Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Jean-Pierre Beltoise (1937 – 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and auto racing driver. A racing legend in his country, he was a Matra Formula 1 and Sports Car driver between 1968 and 1970. In 1969, he finished fourth at Le Mans (with Piers Courage), in a Matra MS 650 and second behind team mate Stewart, in a Matra MS 80, at the French F1 Grand Prix, held at Charade.
Beltoise competed in 88 Formula One Grand Prix, for Matra and BRM, achieving a single victory, at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix, when in the pouring rain, he dominated in his BRM. He scored eight podium finishes, and 77 championship points.
In 1972, Beltoise also won a non-championship F1 race in the end of the season, at Brands Hatch, thus marking the two last victories of BRM in Formula One. He spent three seasons with BRM, and retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 1974 season.
Beltoise did most of the testing for the young Ligier F1 team (picture below at Paul-Ricard), believing that he would land the drive for 1976, as promised, but Guy Ligier chose the promising young Jacques Laffite instead. It was a great disappointment and he thereafter turned his attention to touring car racing in France, twice winning the French title for BMW.
