite would later join Guy Ligier, Matra, and Gérard Ducarouge in 1976 for their Formula 1 adventure.
