Rainy Le Mans night

Rain during a race can be epic like here at the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans with left to right the Belga Rondeau M379 of Jean-Philippe Martin, Philippe Martin and Gordon Spice who will finish in 3rd, then the Pozzi European University Ferrari 512 BBLM of Dieudonné-Regout-Xhenceval (10th) and the Ferrari 512 BBLM of Dini-Violati-Micangeli (dnf).

With neither the Porsche nor Renault works teams contesting for outright victory it left the prospects open for a privateer team like Joest, Rondeau or even De Cadenet as candidates for glory. The wet weather throughout the race further added to the uncertainty, reducing the advantage of the more powerful cars.

Finally, after a thrilling race, Jean Rondeau (racing driver and constructor) and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud (already a winner with Alpine-Renault in 1978) took a fantastic victory in their Rondeau M379B (picture-below), beating the Porsche 908/80 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest.