24h Le Mans
24 HOURS OF LE MANS CENTENARY – PEOPLE AND MACHINES ⎮ Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez were instrumental in the popularity of motorsport in their native Mexico, and they also became part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans legend with a long chase at the front of the race in 1961 and Pedro’s victory in 1968. Let’s look back at the story of their achievements, but also the tragedies.
In 1958, Pedro was the first of the siblings to embark on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was assigned a new team-mate at the last minute because the race officials forbade Ricardo from competing because he was only sixteen. Teamed up with José Behra in a Ferrari for the North American Racing Team (NART), owned by three-time winner Luigi Chinetti, Pedro was forced to retire early.
The two brothers raced their first 24 Hours together with OSCA the following year (DNF), but drove separately again in 1960. Pedro was named as a Ferrari works driver to replace Brit Cliff Allison, who was injured at the Monaco Grand Prix, but he didn’t even get a chance to take the wheel in the race because his team-mate Ludovico Scarfiotti ran out of fuel mid-track! Meanwhile, Ricardo was in a NART Ferrari and, at the age of 18, became the youngest driver to step onto the overall podium, sharing second place with Belgian André Pilette.
The Rodriguez brothers were back together again in 1961 and proved to be the toughest opponents in the field for future winners Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill, even leading the race at the halfway point. On Sunday morning, however, a technical problem resulted in an extended pit stop and relegated the two Mexicans to fourth place. After a spectacular fightback that saw Ricardo clock the fastest lap in the race, the #17 Ferrari recovered second place, but later retired with engine failure with two hours to go. They were nonetheless hailed by the crowd.
On 1 November 1962, a few months after another DNF for the brothers in a works Ferrari in La Sarthe, Ricardo lost his life, aged just twenty, during practice for his home Grand Prix. Pedro considered putting an end to his own career but ultimately decided to carry on. And he made history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the following year.
The 31st running of the 24 Hours saw the introduction of time-based qualifying to establish the starting grid, which until then had been organised in descending order of engine capacity. Pedro Rodriguez, back with NART that year, took the honour of the first pole position decided by qualification with a time of 3:50.9 (an average speed of 209 kph) in a Ferrari shared with Roger Penske. He remained faithful to Luigi Chinetti until 1967, but only saw the chequered flag once, in 1965 when he finished seventh in the company of Nino Vaccarella, the previous year’s winner.
A few days before the 1968 24 Hours, Pedro Rodriguez was called upon by John Wyer to drive one of his Ford GT40 Gulf cars, to replace Jacky Ickx who had broken his leg in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Qualifying fourth, the Mexican and his Belgian team-mate Lucien Bianchi (replacing Briton Brian Redman, who was also injured during the Formula One season) engaged in an early race battle with the official Porsche 908s and the other GT40 driven by their stable mates Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs. They eventually took the lead for good in the seventh hour of the race. After the bad luck that the two last-minute team-mates had suffered in previous years, their win thrilled the 24 Hours crowd, who rewarded them a well-deserved ovation.
After another DNF in a Ferrari in 1969, in 1970 and 1971 Rodriguez took the wheel of the car that would steer him into motorsport legend. At the wheel of the Porsche 917, he scored eight victories in the International Championship for Makes and for the first time broke the 250 kph average lap speed barrier to take pole at the 39th running of Le Mans in 1971. Exactly one month after the 24 Hours, he lost his life at the wheel of a Ferrari 512 on the Norisring circuit (Germany).
Pedro Rodriguez also scored two Formula One victories in the course of his meteoric career. First at the South African Grand Prix with a Cooper in 1967, and then again in 1970 with a BRM at the final edition of the Belgian Grand Prix run on the long 14-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps track, where he also won the 1000 km with the Porsche 917 the following year.
“Pedro was one of our greats, capable of winning at Le Mans as well as in Formula 1,” said former driver Adrian Fernandez in 2010. “Now that, like him, I’m wearing Gulf colours, my compatriots are beginning to make the connection, especially people of my generation.” Fernandez wore the oil company’s sky blue and orange colours three times in four Le Mans appearances. They were sported by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi’s Ford GT40 when they won at Le Mans.
The legacy of Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez remains tremendous, both in the history of motorsport and in their native country. The Mexico City circuit is known as Autodromo Hermanos (“brothers” in Spanish) Rodriguez. And the enthusiasm of the crowd always impresses the Formula One paddock at each Mexican Grand Prix.
PHOTOS: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 1958-1971 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM (COPYRIGHT: ACO ARCHIVES): Although too young to compete in the 1958 Le Mans 24 Hours, Ricardo Rodriguez (left) cheered on his elder brother Pedro (at the wheel); entered by Luigi Chinetti’s NART team, the Ferrari 250 TR/59 with which Ricardo finished second in 1960 bore the same race number #17 as the 250 TR/I 61 he shared with Pedro in 1961; the Ford GT40 (#°9) in which Pedro Rodriguez and Lucian Bianchi won the 1968 race in September should have been driven by Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman, scheduled for the original race dates in June; at the start of the 1971 race, Pedro Rodriguez was at the wheel of the Porsche 917 LH (#18) which he placed in pole, with the other 917 LH driven by Vic Elford and Gérard Larrousse in second place.
