Joakim Bonnier

From WOI Encyclopedia Italia

 Name = Jo Bonnier 
 Nationality = Sweden  
 Years = 1956 - 1971 
 Team(s) =  Maserati, Scuderia Centro Sud, Joakim Bonnier Racing Team, BRM, 
 Porsche, Rob Walker Racing Team, Lotus, Brabham, 
 Anglo-Suisse Racing/Ecurie Bonnier and Honda 
 Races = 108 
 Championships = 0 
 Wins = 1 
 Podiums = 1 
 Poles = 1 
 Fastest laps = 0 
 First race = 1956 Italian Grand Prix 
 First win =  1959 Dutch Grand Prix
 Last win =  1959 Dutch Grand Prix
 Last race = 1971 United States Grand Prix 

Joakim "Jo" Bonnier (January 31 1930 - June 11 1972) was a Swedish sportscar racing and Formula One driver who raced for various teams.

Career

He was born in Djurgården, Stocklholm, to the wealthy Bonnier family. he entered Formula 1 in 1956 with a Maserati. His greatest achievement in F1 was getting a victory for BRM in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, when the notoriously unreliable car worked well for once (Dan Gurney and Hans Herrmann had bad crashes after brake failures). He also won the 1960 German Grand Prix with a Porsche 718, a race held for Formula 2 in preparation for the rule change of 1961. Bonnier was one of the driving forces behind the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

Despite his win for BRM, Bonnier did not drive for many works teams throughout his career, with only one-offs as a replacement driver for Lotus, Brabham and Honda. After his debut in a works Maserati, he then drove for his own Joakim Bonnier Racing Team and for Mimmo Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud in the late 50s, before finding a spot in the BRM and Porsche teams.

After Porsche quit Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1962 season, Bonnier switched to Rob Walker Racing Team, the only privateer that had scored wins in World Championship events, where he drove Coopers and Brabhams, scoring few points.

Bonnier 1966 in the Chaparral </br>during practise at the Nürburgring

In 1966 he reformed his own team as Anglo-Suisse Racing Team (later to be renamed Ecurie Bonnier), but his interest in F1 gradually diminished. His last full season was 1968, in which he traded his old Cooper T86 for an also old McLaren M5A. He raced occasionally in F1 until 1971.

Alongside F1, Bonnier also took part in many sports car races. He won the 1960 Targa Florio, co-driving a works Porsche 718 with Hans Herrmann, and in 1962 took a Ferrari 250 TRI entered by Count Giovanni Volpi to top honors in the 12 Hours of Sebring, sharing the car with Lucien Bianchi. In 1963 he was once again winner at the Targa Florio, with Carlo Mario Abate in another works Porsche 718.

1964 was his best year in sports car racing, where he co-drove a Ferrari P entered by Maranello Concessionaires with Graham Hill, taking a 330P to second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to a win at Montlhery, while a 12 hour race in Reims also gave him a first place in a 250LM.

He then won the 1000 km of Nürburgring in a Chaparral in 1966 (with Phil Hill), his last win in a major sports car event, but still managed to snatch victories in the minor 1000 km of Barcelona at Montjuïc in 1971 (with Ronnie Peterson), and the 4 Hours of Le Mans in 1972 (with Hughes de Fierlandt). By then, he had taken to managing his team, entering several cars in World Sportscar Championship events, and taking a backseat to driving, but was nevertheless killed at at Le Mans in 1972 when his Lola-Cosworth T280 collided with a Ferrari Daytona driven by Florian Vetsch.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)