Jacky Ickx

Jacques Bernard Jacky Ickx born 1 January 1945 is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times secondhighest of all time and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One He greatly contributed to several World Championships for Makes and World Sports Car championships Ford 1968 Ferrari 1972 Porsche 19761977 and 19821985 by his 37 major World Sports Car wins He also won the CanAm Championship in 1979 and the 1983 ParisDakar Rally Ickx twice finished as championship runnerup in Formula One in the consecutive years of 1969 and 1970 He won the majority of his races for Scuderia Ferrari for which he was the teams leading driver for several seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s Born on 1 January 1945 in Brussels Ickx was introduced to motorsports when he was taken by his father motoring journalist Jacques Ickx to races which he covered Despite this family background Ickx had limited interest in the sport until his father bought him a 50 cc Zündapp motorcycle He began to compete in motorcycle trials and demonstrated impressive talent when he defeated future motocross world champion Roger De Coster in the Belgian 50 cc trials national championship Soon afterwards Ickx won 8 of 13 races at the first season and the European 50 cc trials title He took another two titles before he moved to racing a Lotus Cortina in touring car racing taking his national saloon car championship in 1965 as well as winning the Spa 24 Hours race in 1966 driving a BMW 2000TI He also competed in sports car races where he had already significant experience from taking part in the 1000 km races at the Nürburgring Ickx entered his first Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1966 driving a Matra MS5Cosworth onelitre Formula Two F2 car entered by Ken Tyrrell However a first lap collision with John Taylor caused both cars to retire and Taylor later died as a result of burns received in the accident In 1967 Ickx again drove at the Nurburgring with an F2 Matra MS7Cosworth 16litre also entered by Tyrrell Despite the greater power of the Formula One cars only two drivers qualified with a faster time than Ickx Denny Hulme and Jim Clark As Ickx was racing in the separate F2 class he started the race behind all of the Formula One cars but within four laps of the 28 km circuit he was up to fifth place having overtaken 12 Formula One cars He was forced to retire after 12 laps with a broken front suspension but set the fastest lap of the F2 runners At Monza in 1967 he made his Formula One debut in a Cooper T81BMaserati finishing sixth despite suffering a puncture on the last lap He also drove for Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen but retired on lap 45 with overheating Source Article Jacky Ickx from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30