Équipe Ligier

Ligier

Full name	Équipe Ligier
Base	Vichy (1976–1988) and Magny-Cours (1989–1996), France[1]
Founder(s)	Guy Ligier
Noted staff	Ken Anderson Loïc Bigois Flavio Briatore Cyril de Rouvre Frank Dernie Richard Divila Gérard Ducarouge Claude Galopin Tom Walkinshaw
Noted drivers	Jacques Laffite Patrick Depailler Jacky Ickx Didier Pironi Eddie Cheever Andrea de Cesaris René Arnoux Stefan Johansson Thierry Boutsen Martin Brundle Mark Blundell Aguri Suzuki Olivier Panis
Next name	Prost Grand Prix
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1976 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races entered	332 entries (326 starts)
Engines	Matra, Ford-Cosworth, Renault, Megatron, Judd, Lamborghini, Mugen-Honda
Constructors' Championships	0 (best finish: 2nd, 1980)
Drivers' Championships	0 (best finish: 4th, 1979-81, Jacques Laffite)
Race victories	9
Podiums	50
Points	388
Pole positions	9
Fastest laps	10
Final entry	1996 Japanese Grand Prix

Équipe Ligier (French: [e.kip li.ʒje]) is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from 1976 to 1996. The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a sports car manufacturer.^[2][3]

After retiring from racing following the death of his friend Jo Schlesser, Guy Ligier decided to found his own team and had engineer Michel Têtu develop a sports car named JS1 (Schlesser's initials). The Cosworth-powered JS1 took wins at Albi and Montlhéry in 1970, but retired at Le Mans and from the Tour Automobile de France.^[4]

For 1971, Ligier had the JS1 developed into the JS2 and JS3. The JS2 was homologated for road use and used a Maserati V6 engine, while the JS3 was an open-top sports-prototype powered by a Cosworth DFV V8 engine. The JS3 won at Montlhéry in 1971 but failed to finish the minimum distance at Le Mans. Therefore, it was retired,^[5] and Ligier installed the Cosworth DFV in the JS2 road car, finishing second overall at Le Mans in 1975.^[6] Guy Ligier then switched his efforts into Formula One.

Following the acquisition of the Matra F1 team's assets, Ligier entered Formula One in 1976 with a Matra V12-powered car, and won the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite. This is generally considered to have been the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship^[7] as well as the first Formula One victory for a French-licensed team^[8] and a French engine.

The deal with Matra ceased in 1979 and Ligier built a Cosworth-powered wing-car, the Ligier JS11. The JS11 began the season winning the first two races in the hands of Laffite. However, the JS11 faced serious competition when Williams and Ferrari introduced aerodynamically modified cars. The rest of the season was less successful for the French marque.

The JS11 and its successors made Ligier one of the top teams through the early 1980s. Despite substantial sponsorship from Talbot (known officially as Talbot Ligier in the 1981 and 1982 seasons)^[9] and public French companies – mainly SEITA, Gitanes and Française des Jeux^[10] – the competitiveness of the team began to decline around 1982. Around this time, they were testing a Matra V6 turbocharged engine, which never raced.^[11] Thanks to the political support of Ligier long-time friend François Mitterrand, in the mid-1980s, the team benefitted from a free Renault turbo engine deal. This, along with sponsorship from companies such as Loto and Elf Aquitaine, made the team more competitive, though not a frontrunner. When Renault left the sport in 1986, Ligier was left without a bona fide engine supplier. An abortive collaboration with Alfa Romeo (due to René Arnoux's harsh criticism on the Alfa Romeo engines) was followed by customer engine deals with Megatron (who provided them with rebadged BMW M12 engines), Judd and Cosworth and then works contracts with Lamborghini, Renault and Mugen-Honda.

Between 1987 and 1991, the team struggled, failing to score points in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and at the 1988 San Marino Grand Prix neither René Arnoux nor Stefan Johansson qualified for the race, the first time in team history that neither car made the grid. In 1990, when fellow French team Larrousse were disqualified after claiming their chassis was built by themselves, while in fact it was built by Lola Cars, Ligier moved up into 10th place in the Constructors' Championship, which gave them subsidized travel benefits, despite actually not being classified due to a lack of points.

In 1993 the team enjoyed an upswing when Guy Ligier sold the team to Cyril de Rouvre after a disappointing 1992 season when they once again failed to fulfil their potential despite being supplied with the same works Renault engines as the dominant Williams team. Surprisingly, the team was somewhat more competitive during this period, in part due to the talents of aerodynamicist Frank Dernie and engineer Loïc Bigois. They scored eight podium finishes over the next four years, contrasting sharply with their failure to secure a single top three position between 1987 and 1992. In the last years Ligier had little public support and lacked funds.

In 1994, de Rouvre sold the team to Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw. Other organisations bidded to purchase Ligier, including Alain Prost and a consortium consisting of Hughes de Chaunac and Philippe Streiff,^[12] with the support of the similarly Renault-powered Williams F1 team, who intended to turn Ligier into a 'junior' team.

In 1995, Ligier switched from the Renault engines as they had been passed/sold on to the Benetton team, the reason given was because Flavio Briatore had purchased the team and had persuaded Renault to switch the supplies to the defending champions in light of Michael Schumacher testing a Renault-powered Ligier car late into the 1994 season which convinced Renault to support Benetton along with Michael. Ligier's replacement engine supplier was Mugen-Honda, who in previous seasons with Footwork and Lotus did not initially have the best reliability. The switch to Mugen-Honda engines was not without controversy, as the contract was originally intended for the Minardi team. Though the engine was less reliable than the previous Renault engine, the 1995 season turned out to be surprisingly successful for the team while allowing them to score points on a more consistent basis combined with securing 2 podiums for the season, Martin Brundle securing 3rd place at Belgium and Olivier Panis securing 2nd at the last race of the season in Australia.

The Mugen-Honda-powered JS43 turned out to be a well-balanced car, if not on par with the Williams entries. It became a surprise winner as well, with the team taking the chequered flag with Olivier Panis at the Monaco Grand Prix, albeit in a race of heavy attrition, with only three cars finishing. It was the first "all-French" victory at Monaco since René Dreyfus in Bugatti in 1930. This ended a nearly fifteen-year-long winless-streak for the Ligier team, the longest of any uninterruptedly existing team between two wins (some teams like Renault, Honda or Mercedes had much longer periods between two wins, but did not exist as a Grand Prix team for most of their respective periods between two wins, and teams with a name change (Tyrrell/BAR/Honda/Brawn/Mercedes-AMG and Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin have longer streaks).

The Ligier name last appeared in Formula One at the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix. At the end of the season the team was sold to Alain Prost and became Prost Grand Prix in 1997.

The team traditionally used numbers 25 and 26.

In 2004, Ligier returned to motorsport after acquiring Automobiles Martini. Tico Martini had designed a Formula 3 chassis that was introduced at the 2004 Paris Motor Show^[13] as the Ligier JS47, but with the F3 market cornered by Dallara, the car only raced in the minor Recaro F3 Cup.

In 2005 Ligier introduced a "gentlemen driver" sports car, the JS49, a sport prototype^[14][15] made for the 2000 cc CN class, which can be used in the V de V Challenge.

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1976	JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	G		BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN		20	6th
				Jacques Laffite	Ret	Ret	4	12	3	12	4	14	DSQ	Ret	2	Ret	3P	Ret	Ret	7F
1977	JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	18	8th
				Jacques Laffite	NC	Ret	Ret	9	7F	7	Ret	1	8	6	Ret	Ret	2	8	7	Ret	5
				Jean-Pierre Jarier																	Ret
1978	JS7 JS7/9 JS9	Matra MS76 3.0 V12 Matra MS78 3.0 V12	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		19	6th
				Jacques Laffite	16	9	5	5	Ret	5	3	7	7	10	3	5	8	4	11	Ret
1979	JS11	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			61	3rd
				Patrick Depailler	4	2	Ret	5	1	Ret	5F
				Jacky Ickx								Ret	6	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Jacques Laffite	1PF	1PF	Ret	Ret	RetP	2P	Ret	8	Ret	3	3	3	Ret	Ret	Ret
1980	JS11/15	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA				66	2nd
				Didier Pironi	Ret	4	3	6	1	RetP	2	RetPF	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	3F	3
				Jacques Laffite	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	11F	2	3P	Ret	1	4	3	9	8	5
1981	JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	M		USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MON	ESP	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	CPL			44	4th
				Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ret	7
				Jean-Pierre Jabouille			DNQ	NC	Ret	DNQ	Ret
				Patrick Tambay								Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Jacques Laffite	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	2	3	2P	Ret	3	3	1F	Ret	Ret	1	6
1982	JS17 JS17B JS19	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	M		RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	CAN	NED	GBR	FRA	GER	AUT	SUI	ITA	CPL		20	8th
				Eddie Cheever	Ret	Ret	Ret		3	Ret	2	10	DNQ	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	3
				Jacques Laffite	Ret	Ret	Ret		9	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret
1983	JS21	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Ford Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8	M		BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL	DET	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA			0	NC
				Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	8	7	Ret	9	Ret	10
				Raul Boesel	Ret	7	Ret	9	Ret	13	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	10	DNQ	15	NC
1984	JS23	Renault EF4 1.5 V6 t	M		BRA	RSA	BEL	SMR	FRA	MON	CAN	DET	DAL	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR		3	10th
				François Hesnault	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	DNS	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	8	7	Ret	10	Ret
				Andrea de Cesaris	Ret	5	Ret	6	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	12
1985	JS25	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t	P		BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS		23	6th
				Andrea de Cesaris	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	14	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Philippe Streiff												10	9	8		3
				Jacques Laffite	6	Ret	Ret	6	8	12	Ret	3	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	RetF		2
1986	JS27	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t	P		BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		29	5th
				René Arnoux	4	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	6	Ret	5	4	4	Ret	10	Ret	7	15	7
				Jacques Laffite	3	Ret	Ret	6	5	7	2	6	Ret
				Philippe Alliot										Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	8
1987	JS29B JS29C	Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4 t	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS		1	11th
				René Arnoux		DNS	6	11	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Piercarlo Ghinzani		Ret	7	12	Ret	Ret	EX	Ret	12	8	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	Ret
1988	JS31	Judd CV 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		0	NC
				René Arnoux	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	18	17	Ret	Ret	13	10	Ret	17	Ret
				Stefan Johansson	9	DNQ	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	11	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	9
1989	JS33	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		3	13th
				René Arnoux	DNQ	DNQ	12	14	DNQ	5	Ret	DNQ	11	DNQ	Ret	9	13	DNQ	DNQ	Ret
				Olivier Grouillard	9	DSQ	Ret	8	DNQ	DNQ	6	7	Ret	DNQ	13	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret
1990	JS33B	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		0	NC
				Nicola Larini	Ret	11	10	Ret	Ret	16	14	10	10	11	14	11	10	7	7	10
				Philippe Alliot	EX	12	9	Ret	Ret	18	9	13	DSQ	14	DNQ	13	Ret	Ret	10	11
1991	JS35 JS35B	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		0	NC
				Thierry Boutsen	Ret	Ret	7	7	Ret	8	12	Ret	9	17	11	Ret	16	Ret	9	Ret
				Érik Comas	DNQ	Ret	10	10	8	DNQ	11	DNQ	Ret	10	Ret	11	11	Ret	Ret	18
1992	JS37	Renault RS3B 3.5 V10 Renault RS3C 3.5 V10	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		6	8th
				Thierry Boutsen	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	10	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	5
				Érik Comas	7	9	Ret	Ret	9	10	6	5	8	6	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
1993	JS39	Renault RS5 3.5 V10	G		RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		23	5th
				Martin Brundle	Ret	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	6	5	5	14	8	5	7	Ret	6	9	6
				Mark Blundell	3	5	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	3	7	11	Ret	Ret	7	9
1994	JS39B	Renault RS6 3.5 V10	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS		13	6th
				Éric Bernard	Ret	10	12	Ret	8	13	Ret	13	3	10	10	7	10
				Johnny Herbert														8
				Franck Lagorce															Ret	11
				Olivier Panis	11	9	11	9	7	12	Ret	12	2	6	7	10	DSQ	9	11	5
1995	JS41	Mugen-Honda MF-301 3.0 V10	G		BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS	24	5th
				Aguri Suzuki	8	Ret	11						6						Ret	DNS
				Martin Brundle				9	Ret	10	4	Ret		Ret	3	Ret	8	7			Ret
				Olivier Panis	Ret	7	9	6	Ret	4	8	4	Ret	6	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	5	2
1996	JS43	Mugen-Honda MF-301 HA 3.0 V10	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		15	6th
				Olivier Panis	7	6	8	Ret	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	7	5	Ret	Ret	10	7
				Pedro Diniz	10	8	Ret	10	7	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret
Source:[16]

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• Official website Archived 27 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine