Jean-Louis Schlesser

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Jean-Louis Schlesser
Nationality	France
World Championship Career
Active years	1988
Team(s)	Williams
Races	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1988 Italian Grand Prix


Last race	1988 Italian Grand Prix

Jean-Louis Schlesser is a racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions. He is the nephew of Jo Schlesser, a former-Formula One driver.

Born in Nancy, France on September 12, 1948, he grew up in Morocco before returning to France to study and complete military service. He began racing in various paved-track events and shared the Formula 3 French national championship with Alain Prost. In 1981 he won the European Formula 3 Championship and also placed second in the Le Mans 24 Hours. He moved to Formula 2 in 1982 and failed to qualify for the 1983 French Grand Prix in a RAM-Ford.

The mid-1980s saw Schlesser perform in touring cars and sports cars, winning the French Supertouring Championship in 1985 with a TWR Rover Vitesse, as well as driving the works TWR Jaguars in the World Sportscar Championship.

He made his debut (and single outing) in Formula One with the 1988 Italian Grand Prix as a substitute for Nigel Mansell in the Williams-Judd, a race memorable for Schlesser taking out Ayrton Senna in the first chicane with two laps remaining, leading to a Ferrari 1-2 in Monza just weeks after Enzo Ferrari's death.

In 1988, he joined the Sauber-Mercedes squad full time, winning the German Supercup and finishing the 1988 World Sportscar Championship in second place, before winning the WSC title in 1989 and 1990, on this occasion sharing the title with co-driver Mauro Baldi. He also won the "Classic Masters" title at the 1994 Race of Champions.

Schlesser-Buggy, Rally Paris-Dakar, 2005

After a first outing in 1984, Schlesser began to compete regularly in the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1989. In 1992 he began to build his own dune buggies to compete in the Dakar and other desert marathons and European bajas. His first buggy, the Porsche-powered Schlesser Original, debuted in 1992 in the Baja Portugal 1000, which Schlesser won outright, beating the works Citroën cars with a two wheel drive vehicle and without a navigator by his side.

He went on to several 2WD class and overall wins the following years, before finally achieving his objective of conquering the overall victory in the 1999 and 2000 editions of the Dakar (respectively, Granada-Dakar and Paris-Dakar-Cairo). He also won the World Cross Country Rally Championship from 1998 to 2002.

[edit] Complete Formula One Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1983	RAM Automotive Team March	March-RAM 01	Cosworth V8	BRA	USW	FRA DNQ	SMR	MON	BEL	USE	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA		-	0
1988	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW12	Judd V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA 11	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	-	0