Raymond Sommer

Pierre Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950) was a French racing driver. 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 and , 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 Mouzon in France, to a wealthy Sedan carpet-making family. His father, Roger Sommer, broke the Wright Brothers' record for the longest flight in 1909. It was not until 1931 that Raymond started to display daredevil tendencies of his own, entering motor races in a privateer Chrysler Imperial. The following year, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, despite having to drive over 20 hours solo after his teammate, Luigi Chinetti, retired ill. During the 1930s, Sommer was to dominate the French endurance classic, winning again in 1933 driving an Alfa Romeo alongside Tazio Nuvolari. He also led every race until 1938, only to suffer a mechanical failure, once when 12 laps in the lead. Sommer traveled to Long Island, New York, to compete in the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup where he finished fourth behind the winner, Nuvolari.

Although a regular top-ten finisher in Grands Épreuves Sommer never won a race. At the time, the German manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union were the dominant force in Grand Prix racing, together with the French Bugatti team. Sommer turned to sports cars once more, and in 1936 he won the French Grand Prix with Jean-Pierre Wimille, and the Spa 24 Hours endurance race with co-driver Francesco Severi. More wins came his way including at the "Marseilles Three Hours" at Miramas, the Grand Prix de Tunisie and La Turbie hill climb competition in 1938 and 1939 with 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, Sommer won the Aix les Bains Circuit du Lac Grand Prix with a Ferrari 166.

On 10 September 1950, Sommer entered the Grand Prix of the Haute-Garonne near Cadours, France in the British Racing Motors 1100cc Cooper. Sommer led the race on lap nine when he was overtaking a slower car that was two laps down. Witnesses stated that the car had a rear wheel start to come apart from its hub. Sommer looked at the wheel, where he lost control of his Cooper and begin to roll over. He barrel rolled twice and landed in a ditch near the track, where it catapulted into a tree. While alive after the accident, Sommer died a few minutes after with first responders present. He was found to have a fractured skull.

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 Pts 1935 R. Sommer Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 Alfa Romeo 2.9 L8 MON BEL GER 7th 39 Scuderia Subalpina Maserati 6C-34 Maserati 3.7 L8 FRA R. Sommer Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 Alfa Romeo 3.2 L8 SUI ITA ESP 1936 R. Sommer Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 Alfa Romeo 3.2 L8 MON GER SUI ITA 5th 21 1937 Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 12C-36 Alfa Romeo 4.1 V12 BEL SUI ITA 6th 27 R. Sommer Alfa Romeo 8C-35 Alfa Romeo 3.8 L8 GER MON 1939 R. Sommer Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 Alfa Romeo 3.0 L8 BEL FRA GER SUI 9th 23

Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results

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

FIA World Drivers' Championship results

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

Formula One non-championship results

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results