Raymond Sommer

Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer
	Champ Car career
	1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	10th (1936)
First race	1936 Vanderbilt Cup (Westbury)
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1931–1935, 1937–1939, 1950
Teams	de Costier, privateer, Chinetti
Best finish	1st (1932, 1933)
Class wins	2 (1932, 1933)

Pierre Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950)

racing driver.^[2] He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both 1932 and 1933, and although he did not reach the finishing line in any subsequent appearance at the Le Mans, he did lead each event until 1938. Sommer was also competitive at the highest level in Grand Prix motor racing, but did not win a race. He won the French Grand Prix

in 1936, but the event that year was run as a sports car race.

After European racing resumed in the late 1940s, Sommer again won a number of sports car and minor Grand Prix events, and finished in fourth place in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, the second round of the newly-instituted Formula One World Drivers' Championship. He was killed toward the end of 1950, when his car overturned during a race at the Circuit de Cadours.

Biography

Sommer was born in

Long Island, New York, to compete in the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup where he finished fourth behind the winner, Nuvolari.^[3]

Although a regular top-10 finisher in Grands Épreuves Sommer never won a race. At the time, the German manufacturers

Alfa Romeo 308 until the outbreak of World War II, where he played an active part in the French Resistance

movement.

Following the war, Sommer claimed victory in the 1946 René Le Bègue Cup race at Saint-Cloud. At the 1947 Turin Grand Prix in Valentino Park he won the first ever Grand Prix for Enzo Ferrari as an independent constructor. The following season, Sommer switched from the Ferrari team, again for a privately owned car, this time a Talbot-Lago. In 1950, the Formula One World Championship began and Sommer drove in two Grand Prix races for Ferrari and three in a privately entered Talbot-Lago, retiring in all but one.

In July 1950 he won the

Aix les Bains Circuit du Lac

Grand Prix with a Ferrari 166.

In September 1950, he entered the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix^[4] in Cadours, France, where the steering failed on his 1100 cc Cooper and the car overturned at a corner. Sommer, wearing his traditional canvas helmet, was instantly killed.

Motorsports career results

Notable career wins

French Grand Prix 1936
Grand Prix de Marseilles 1932, 1937, 1946
Grand Prix de Tunisie 1937
Grand Prix de L'U.M.F. 1935
Gran Premio del Valentino 1947
Madrid Grand Prix 1949
Spa 24 Hours 1936
Turin Grand Prix 1947
24 Hours of Le Mans 1932, 1933

European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	EDC	Pts
1935	R. Sommer	Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3	Alfa Romeo 2.9 L8	MON 6		BEL Ret	GER				7th	39
	Scuderia Subalpina	Maserati 6C-34	L8		FRA 6
	R. Sommer	Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2 L8					SUI 9	ITA	ESP 7
1936	R. Sommer	Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2 L8	MON 7	GER 9	SUI Ret	ITA				5th	21
1937	Scuderia Ferrari	Alfa Romeo 12C-36	Alfa Romeo 4.1 V12	BEL 5			SUI 8	ITA			6th	27
1937	R. Sommer	Alfa Romeo 8C-35	Alfa Romeo 3.8 L8		GER Ret	MON 7					6th	27
1939	R. Sommer	Alfa Romeo Tipo 308	Alfa Romeo 3.0 L8	BEL 4	FRA 5	GER Ret	SUI				9th	23
Source:^[5]

Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
1947	Scuderia Milano	4CL	L4s	SUI 4
	Raymond Sommer	Maserati 4CM			BEL Ret
		4CL				ITA Ret
		CTA-Arsenal	CTA-Arsenal 1.5 V8 s				FRA Ret
1948	Equipe Gordini	T15	L4s	MON Ret	SUI Ret
	Centre d'Etudes T.A.	Maserati 4CM	L4s			FRA Ret
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 F1 1.5 V12 s				ITA 3
1949	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	GBR	BEL	SUI 3	FRA 5
1949	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 F1 1.5 V12 s					ITA 5
Source:^[6]

FIA World Drivers' Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	WDC	Pts
1950	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 1.5 V12 s	GBR	MON 4	500					16th	3
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 166 F2	Ferrari 166 2.0 V12				SUI Ret
	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6					BEL Ret		ITA Ret
	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq SA	Talbot-Lago T26C-GS	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6						FRA Ret
Source:^[7]

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)(Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
1950	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 1.5 V12 s	PAU 4	RIC	SRM Ret
	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6				PAR Ret	EMP	BAR	JER	ALB Ret		NAT Ret	NOT	ULS	PES	STT
	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq SA	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6									NED Ret
	BRM Ltd	P15	BRM P15 1.5 V16 s															INT Ret	GOO	PEN

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1931	H. de Costier (private entrant)	Jean Delemer	Chrysler 80	5.0	14	DNF (Radiator)
1932	Raymond Sommer	Luigi Chinetti	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM	3.0	218	1st	1st
1933	Raymond Sommer	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM	3.0	233	1st	1st
1934	Raymond Sommer	Dr. Pierre Félix	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	3.0	14	DNF
1935	Raymond Sommer	Raymond de Saugé Desttrez	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	3.0	69	DNF
1937	Raymond Sommer	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A Spider	5.0	11	DNF
1938	Raymond Sommer	Clemente Biondetti	Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring	5.0	219	DNF
1939	Raymond Sommer	Prince Bira	Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS	3.0	173	DNF (Engine)
1950	Luigi Chinetti	Dorino Serafini	Ferrari 195 S Coupé	S 3.0	82	DNF (Electrics)

References

^ "Motorsport Memorial - Raymond Sommer". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
^ "Driver – Raymond Sommer". chicanef1.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
^ "Raymond Sommer". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
^ Motor Sport, October 1950, Page 525: Obituary.
^ "THE GOLDEN ERA – OF GRAND PRIX RACING". kolumbus.fi. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
^ "Raymond Sommer – Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
^ "Raymond Sommer – Grand Prix started". statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

External links

Raymond Sommer profile at Grand Prix encyclopedia

Sporting positions
Preceded by Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1932 With: Luigi Chinetti	Succeeded by Raymond Sommer Tazio Nuvolari
Preceded by Raymond Sommer Luigi Chinetti	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1933 With: Tazio Nuvolari	Succeeded by Luigi Chinetti Philippe Étancelin

[mem-1] "Motorsport Memorial - Raymond Sommer". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 22 March 2023.

[2] "Driver – Raymond Sommer". chicanef1.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

[3] "Raymond Sommer". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 23 March 2024.

[4] Motor Sport, October 1950, Page 525: Obituary.

[5] "THE GOLDEN ERA – OF GRAND PRIX RACING". kolumbus.fi. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2016.

[6] "Raymond Sommer – Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved 28 August 2018.

[7] "Raymond Sommer – Grand Prix started". statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

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v t e Winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Nine-time	Tom Kristensen
Six-time	Jacky Ickx
Five-time	Derek Bell Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro
Four-time	Sébastien Buemi Yannick Dalmas Olivier Gendebien Henri Pescarolo
Three-time	Woolf Barnato Rinaldo Capello Luigi Chinetti Marcel Fässler Brendon Hartley Hurley Haywood Phil Hill Al Holbert André Lotterer Klaus Ludwig Allan McNish Kazuki Nakajima Benoît Tréluyer Marco Werner
Two-time	Fernando Alonso Earl Bamber Timo Bernhard Tim Birkin Ivor Bueb Romain Dumas Ron Flockhart Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Gérard Larrousse JJ Lehto Manuel Reuter André Rossignol Raymond Sommer Hans-Joachim Stuck Gijs van Lennep Jean-Pierre Wimille Alexander Wurz
One-time	Aïello Alboreto Amon Ara Attwood Baldi Bandini Barilla Barth Benjafield Benoist Bianchi Bloch Blundell Bouchut D. Brabham G. Brabham Brundle Calado Chaboud Clement Cobb Conway Davis de Courcelles Dickens Duff Dumfries Duval Étancelin Fontés Foyt Frère Gachot Gené Giovinazzi González Gregory Guichet Gurney Hamilton Hawthorn Hélary Herbert Herrmann G. Hill Hindmarsh Hirakawa Howe Hülkenberg Jani Johansson Jones Kidston Kobayashi Krages Lagache Lammers Lang Léonard Lieb López Marko Martini Mass McLaren Mitchell-Thomson Nielsen Nuvolari Oliver Ortelli Pier Guidi Pironi Riess Rindt Rockenfeller Rodríguez Rolt Rondeau J. Rosier L. Rosier Rubin Salvadori Sanderson Scarfiotti Schuppan Sekiya Shelby Smith Tandy Trémoulet Trintignant Vaccarella Veyron Walker Wallace Warwick Weidler Whitehead B. Whittington D. Whittington Winkelhock