Jacky Ickx
Name: Jacky Ickx
Nationality: Belgium
Date of birth: January 1, 1945 - Brussels
Talented, civilized and articulate, Jacky Ickx's early racing exploits marked him out as certainly a man to watch. He was racing Lotus Cortina saloon cars in his teens and scored his first F1 World Championship point at Monza in 1967 driving a Cooper-Maserati in the Italian Grand Prix.
The following year he joined Ferrari, scoring a dazzling wet weather victory in the French GP at Rouen-Les-Essarts and staying in contention for the Championship until he broke a leg practicing for the Canadian GP. For 1969 contractual considerations saw him switch to the Brabham F1 team in order to continue driving for the JW Gulf sportscar operation and he duly won the Le Mans 24-hour classic in one of the closest finishes ever seen at that event.
He went back to Ferrari for 1970 and stayed there until the middle of 1973 after which he switched to Team Lotus but the fire which had fueled Ickx's determination was definitely flickering by this stage and although he scored a sensational win in the 1974 non-title Brands Hatch Race of Champions he raced only intermittently after Lotus with Williams, Ensign and Ligier through until the end of 1979. He then retired to become the circuit director of the new Spa-Francorchamps track. He was lured back to competition in the 1980s to drive for the Rothmans Porsche sportscar team and won the World Championship twice and added a further two wins to his total at Le Mans, ending his career with a record six victories in the French classic.
He began competing in rally raids with Rothmans Porsche machinery and went on to win the classic Paris-Dakar in 1983. He also served as clerk of the course for the Monaco GP. He finally retired from racing in 1992.
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