50 years ago: Jo Bonnier disappeared at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Born January 31, 1930 in Stockholm (Sweden) but French-speaking due to his residence in Switzerland, Joakim Bonnier, better known under the name Jo Bonnier, distinguished himself especially in Endurance and in sports cars.

Even though his career in Formula 1, with 104 Grand Prix starts and a victory at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in a BRM P25, it was in Endurance that Jo Bonnier earned his stripes as a great man of motorsport.

En 1960, il remporte la prestigieuse Targa Florio sur une Porsche 718 en compagnie de Hans Herrmann. Rebelote en 1963 avec cette fois Carlo Mario Abate sur encore une Porsche 718. Jo Bonnier a connu les plus grandes marques de l’Endurance de l’époque, avec notamment un passage avec l’équipe privée Maranello Dealers in 1964.

It was aboard a Ferrari 330P that he climbed to second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1964 with the future F1 world champion, Graham Hill. Two years later, he joined Chaparral and raced at Le Mans in an immaculate 2D. Winner of the formidable 1 km of the Nürburgring, the car equipped with a 000 horsepower Chevrolet V8 weighing 420 kg announced itself as an outsider at Le Mans, but retired after 924 laps. Curiously, Jo Bonnier abandoned 111 times out of 13 starts in Sarthe!

It was also on the Circuit des 24 Heures that Jo Bonnier died on June 11, 1972. At the wheel of a Lola T280 from his own team, the Swede touched the Ferrari Daytona of gentleman driver Florian Vetsch on the straight between Mulsanne and Indianapolis. Thrown over the safety barriers, the boat landed in the trees. The shock killed its pilot instantly.

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