Eliseo Salazar is best known for the man who blocked a right hook from Nelson Piquet in Formula 1. But he experienced an even worse moment in his career... 

In 1990, Le Mans was no longer a French city ! In June of that year, thousands of British fans crossed the Channel to cheer on Jaguar against the Japanese armadas Nissan, Toyota and Mazda.

The start went according to plan : after four hours of racing, the XJR-12s were running first, second and fourth. But at the first quarter mark, the first problem appeared when the No. 1 Jaguar lost 15 minutes due to an overheating problem handing the lead to the No. 3.

All night, Nielsen and Cobb take turns behind the wheel while third driver, Eliseo Salazar, remains in the pits. Strange decision ! At 6:52 am, the No. 1 retires for good (water pump). Knowing that all was lost for that entry, the team director Tom Walkinshaw had order his fastest driver, Martin Brundle, to rest. As soon as the No. 1's retirement became official, the British driver jumped in the No. 3! 

Eliseo Salazar, pushed aside, had the bizarre privilege of seeing his name on the side of the winning car, without having driven it! "Walkinshaw came up to me and said there were 50,000 British fans in the grandstands" remembers the Chilean driver. I begged him to keep me, but it was useless. After that I cried and decided to retire from racing."

The moral of the story ? Only winning counts ? Not quite. In the end, the British public didn't appreciate the lack of fair play from Walkinshaw. In fact, with that episode in mind, Salazar was named 1990 racer of the year by renowned Autosport magazine.

Julien HERGAULT / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO