Girls in the race
The 24 Hours of Le Mans, was held on 11 and 12 June 1977. The second year of the FIA Groupe 5 and Groupe 6 regulations, it produced an exciting race right up the end. It was a magnificent battle between Renault, who had decided, before their move into Formula 1, to put all its resources in its quest for victory, and Porsche always formidable at Le Mans. Finally, Porsche prevailed with Ickx, Barth and Haywood in their 936-77.
Le Mans local Jean Rondeau’s team had had an excellent debut the previous year winning the new GTP class. This year, three cars were entered – still bearing the name of their sponsor, Inaltéra. One stayed in the GTP class driven by Jean Rondeau and Jean Ragnotti, while the two others were lightened by 95 kg and modified to run in the Group 6 class. French star Jean-Pierre Beltoise shared one with American Al Holbert and the other had the all-female pairing of Lella Lombardi with Belgian Christine Beckers (picture above).
Team owner Jean Rondeau and Jean Ragnotti finished in an excellent fourth, while Lella Lombardi and Christine Beckers finished in eleventh position in their Inaltéra LM77, after a steady race but eventful race (picture below).
Christine Beckers remembers: “We finished in eleventh but it could have been much better. In the middle of the night, we suffered an electric failure, that I had to repair by exposing the wires with my teeth, on my own, in the dark!”