Photo : Guénolé TREHOREL/ACO

 

These four decades made of him one of the great writers in endurance racing as well as a privileged witness to the evolution of the race, from the V12 Matra to hybrid technology.

Jean-Marc Teissèdre: "My first awareness of the 24 Hours of Le Mans goes back to a 1962 television report by Roger Couderc. I had always been a Maserati fan and at the time there were three 151 coupes. I remember very well having watched the report until 6:00 p.m., and they were still in it. I went to bed, full of hope, but there were no longer any Maseratis in the race when I woke up Sunday morning. I had to have been 13 years old. I lived in the South of France and for me Le Mans was on the other side of the planet, I didn't even foresee going there one day. But there I was as a spectator for the first time 10 years later. Since I was working in Paris at the time, Le Mans became accessible. Even though there was no highway, it took about three hours to get there. I saw everything, I was taken to Génissel (restaurant at the Mulsanne Straight) to eat strawberries in the middle of the night, and we heard the sounds of the V12 Matra cars from the Tertre Rouge up until reacceleration at the exit of the virage de Mulsanne, it was fantastic. After teaching, in 1975 I opened a model hobby shop. My partner, the owner of DPPI photo press agency, introduced me to Auto Hebdo which was in the process of establishing itself. So I arrived at the magazine as soon as it launched in February, 1976. I enjoyed endurance racing, so I handled it as of 1977. Among my favourite cars in the more than 35 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the entire late 1980s generation of Jaguar XJR prototypes and the English public that went with it. The Jaguar victory of 1988, it was like the Twickenham stadium a day of the Tournament of 5 Nations! To hear the English fans singing, it was as loud as the noise from the Jaguar engines…V12s on top of that! As far as the French go, after the Matra era that I knew as a spectator, it was Henri Pescarolo's team, always with a David and Goliath element. In terms of the drivers, I always had an excellent rapport with Jacky Ickx, who is very straightforward. There is also Derek Bell, but at the time you could have them both! I can also say Jan Lammers, but there are so many more…In a general way, as endurance involves the notion of the drivers as teammates sharing a car, the drivers are always very nice and easy to speak with. But of course, there are always times when there is a glitch with the car or they're not in a good mood but everyone is like that in life!"

Race edition winners and drivers mentioned by Jean-Marc Teissèdre
1962: Olivier Gendebien-Phil Hill
1972: Henri Pescarolo-Graham Hill
1976: Jacky Ickx-Gijs van Lennep
1977: Jacky Ickx-Jürgen Barth-Hurley Haywood
1988: Jan Lammers-Johnny Dumfries-Andy Wallace
NB – Jacky Ickx (six victories) and Derek Bell (five victories) won the 24 Hours of Le Mans together three times - in 1975, 81 and 82.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY 14TH JUNE, 2014. Jean-Marc Teissèdre is in writing process in the press room of the circuit.