Guy Fréquelin

Guy Fréquelin (born 2 April 1945 at Langres) is a French former rally and sports car driver.

Guy Fréquelin

Guy Fréquelin in 2007
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1945-04-02) 2 April 1945 (age 79) Langres
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1973–1985, 1987
Co-driver	Jean-Claude Marcoup Jean Thimonier Christian Delferier Jacques Delaval Jean Todt Jean-François Fauchille Bruno Berglund "Tilber" Didier Breton
Teams	Talbot, Opel
Rallies	35
Championships	0
Rally wins	1
Podiums	7
Stage wins	35
Total points	150
First rally	1973 Tour de Corse
First win	1981 Rally Argentina
Last rally	1987 San Remo Rally

Biography

Perhaps Fréquelin's finest hour as a driver came when he finished runner-up only to Ari Vatanen, alongside then-navigator Jean Todt, at the wheel of a briefly competitive Sunbeam Lotus Talbot in the driver's classification of the 1981 World Rally Championship.^[1][2] It was during that year that he collected his only individual rally victory in the series, in Rally Argentina.^[2]

 

Fréquelin's Opel Manta 400 at the Race Retro 2008.

Fréquelin was also part of a four-car Renault assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1977 with their highly successful Alpine Renault A442B. As part of a team which included the French racing drivers, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Jacques Laffite, Patrick Depailler, Patrick Tambay, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, René Arnoux and Didier Pironi, as well as the English long distance expert Derek Bell, Fréquelin was named as the third driver for both the #7 Tambay/Jaussaud and the #16 Arnoux/Pironi machines. Neither cars were to finish the race. Tambay and Jaussaud eventually retired after just 158 laps with engine troubles to blame, while the sister #16 Arnoux/Pironi car was immediately out, with no laps registered to its name, after a turbo oil seal caused a fire. Fréquelin, though, was to return to the Sarthe circuit for the 1981 race, paired with countryman Roger Dorchy in the #5 WM P79/80 Peugeot. Again, though, he scored only a DNF after an engine fire forced the pair's exit after 46 laps.

In more recent years, Fréquelin has held a position as Team Principal at the Citroën Total World Rally Team. He retired at the end of 2007.^[2] In this position he oversaw the four consecutive world championship titles of Sébastien Loeb and an impressive number of victories in the Paris Dakar and in WRC, with cars such as the ZX, the Xsara and the C4.

In rallying circles he is nicknamed the Grizzly.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	3º Rally Codasur	1981	Jean Todt	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus
Source:^[3]

Racing record

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts
1973	Audi - NSU France	Audi 80	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MOR	GRE	POL	FIN	AUT	ITA	USA	GBR	FRA Ret	N/A
1974	Guy Fréquelin	Alfa Romeo Alfetta	MON C	SWE C	POR	KEN	GRE C	FIN	ITA	CAN	USA	GBR	FRA 10			N/A
1975	Guy Fréquelin	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV	MON 8	SWE	KEN	GRE	MOR	POR	FIN	ITA	FRA	GBR				N/A
1976	Guy Fréquelin	Porsche 911 Carrera	MON 7	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE	MOR	FIN	ITA						N/A
		Opel Kadett GT/E									FRA Ret	GBR
1977	Guy Fréquelin	Alpine A310 1800	MON Ret	SWE	POR	KEN	NZL	GRE	FIN	CAN						NC	0
		Renault 5 Alpine									ITA Ret	FRA	GBR
1978	Guy Fréquelin	Renault 5 Alpine	MON 3	SWE	KEN	POR	GRE	FIN	CAN	ITA						NC	0
	Renault Elf Gitanes										CIV 5	FRA	GBR
1979	Guy Fréquelin	Renault 5 Alpine	MON 8	SWE	POR	KEN	GRE	NZL	FIN	CAN	ITA	FRA	GBR	CIV		54th	3
1980	Talbot Sport	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus	MON Ret	SWE												8th	34
	Talbot Cars GB				POR 3	KEN	GRE	ARG	FIN	NZL	ITA 4		GBR 3	CIV
	Talbot Cars GB											FRA Ret
1981	Talbot Sport	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus	MON 2	SWE	POR 6		FRA 2	GRE 4	ARG 1	BRA 2	FIN	ITA Ret		GBR Ret		2nd	89
	Marshalls (EA) Ltd.	Peugeot 504 Coupé V6				KEN Ret
	SARI Peugeot												CIV 5
1982	Esso	Porsche 911 SC	MON 4	SWE	POR	KEN										12th	16
	Alméras / Esso						FRA 6	GRE	NZL	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV
	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus												GBR 11
1983	Rothmans Opel Rally Team	Opel Ascona 400	MON Ret	SWE	POR	KEN										NC	0
		Opel Manta 400					FRA Ret	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR
1984	Opel Euro Team	Opel Manta 400	MON	SWE	POR	KEN Ret	FRA 9	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR		53rd	2
1985	Opel Euro Team	Opel Manta 400	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA Ret	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR		NC	0
1987	GM Euro Sport	Opel Kadett GSI 16V	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA Ret	GRE	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA 6	GBR	36th	6

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1977	J. Haran de Chaunac	Didier Pironi   René Arnoux	Renault Alpine A442	S +2.0	0	DNF	DNF
1978	Equipe Renault Elf Sport Calberson	Jean Ragnotti   José Dolhem   Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault Alpine A442A	S +2.0	358	4th	4th
1980	WM Esso	Roger Dorchy	WM P79/80-Peugeot	GTP	316	4th	2nd
1981	WM A.E.R.E.M.	Roger Dorchy   Xavier Mathiot	WM P79/80-Peugeot	GTP +3.0	46	DNF	DNF
1982	WM Esso	Roger Dorchy   Alain Couderc	WM P82-Peugeot	C	112	DNF	DNF
Source:^[4]

References

1. Edstrom, Christian (2008-03-18). "Todt Bucked!". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
2. Schilke, Nancy Knapp (2007-11-08). . Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
3. "3. Rally Codasur 1981". ewrc-results. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
4. "All Results of Guy Fréquelin". RacingSportCars. Retrieved January 12, 2019.