HENRI PESCAROLO IN LE MANS (2) - 1968-1969, THE HAZAÑA AND THE ACCIDENT
Holder of the Sarthe participation record with 33 starts, Henri Pescarolo competed in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. In the second episode of this saga, he meets the legend and becomes a crowd favorite.
After two retirements at the end of his first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 and 1967, Henri Pescarolo's popularity skyrocketed beginning in 1968: unwavering determination, feats on the track and also the proverbial frankness that he still does today. delight of journalists who invite you as a television consultant or ask you for a long-term conversation ...
The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 was a crucial stage for him. At the wheel of the only Matra entered by the French manufacturer that year, Henri Pescarolo teams up with the hopeful Johnny Servoz-Gavin. In the race, the latter stopped on the first lap, the victim of a wiper failure as the rain poured down on the 24-hour circuit. Then the track dries up and the Matra climbs back up to second, behind future winners Pedro Rodríguez-Lucien Bianchi (Ford GT40). And the rain falls again during the night ... Servoz-Gavin who is at the wheel at the time returns to the booth ... because the windshield wiper still refuses to do his job!
Team boss Jean-Luc Lagardère wakes up Henri Pescarolo, whose blood is only one lap: "We had worked a lot on the car, the first to have a Matra-designed engine, which replaced the 1966 BRM block." and 1967. In 1968, we finally had a car that allowed us to play the lead roles. I thought it was really stupid to give up on a problem with the windshield wiper. When Jean-Luc Lagardère asked me if he wanted to drive anyway, I didn't hesitate for a second! "
The weather conditions are terrible, and the story "from within" that today Henri Pescarolo gives the measure of the feat: "I was telling myself that each lap could be the last, because it seemed impossible to drive in these conditions. When I overtook a car , I could vaguely see his red taillights in the splashing water and couldn't tell if he was going right, left or middle. I was on the wrong side to overtake him, I found myself in the rain - Soggy grass, then in the trees! "
