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From endurance racing to rallying, hill climbs and a stint as sporting director, Guy Fréquelin has taken on many roles during his career, and this native of Haute-Marne, nicknamed “Grizzly,” has always excelled. We meet him at Magny-Cours.
Guy Fréquelin may be best known as “Grizzly,” but what really defines him is his insatiable thirst for wheels that let him feel the road. On a damp morning at Magny-Cours, he slipped into a brand-new blue jumpsuit, quickly waved to the crowd, and launched a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus onto the slippery track. Two laps later, he was back in the pits, where he slipped into an Alpine A310 and completed two more laps, the tricolor V6 roaring under a sky where the sun was breaking through thick gray clouds. But what really had him itching was the Alpine A442 waiting in pit 14, a car he hadn't touched since Le Mans 1978. “It drives me crazy,” he admitted, remembering Pironi and Jaussaud's historic victory that year, a victory that still haunts the Haut-Marnais. His saga at Le Mans is a mixture of triumph and near-catastrophe. On his debut at La Sarthe, his car caught fire at Mulsanne on the first lap. Twelve years later, while driving a WM, an accelerator cable broke in the middle of the night. “I was near Indianapolis,” he recalls, describing how he and his co-driver Langrois improvised a repair with a wrench, limped back to the pits in second gear and lost over an hour, exactly the gap that left them one lap behind winners Rondeau and Jaussaud. “Without that loss, we might have been able to fight for the win,” he says. Beyond the classic 24-hour race, Fréquelin's resume is a true model of versatility. Hill climbs in ultralight single-seaters taught him to anticipate corners before they appeared; dirt rally stages sharpened his sense of wet asphalt; promotional formula races added a touch of showmanship. “All these experiences hone your skills,” he explains, pointing out that today's drivers rarely have this diversity of experience because the calendar is too busy. In 1976, he competed in 36 events; modern F1 has 24 races, a schedule he considers “too demanding” for a driver who still wants to switch between different surfaces.
Jean Ragnotti was his companion throughout these different stages. The two Frenchmen fought a fierce battle in rallying, sharing cars and exchanging victories, before teaming up at Le Mans in 1978. Their partnership was based on absolute trust. “He would have loved to take the wheel and the pedals,” Ragnotti says with a laugh, recalling that Fréquelin's confidence never wavered, even when gearbox problems dropped them to fourth place while driving a car capable of winning on asphalt. Born in the cold heart of Champagne, Fréquelin began his journey to the cockpit in the passenger seat. At 22, he convinced his boss-driver to hand over the controls, and the rest is a series of successes that would be almost impossible to replicate today. “Back then, you could start late,” he says. “Today, if you start at five or six, you're already out of the running.” His story is not so much one of a single victory as it is one of an unwavering determination to master every machine that comes his way. A career is not built solely behind the wheel; it is also forged outside of it. After hanging up his gloves and helmet, Guy Fréquelin became a sporting director and continued to fill his trophy cabinet. He first oversaw a hat trick at the Dakar Rally in 1994, 1995, and 1996. “I had an advantage because I was a driver. Communication is easier, we understand each other,” he explains. The man who celebrated his 79th birthday on April 2 then helped Sébastien Loeb reach the top, winning seven world titles between the drivers' and manufacturers' championships. Despite these successes, it is the Alsatian and his co-driver Daniel Elena who remain the most memorable. Fréquelin is not bothered by the lack of public recognition. “I have no reason to be jealous. The most important thing is the benefit for the brand,” he said. The support of his team and Citroën's management was enough for him. “That's the most important thing.”
Key dates
April 2, 1945: Born in Langres, Haute-Marne. 1966: First rally race with the Haute-Marne team. 1968: First French circuit racing championship title. 1977: First participation in Le Mans; retired. 1981: Runner-up in the World Rally Championship. 1994: First victory in the Dakar Rally as team manager; two more followed in 1995 and 1996.
2003: World Constructors' Champion with Citroën; titles renewed in 2004 and 2005, with drivers' titles thanks to Sébastien Loeb. 2006-2007: Last two drivers' titles with the Alsatian.
