Raymond Sommer | |||||||
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Born | Pierre Raymond Sommer 31 August 1906 Mouzon, Ardennes, France | ||||||
Died | 10 September 1950 Cadours, Haute-Garonne, France | (aged 44)||||||
Championship titles | |||||||
Major victories 24 Hours of Le Mans (1932, 1933) | |||||||
Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
Nationality | French | ||||||
Active years | 1950 | ||||||
Teams | Ferrari, Talbot-Lago (works and non-works) | ||||||
Entries | 5 | ||||||
Championships | 0 | ||||||
Wins | 0 | ||||||
Podiums | 0 | ||||||
Career points | 3 | ||||||
Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
First entry | 1950 Monaco Grand Prix | ||||||
Last entry | 1950 Italian Grand Prix | ||||||
Champ Car career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 10th (1936) | ||||||
First race | 1936 Vanderbilt Cup (Westbury) | ||||||
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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)[1] was a French 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.