Gijsbert van Lennep (born 16 March 1942, in Aerdenhout, North Holland) is a Dutch esquire and former racing driver who competed in eight Formula One races.
However his main achievements were in sports car racing. He is a member of the untitled Dutch nobility with the honorific, Jonkheer. Info from Wiki
Bio by Hans Hulsebos
Esquire Gijsbert (Gijs) van Lennep. From Dutch nobility (Esquire translated in Dutch is Jonkheer). Very succesful in sportscars (as a Porsche works-driver) winning the 24 hours of Le Mans twice (1971 with Helmut Marko and 1976 with Jacky Ickx) and also winning the Targa Florio in 1973 with Herbert Müller.
Gijs made his F1-debut in 1971 in a rented Surtees finishing 8th. On the list for the BRM-Armada of 1972, but not included after all. Instead he drove F5000 becoming the European Champion.
In 1973 he finished 6th in the Dutch GP scoring his and the first ever point for Frank Williams as F1-manufacturor. His last GP came in 1975 at the GP Germany. Finishing 6th again and scoring the first ever point for Team Ensign.
Still very much involved in the sport.
Bio by Stephen Latham
Gijsbert (Gijs) van Lennep was born on the 16th March 1942 in Aerdenhout, Netherlands and though he only competed in eight F1 races he was an accomplished sports car driver, with two Le Mans victories on his CV and in 1999 was voted best Dutch race car driver of the Century.
A member of the Dutch nobility (he has the title of Baron) his early racing involved Formula Vee and F3 and in 1964 he contested two Nationale Autoraces at Zandvoort in a Hirondelle, finishing fifth each time. However, it was in sports cars that Gijs came to the fore and his first great race was in 1965’s Spa 24 Hours though he and Hans Koster retired from it with their BMW 1800. He was ninth in a following race when driving solo in the 1800 at Zandvoort but in the October he drove a Porsche for the first time and won at Zandvoort with a 904 GTS.
1966 saw a full schedule of events with the Racing for Holland team Porsche 906 and there were class victories at the Spa and Nurburgring 1000km races alongside his brother David van Lennep. 66 He won at Aspern in Austria and the GP Paris and had podiums at Norisring, Trier and Mainz-Flinthen in Germany plus the Dunes Trophy at Zandvoort. He also teamed with Ben Pon at the GP Hockenheim but though they retired from it they took a podium finish in a 3 Hour Cape Town race plus driving Ben Pon’s entered 906 he was sixth in the Zeltweg 500km.
Continuing with a 906 he started 1967 at the 24 hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours, alongside Rolf Stommelen and Udo Schutz, though they retired from both due to an engine failure and an accident. Gijs was scheduled to race with Ben Pon in the Spa 1000km but due to an an accident during practice they didn’t even start the race but driving a Porsche 911 at Mugello he and Vic Elford won the S2.0 class.
The following year saw retirements from three races he contested, including the World Sportscar Championship races at Brands Hatch and Monza with Ben Pon plus a 6 Hour Nurburgring event with Hans Koster. Alongside his regular Porsche drives in 1969 he also had an outing in an Alpine A220 with Jean Claude Andruet in the Spa 1000km. There were also several events in an Abarth at Brands Hatch (with Toine Hezemans) plus he and Johannes Ortner raced one in a 1000km Nurburgring and went on take podium placings in the GP Mugello and 500km Nurburgring and Imola races. Piloting the Porsche, his best results were victories with a 911 at Budapest the Nurburgring (with T.Hezemans), plus podium at an ETTC Zandvoort round, while he won the Dunes Trophy Zandvoort in a 908.
There was a hectic schedule of Porsche drives for 1970, with a 908 and 917 for Racing Team AAW and International Martini & Rossi Racing. He would go on to take the prestigious Porsche Cup for privateers and the season saw victories at the Dunes Trophy Zandvoort and in an Interserie round at Keimola in Finland. There were podiums at the Norisring and Hockenheim Interserie rounds, followed by fourth place finishes at the GP Swerige, Brands Hatch 1000km, the Targa Florio (with Hans Laine) and with Gerard Larousse at the end of the year in the Kyalami 9 Hr. He competed at Le Mans seven times and his debut came this year in a Porsche 917 K and during the evening they had nearly a six-minute lead but team mate David Piper had an accident in the rain. After working on the car for almost 45 minutes he managed to return to the pits, where it took a further 45 minutes to repair the car, but when Gijs took over the car and returned to the race he suffered a flat tyre and went into the safety barrier.
Then in 1971 came his biggest victory to date when he and Helmet Marko drove their Martini-sponsored 917 to victory at Le Mans. During the race they were leading with four hours remaining but then suffered a cracked brake disc. Although the second car (H.Muller and R.Attwood’s 917) was 30 minutes behind, Gijs described how “the Martini Racing Team team manager told us if we changed the discs and pads, we could not win. He said the solution was simply don’t brake! So that’s what we did, we almost stopped braking entirely, taking on the curves slowly. Our lap times increased, but the Porsche 917 driven by John Wyer also had troubles. In the end, our Porsche won and the Porsche Gulf finished second.” He and Helmut established a distance record (5,335 kilometres at an average of 222 km/h) that would last until 2010. He and Helmut would also take third place at the Nurburgring 1000km in Martini’s 908/03. In other Porsche drives he and Derek Bell won the Paris 1000 kms at Montlhery in the John Wyer Porsche 917, were second in the 1000km Barcelona and Gijs later took second place when teamed with Jo Siffert at the 6 Hour Watkins Glen. Away from his Porsche drives he was second in the Targa Flora with Andrea de Adamich in Autodelta’s Alfa Romeo T33/3 and raced an Alfa 2000 GTAm to podium placings with T.Hezemans at the Nurburgring and Paul Ricard. The variety of machinery continued with a Lola T212 at the Nurburgring and Zandvoort plus in South African races with Jackie Pretorius at Kyalami, Cape Town and Laurenco Marques in Mozambique. The year also saw his F1 debut in a Surtees TS7 for the Dutch GP, entered by Stichting Autoraces Nederland, and he finished eighth.
His varied and busy schedule continued in 1972, driving in sports cars and representing both BMW and Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship. He was paired with Tony Adamowicz in a Mirage M6 at Watkins Glen then with Derek Bell at Sebring, Brands Hatch and the Nurburgring while there were a number of races with a BMW 2800 CS and Autodelta’s 1300 GTA. Le Mans saw him in a Lola T280 with Jo Bonnier and Gerard Larrousse but tragedy struck when Bonnier was sadly killed during the race. A highlight came with winning the European F5000 Championship with a Speed International Surtees TS11-Chevrolet, racing it at Brands Hatch’s Race of Champions, Rothmans 5000 and the John Player Challenge Trophy, the International trophy at Silverstone and Oulton Park’s Gold Cup.
Besides two races with a Shellsport Lola T330 at 1973’s Race of Champions and the International Trophy he contested three Grands Prix in an Iso Marlboro IR and was sixth at Zandvoort, ninth at Zeltweg though retired at Monza. However the year saw him mostly in the 911 Carrera RSR with Herbert Muller at Vallelunga, Dijon, Monza, Spa, Nurburgring and Zeltweg with highlights being fourth at Le Mans plus winning the Targa Florio. There were more GPs for Frank Williams in the Iso Marlboro the next year and he was fourteenth in Belgium though did not qualify in the Netherlands or France. Reunited with his trusty Carrera RSR his best results were podiums with H.Muller and Martini Racing at Spa, Watkins Glen and an impressive second place at Le Mans plus second places at Zandvoort (with Hartwig Bertrams for Tebernum Racing) and for Kremer with John Fitzpatrick at Monza. Unfortunately after his previous successes, 1975 proved to be a disappointing season for him although the fifth place at Le Mans was also a class win, with Gelo Racing alongside J.Fitzpatrick, T.Hezemans, Manfred Schurti and Georg Loos). His best results apart from that were second in an ETTC round at Zandvoort with the RSR and third at the 1000km Mugello event (with H.Muller) in a Porsche 908/3. Returning to an F1 cockpit, this time in an Ensign for H.B.Bewaking he was tenth, fifteenth, sixth and twelfth at Zandvoort, Paul Ricard, Nurburgring and Zeltweg.
In what would be his final season, he had a fifth place with H.Bertrams with Kannacher Racing’s Porsche 934 at the Nurburgring in May. However, a month later, and five years after his first victory at Le Mans, came the second win, this time in a Porsche 936 with Jacky Ickx. But once again, despite being in the lead, there was a problem and Jacky had to stop at the edge of the track. After managing to effect some repairs he was able to drive slowly back to the pit but describing the events, Gijs said “ following muffler trouble, the turbo no longer delivered full power. During a stop, the team changed out the turbo as well as the exhaust. It was difficult for the mechanics, the pipes were burning hot. Fortunately, we had a big enough margin of time on our side and even after the repairs, we still held a three-lap lead.” They won with an eleven lap lead on the second placed car though this would be his final race. He had announced shortly before the event that he would retire from racing at the end of the race, saying “It would be nice to end a career by winning” and his wish came true. After retiring he stayed active in motorsport and attends historic events, at venues including Daytona, the Le Mans Classic and Goodwood amongst many others.
