Belgian F1, Sportscar and Rally driver. Born Luciano Bianchi in Milan, Italy, he moved to Belgium as a child, his father being an Alfa Romeo race mechanic for Johnny Claes. His first race was the 1951 Alpine Rally. He won the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Tour de France as well as the 1958 and 1959 Paris 1000 sportscar race at Montlhery, France. He began his sporadic career in Formula 1 in 1959 racing various cars for the ENB team. In 1968 he got a works drive with the Cooper-BRM team although success eluded him. In nineteen GP starts, he only gained one podium finish, a 3rd place in the 1968 Monaco GP. To suggest Bianchi was ‘Jack of all trades' ignores the fact he was very successful in many of them. His greatest successes was winning the 1968 Le Mans 24hr race with Pedro Rodriguez in a Ford GT40, and at Sebring in 1962 with Jo Bonnier. He also led the 1968 London-Sydney marathon rally until he crashed his Citroen a few miles from the finish. In 1969 whilst testing his Alfa Romeo T33 sportscar at Le Mans, a mechanical failure caused the car to swerve into a telegraph pole and Bianchi was killed in the unsurviveable
fiery crash.
fiery crash.
Belgian F1, Sportscar and Rally driver. Born Luciano Bianchi in Milan, Italy, he moved to Belgium as a child, his father being an Alfa Romeo race mechanic for Johnny Claes. His first race was the 1951 Alpine Rally. He won the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Tour de France as well as the 1958 and 1959 Paris 1000 sportscar race at Montlhery, France. He began his sporadic career in Formula 1 in 1959 racing various cars for the ENB team. In 1968 he got a works drive with the Cooper-BRM team although success eluded him. In nineteen GP starts, he only gained one podium finish, a 3rd place in the 1968 Monaco GP. To suggest Bianchi was ‘Jack of all trades' ignores the fact he was very successful in many of them. His greatest successes was winning the 1968 Le Mans 24hr race with Pedro Rodriguez in a Ford GT40, and at Sebring in 1962 with Jo Bonnier. He also led the 1968 London-Sydney marathon rally until he crashed his Citroen a few miles from the finish. In 1969 whilst testing his Alfa Romeo T33 sportscar at Le Mans, a mechanical failure caused the car to swerve into a telegraph pole and Bianchi was killed in the unsurviveable
fiery crash.
fiery crash.
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