Luciano "Lucien" Bianchi (Italian: [luˈtʃaːno ˈbjaŋki], French: [lysjɛ̃ bjɑ̃ki]; 10 November 1934 – 30 March 1969) was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One World Championship races, scoring six points and had a best finish of third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix.
 Bianchi in 1968 | |
| Born | Luciano Bianchi 10 November 1934 Milan, Italy |
|---|---|
| Died | 30 March 1969 (aged 34) Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Belgian |
| Active years | 1959–1963, 1965, 1968 |
| Teams | ENB, UDT Laystall, Reg Parnell, Scuderia Centro Sud, Cooper |
| Entries | 19 (17 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Career points | 6 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1959 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1968 Mexican Grand Prix |
He also drove in 13 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans (1956–1968), finishing 1st in Class three times, including the 1st overall win at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, with co-driver Pedro Rodríguez. Bianchi died in a crash while testing for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Personal life
editBianchi was born in Milan, Italy, but moved to Belgium in 1946 with his father, who before the Second World War was a race mechanic working in the Alfa Romeo competition department.[1] His brother, Mauro Bianchi, also became a racing driver. They drove to victory together in the 1965 Nürburgring 500 km. Mauro later won the P1.6 class at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. His grandnephew, Jules Bianchi, who made his Formula One debut with the Marussia team for the 2013 season competing under the French flag, died in 2015, having never regained consciousness after a crash during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.[2]
Racing career
editLucien Bianchi's first race event was at the Alpine Rally in 1951. He won the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Tour de France as well as the Paris 1000 sports car race in the latter two years.
He entered Formula One in 1959, although only with sporadic appearances at first. He drove various cars under the banner of the ENB team, including a Cooper T51, a Lotus 18 and an Emeryson. After a couple of races for the UDT Laystall team in 1961, driving another Lotus, he returned to ENB for whom he drove their ENB-Maserati. He finally secured a more regular drive in Formula One in 1968, with the Cooper-BRM team, although success was elusive despite a bright start. Bianchi managed his best Formula One performance, finishing third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, in his first race for Cooper.[3]
Bianchi also raced touring cars, sports cars and rally cars, being successful in all disciplines, his biggest victories coming in the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, behind the wheel of a Ford GT40 with Pedro Rodríguez and at Sebring in 1962 with Jo Bonnier. He was also leading the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon when his Citroën DS collided with a non-competing car on the closed course near Nowra, 100 km south of Sydney.
He was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 spun into a telegraph pole during Le Mans testing in 1969.
At Circuit Zolder, the fourth turn of the circuit, entering the back stretch, is named LucienBianchiBocht in his memory.
Racing record
editComplete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
editFormula One World Championship results
edit(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Equipe National Belge | Cooper T51 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | MON DNQ |
500 | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | NC | 0 | |||
| 1960 | Equipe National Belge | Cooper T51 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | ARG | MON | 500 | NED | BEL 6 |
24th | 1 | |||||||
| Fred Tuck Cars | FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
POR | ITA | USA | ||||||||||||
| 1961 | Equipe National Belge | Emeryson 61 | Maserati Tipo 6 1.5 L4 | MON DNQ |
NED | NC | 0 | ||||||||||
| Lotus 18 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | BEL Ret |
|||||||||||||||
| UDT Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 18/21 | FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER | ITA | USA | |||||||||||
| 1962 | Equipe National Belge | Lotus 18/21 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | NED | MON | BEL 9 |
FRA | GBR | NC | 0 | |||||||
| ENB F1 | Maserati Tipo 6 1.5 L4 | GER 16 |
ITA | USA | RSA | ||||||||||||
| 1963 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lola Mk4 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | MON | BEL Ret |
NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | RSA | NC | 0 | ||
| 1965 | Scuderia Centro Sud | BRM P57 | BRM P56 1.5 V8 | RSA | MON | BEL 12 |
FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | NC | 0 | ||
| 1968 | Cooper Car Company | Cooper T86B | BRM P101 3.0 V12 | RSA | ESP | MON 3 |
BEL 6 |
NED Ret |
FRA | GBR | GER Ret |
ITA | CAN NC |
USA NC |
MEX Ret |
17th | 5 |
Source:[5]
| |||||||||||||||||
Complete 24 Hours of Spa results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Alfa Romeo Giulia TI Super | C5 | 265 | 4th | 1st | ||
| 1966 | Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA | T 1.6 | DNF | DNF | |||
| 1968 | Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina | Gr. 1 2.5 | 250 | 17th | 13th |
Complete USAC Championship Car results
edit| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Jim Robbins | PHX DNQ |
TRE 17 |
INDY DNQ |
MIL | LAN | PIP | MOS | MOS | IRP | LAN | MTR | MTR | SPR | MIL | DUQ | ISF | TRE | SAC | HAN | PHX | RIV | - | 0 |
Complete British Saloon Car Championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Pts | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Team Lotus | Ford Cortina Lotus | C | BRH | SNE | SIL | SIL | MAL | SIL | SIL Ret |
BRH | OUL | BRH | NC | 0 | NC |
Source:[6]
| ||||||||||||||||
Other race results
edit- Tour de France Automobile, 1st: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1964 / 2nd: 1961, 1963
- Spa 24 Hours, 1st: 1964 (in Class 5) overall 4th
- 12 hours of Sebring, 1st: 1962
- 12 Hours of Reims, 1st: 1965 (in class P1.3) overall 7th
- Targa Florio, 1st: 1965 (in class GT1.6) overall 7th
- 6 Hours of Nürburgring, 1st: 1965
- 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, 1st: 1968
- 1000 km of Nürburgring, 1st: 1965 (in class S.16) overall 13th, 1967 (in class P+2.0) overall 4th
- 1000 km of Paris, 1st: 1960 / 2nd: 1961, 1967
- Mugello Grand Prix, 1st: 1968
- 9 hours of Kyalami, 1st: 1968
- Grand Prix of Angola, 1st: 1962 / 2nd: 1964
- Grand Prix of Zolder, 1st: 1964
- 500 km of Nürburgring, 1st: 1965, 1963 (in class T1.0)
- Trophée d'Auvergne, 1st: 1963 (in class S/P+3.0)
References
edit- ^ "Lucien Bianchi brief obituary". Autocar. Vol. 130 (nbr 3816). 3 April 1969. p. 25.
- ^ Cooper, Adam (1 March 2013). "Marussia F1 team drops driver Luiz Razia, hires Jules Bianchi". Autoweek. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
- ^ "Lucien Bianchi 1968 Results". Formula. Formula One Administration Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- ^ "All Results of Lucien Bianchi". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ "Profile for racing driver Lucien Bianchi". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
External links
edit- GrandPrix.com — Bianchi's entry at GrandPrix.com