On the 27th of November,, Patrick Head said farewell to Formula 1 after the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final round of the World Championship in 2011. But the senior positions are already waiting in endurance racing...

As Technical Director and partner of Williams F1 from 1977 until the end of the 2011 season, Patrick Head alongside founder Frank Williams has won sixteen world titles (seven drivers, nine manufacturers), 113 race wins and 126 pole positions. In endurance he has a leading responsibility in 2012 as a member of the commission that will ensure the destiny of the World Endurance Chanpionship (WEC) set up jointly by the Fédération Internationale Automobile and Automobile Club de l’Ouest (read HERE).

Along with this prestigious list of results in Formula 1, he also worked for Williams in endurance racing. Before the engine partnersip with BMW in Formula 1 from 2000 to 2005, the British team had previously worked with the Bavarian manufacturer on the prototype V12 LMR, that the Frenchman Yannick Dalmas, Italian Pierluigi Martini and German Joachim Winkelhock took to victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours 1999. More recently, the KERS system (Kinetic Energy Recovery) used in 2009 on the Williams FW31 Formula 1 of Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima was installed in the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which had caused a sensation when of his appearances at Petit Le Mans and Zhuhai, in the last two rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 2010.

His record and experience will no doubt give weight to Patrick Head's voice in the very long history of the WEC, to begin in 2012.

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo : ZHUHAI (PROVINCE OF GUANDONG, PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA), 1000 KM OF ZHUHAI, RACE, 7 NOV 2010. Entered outside classification, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid finished 6th, behind the prototype field, but ahead of all the GT classes.